Imagine that. Just in time for a friendly new administration, CNN has yanked its uber-obnoxious chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, from the beat he’d been covering since the Obama-Biden administration.

“On to the next adventure!” he tweeted triumphantly. “After eight years at WH, I’m moving into a new role as anchor on weekends and chief domestic correspondent for CNN, a new challenge I’m very excited about. Will miss my WH colleagues. But I know they’ll be great covering the Biden admin. See you soon!”

If we didn’t know better, we’d swear CNN is signaling to Joe Biden’s administration and incoming White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki that after four years of Acosta’s nonstop rudeness and grandstanding, the network is ready to play kissy-face in the White House press room. And rather than allow viewers to observe the stark contrast between the ever-antagonistic Trump version of Acosta and the soon-to-be servile Biden version of the same hack journalist, the network is reassigning him.

“The most glaring change,” said conservative strategist Chris Barron, “is CNN’s decision to take performance artist Jim Acosta off the White House beat. Talk about showing your hand. Acosta will probably get shipped off to cover Mar-a-Lago where he can yell at Trump from outside.”

Former Daily Caller White House correspondent Amber Athey used to work alongside Acosta, and she’s puzzled by the network’s decision to replace this “hero” of the Trump-hating resistance. “It certainly seems odd that CNN is pulling Acosta from the White House rotation right as a Democratic president is set to take office,” she told Fox News. “He insisted repeatedly that his style of shouting questions, delivering monologues, and heckling White House officials was merely about holding powerful people accountable for their actions. Is CNN effectively saying that they don’t want to hold the Biden administration accountable in the same way?”

Yes, that’s exactly what CNN is saying. Such a switcheroo is both cynical and unethical, of course, but, hey, as James Earl Jones put it, “This is CNN.”

This video, by the way, is also CNN, and it epitomizes the churlishness and the shameless grandstanding that have characterized the network and its White House correspondent over the past four years. In a perfect world, the young White House aide in the burgundy dress would’ve kneed Acosta in the groin and snatched the mic from him. Alas, it’s an imperfect world.

“CNN should be ashamed of itself, having you work for them,” said President Donald Trump during the above-linked presser. “You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn’t be working for CNN.”

Here, we’d respectfully disagree with the president. Jim Acosta is indeed a rude and terrible person. But that’s precisely why he’s at CNN.