MSNBC's Morning Joe bashes Mike Pence for sucking up to Trump during coronavirus briefing

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough gave credit to President Donald Trump for delivering a news conference on the coronavirus, but he bashed Vice President Mike Pence for "kowtowing" to his boss after he was tasked with leading the response to the outbreak.

The president placed Pence in charge of the administration's response, but the "Morning Joe" host said the vice president embarrassed himself by praising Trump during the White House briefing.

"Of course, we're grading on a lower scale and, of course, we had to listen to poor Mike Pence bow and scrape and talk about how great Donald Trump was every three seconds," Scarborough said. "But, again, all that aside, the president came out, got the message out. Yes, he was being overly optimistic, but there were several times, I believe, during that press conference, where he said, yes, it could get worse, and his health official said, that's what we need to prepare communities for, and this is what communities need to do."

Scarborough hoped the virus would show Trump why loyalty was not the most important qualification for government officials.

"I'm hoping this is a wakeup call for the administration and for the president that in a lot of positions, loyalty to him doesn't have to come first," he said. "Especially if it's about science, if it's about infection disease, if it's about safety."