'We're on our own -- the president has abandoned us': MSNBC's Morning Joe applauds Americans for social distancing

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough applauded the efforts of Americans to slow the spread of the coronavirus because President Donald Trump had abdicated his leadership.

The "Morning Joe" host said the public understood the risk from the COVID-19 pandemic better than the president, and he said they're not swallowing Trump's lies.

"It's in our hands, and the economy will survive because we have no choice," Scarborough said. "Our country will move forward because we have no choice. Unfortunately, the pathway forward is doing that, as we heard earlier today, as a CEO of Ford said, as we're hearing from governors, on our own. The president has abandoned us, he's abandoned reality."

"He's been lying about death counts since Jan. 22 in Davos, in that CNBC interview," Scarborough added. "He continues to lie even now. We're on our own."

Despite the president's lies and false assurances, Scarborough said the American public was taking doctors' warnings seriously

"I think Americans are doing a pretty damn good job with social distancing," he said. "You know, I see pictures, people take pictures of New Yorkers in Central Park, and they'll become enraged. Then you go down and look, most people are social distancing. It's the same with a lot of the beach shots, where people are -- I know there's some beach shots where they aren't [social distancing]. Same with beach shots, where people are enraged when the helicopter takes a picture. You get down low and see they're clusters of families, six to 10 feet away."