Joe Scarborough, the co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” was one of Stephen Colbert’s more pandering and obnoxious guests when he appeared on the “The Late Show” Tuesday night.

Scarborough spent his time bashing President Donald Trump and reveling in cheers from the audience. Even Colbert found it all to be a bit much at one point.

Colbert responded with, “You were totally going for that.” Colbert even had to wave at Scarborough to get his attention back on the interview.

“The Republican Party needs to know there is going to be a time after Donald Trump, and they are going to be judged for the next 50 years on how they responded to challenges today,” chimed Scarborough, who is a former congressman and self-proclaimed “Republican” and “conservative.”

That line from Scarborough earned him cheers from the audience — and he seemed to eat it up like a dessert as he turned to them, playing more to their cheers and saying sarcastically, “Come on! What are you doing?”

Colbert responded with, “You were totally going for that.” Colbert even had to wave at Scarborough just to get his attention back on the interview.

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The rest of the exchange wasn’t much better. Scarborough wasn’t on the show for any level-headed debate. He was there to score popularity points with the media elite. Colbert’s show often earns digital ink from liberal outlets — and Scarborough apparently saw a chance to jump on the Trump-hysteria train.

To prove his odd Trump bias, Scarborough even at one point refused to called Donald Trump “president” or to refer to him as “Mr. President.” What made the display hypocritical was when Scarborough then talked up how he didn’t support Bill Clinton — but cheered for him when he was sworn into office.

“I actually think we should pray for our president,” said Scarborough as he tried to make the point that Americans should root for a president, rather than against that individual. It appears his rules don’t apply to Donald Trump, however.

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Scarborough got a little more level-headed toward the end of the interview, when he applauded the picks President Trump has made for his foreign policy team. He also spoke bluntly about his personal relationship with Donald Trump.

However, before those moments — Scarborough simply put on an embarrassing act in which he made sure to throw out catchy, headline-friendly anti-Trump statements.

The fact that Scarborough disagrees with President Trump on a number of issues is not the problem. The morning co-host’s appearance on Colbert could have been a good opportunity to display how two people can have a reasonable, adult conversation about the new president and his policies during these polarized times.

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Instead, Scarborough chose to play to the country’s political polarization and earn himself some pats on the back from the media elite by refusing to call Trump “president” and warning Republicans of what’s to come after Trump’s years in office.

Sure. There will be a time after Trump — and Republicans like Scarborough would be wise to remember exactly where playing to extreme sides of the political fence will get you. People like Arizona Sen. John McCain are Republican holdouts who refuse to work with Trump — and instead are choosing to pander to the media elite and earn praises from liberals like Rosie O’Donnell.

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In a time after Trump, those liberals will no doubt abandon these Republicans — and conservatives will remember those who played media games, while others tried to get things done.