'Set up for failure': CNN's Camerota speculates Pence is about to become Trump's coronavirus fall guy

President Donald Trump on Wednesday appointed Vice President Mike Pence to oversee the federal government's response to the coronavirus outbreak -- but CNN's Alisyn Camerota said that the president may have given the VP an impossible task.

Reacting to the news that Pence would be the point man for the government's efforts to contain the virus, Camerota said that it might be too late to really get a handle on a situation that is already highly likely to do real damage to both public health and the economy.

"It seemed Vice President Pence may be set up for failure," she said. "Not intentionally, but how is he going to get his arms around this?"

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman then explained how Pence's appointment will likely not restore confidence, especially if his office makes the response entirely about containing political damage instead of giving the public accurate information.

"[Coronavirus infections] could grow to a number that is much more significant than what the public has seen in this country so far," she said. "And that's just going to be an unpleasant load to bear. We don't know how much more we're going to hear from experts in the administration -- they're trying hard to centralize this within the VP's staff that everything is going to go through them."

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