Piers Morgan says that Trump is 'failing the American people' and warns that he will lose the election if he continues to make the coronavirus crisis about himself

• English television personality Piers Morgan warned that longtime friend Donald Trump would lose the presidential election in November if he continued to make the coronavirus pandemic about himself.
• Speaking to CNN's "Reliable Sources" on Sunday, Morgan was critical of Trump's coronavirus press briefings and said he wasn't worried about whether his comments were going to offend the president.
• He added that Trump was "failing the American people," and that he watched Trump's coronavirus press briefings with "mounting horror."
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British TV personality Piers Morgan, who is a former winner of "Celebrity Apprentice" and considers President Donald Trump to be a longtime friend, warned that Trump won't win a second term if he continues handling the coronavirus pandemic the way he has been.

On Sunday, Morgan was interviewed by Brian Stelter on CNN's "Reliable Sources" about what he thought of the way Trump and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson were handling the coronavirus pandemic. Morgan said both Johnson and Trump are continuing to focus on party politics in their coronavirus response.

"Donald Trump, in particular, I've known him a long time and I consider him to be a friend," Morgan said. "But I've been watching these daily briefings with mounting horror."

"The president of the United States right now is an incredibly important person in the world," he continued. "Not least to Americans, who are dying in the tens of thousands from a disease that we don't know much about yet. And all that is required from the president in those moments, and any world leader frankly, is they've got to be calm, they've got to show authority, they have to be honest, they have to be accurate, entirely factual in what they are telling the people, and they have to have an ability to show empathy. And on almost every level of that, Donald Trump at the moment is failing the American people."

Morgan added that Trump has turned his frequent press briefings into "self-aggrandizing, self-justifying, overly defensive, politically partisan, almost like a rally to him — almost like what's more important is winning the election in November."

At one point, Morgan addressed Trump directly and said: "You will win the election in November if you get this right. If you stop making it about yourself and make it about the American people and show that you care about them over yourself, you will win. And, conversely, you will lose the election in November if you continue to make it about yourself, you continue playing silly politics, continue targeting Democrat governors because that suits you for your electoral purposes."

While Morgan is a longtime friend of Trump's, this isn't the first time he's criticized him. Last week, he published a column in the Daily Mail titled "America doesn't want a King Trump, still less a deluded, boastful, petty and spiteful Emperor with no clothes."

Morgan told Stelter that he's "always tried to be candid" with the president but he didn't care "about the niceties of whether Donald Trump is going to be offended."

Morgan said Trump had to put America before himself, adding: "He has to put Americans before electioneering. He has to remind himself every day what can I do today to prevent more lives being killed? Not how can I score more petty points."