Early Thursday morning in the United States, CNN gloated about the abrupt end of the Hanoi, Vietnam summit between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un with a potpourri of liberal bloviating. Such hot takes ranged from taunting Trump as a failure on North Korea, not understanding that the presidency isn’t like The Apprentice, suggested the Michael Cohen hearing hurt talks, and wondered how much longer Trump will be in office.

Chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta led the way, telling co-hosts Christiane Amanpour and former Obama official Jim Sciutto that the Trump missed with “strike one in Singapore, he didn’t get a deal from Kim Jong-un” and “[n]ow, it’s strike two in Hanoi.”

Like a pitcher going into a wind-up, Acosta then unloaded another long-winded, gloat-filled diatribe against the President (click “expand”):

Once again, no deal to denuclearize North Korea, something that he has staked a lot of his legacy, a lot of his presidency on and, Jim and Christiane, in the backdrop of all of this is what happened back in Washington up on Capitol Hill at the House Oversight Committee when the President's former fixer really just blasted away at his former boss, accusing him of being a liar and a cheat a criminal, basically and so on in what was a bombshell hearing up on Capitol Hill. The president presumably will be asked about that as well. He's been steering clear of that conversation here in Hanoi. He has not tweeted about it in the aftermath of Michael Cohen's testimony and so this will be the first comments coming from the President about all of this. I find that just to be kind of remarkable, that the President was able to hold his Twitter to a bare minimum here in Hanoi. That is something we don't see very often from the President, but he kept his powder dry, presumably we’re going to hear the President weigh in on all of that as well, So, it all up, Jim and Christiane, a very rough and rocky 24 hours for the President. Humbled in Washington, humbled here in Hanoi, heading back to Washington empty-handed.

Acosta commented moments later on what both sides were seeking from the other coming into the summit and how all faced pitfalls.

But like his first set of comments, Acosta couldn’t help but make a juvenile slap toward the President by asserting that he “staked a lot of his presidency on something that is just much more difficult than reality TV” and how “[t]his is not something that can be wrapped up in a season of The Apprentice and the President made some very strong statements about his affection for this North Korean dictator earlier on in this summit.”

Asia-based correspondent Will Ripley joined the conversation a few minutes later and argued that “the optics have been in Kim Jong-un’s favor ever since he arrived” because the President was “jet-lagged after a long flight on Air Force One” while Kim had “a relaxing train journey for a couple of days, in luxury, heavily-armed train.”

From there, Amanpour, Ripley, Sciutto, and former State Department official Joseph Yun then went further by ruling that the Michael Cohen testimony plus the chances Trump won’t be President much longer successfully sunk the Trump administration’s attempt for reaching a peace deal (click “expand”):

SCIUTTO: And President Trump, of course, carrying the burden of the Cohen testimony back home — RIPLEY: Exactly. SCIUTTO: — with the enormous political challenges at home. RIPLEY: So, there have been a lot of speculation that he would be eager for a large headline to distract from all of the chaos in Washington and this might be President Trump saying: “At the end of the day, I’m the President of the United States. You are still the leader of North Korea and I'm in control of this situation.” Maybe he felt like he had to take it back. YUN: I — you know, I have to think, the drama in Washington played a big role. I mean, for, I mean, if you are Kim Jong-un, you're watching this, you know? And you are saying: “Is this what he's telling me?” You know? That we have a great future? Great relations? Is this kabuki, or what, you know? So, you have to think he is also thinking about stepping back a little bit. AMANPOUR: You told me a very interesting story, when you were still a negotiator, Steve Biegun is now the person you used to be in regard to this portfolio that then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wanted a meeting with the North Koreans, but — YUN: But they came back the next day, and said: “You know, we think Rex is going to get fired. We don't want to see him, you know?” And they added, by the way, you too, Yun. So — that was quite gratuitous. AMANPOUR: And then you left. YUN: Yeah, but I left. RIPLEY: Without a doubt, they were watching very closely, and Kim Jong-un was getting updates about Michael Cohen. So, they’re also wondering, who’s going to be the President two years from now?

To see the relevant transcript from CNN’s coverage on February 28 about the end of the Hanoi Summit, click “expand.”