CNN is The Maddow Network, But Without The Maddow.

And how's that working?

Not great!

The decision by CNN's corporate overlord to install a chief operating officer could be "the beginning of the end" for network chief Chris Licht, who must answer to a meddlesome boss while being undermined by a newsroom loyal to his predecessor, according to a report on the news channel's meltdown.

Licht's year-long reign since taking over for the ousted Jeff Zucker has been plagued by internal turmoil -- namely over fired anchor Don Lemon -- and behind-the-scenes skullduggery, according to the 15,000-word expose by The Atlantic.

All the while, the ratings continue to hit new lows -- even losing some primetime battles to Newsmax -- as Licht attempts to pivot CNN toward the middle after years of pandering to the left.

Now, Thursday's announcement that David Leavy, a longtime loyalist of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, will become CNN's COO has "fueled talk of an imminent power struggle -- and potentially, the beginning of the end for Licht," sources told The Atlantic.

The magazine cited sources who blamed Zaslav for putting Licht in an unenviable position of having to work for a boss described as a micromanager.

CNN staffers have reportedly chafed at what they view as Zaslav's meddling in editorial decisions.

...

[Licht] blames Zucker, for planting "hit pieces" with reporters who are considered sympathetic to the old regime, The Atlantic reported.

...

After the [Trump town hall] ended, CNN's post-town hall wrap-up featured two concurrent segments -- a Jake Tapper-led panel of journalists who eviscerated Trump and an Anderson Cooper-led roundtable of politicos and partisan pundits.

According to The Atlantic, Zaslav had communicated to associates in the days after the event that he was unhappy with Tapper's roundtable -- saying it had reminded him of CNN under Zucker.

So CNN's answer to the egregious partisanship of Anderson Cooper is... the egregious partisanship of Jake Tapper.

And then they couldn't even do that right.

There are all sorts of hit pieces out about Licht and also Don LeMon.

Don Lemon's ugly rift with CNN boss Chris Licht began on the first day of his ill-fated stint as host of "CNN This Morning" -- and the problem was Lemon's bizarre outfit, according to a report.

On the morning of the show's Nov. 1 debut, Lemon -- who was eventually fired by Licht on April 24 after 17 years at the left-leaning news network -- waltzed onto the set wearing a white jacket with a fur collar, The Atlantic reported.

"What the f--k is he wearing?" Licht, the network's 51-year-old chief executive, cried out when he saw Lemon's over-the-top look, according to the explosive report published on Friday.

Lemon proceeded to take the jacket off before he went on air alongside co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins, but then butchered the opening line of the segment, according to the report, which cited unnamed sources close to the situation.

"Read the f-cking prompter," Licht exclaimed in frustration, according to the report.

...

According to the magazine, top executives, fearing there was no way to salvage Lemon's position at "CNN This Morning," urged Licht to fire Lemon. Lemon, for his part, "pitched an attempt at damage control -- a prime-time special on misogyny, which he would host with a roundtable of women," according to the report.

LOL.

Licht rejected the idea.

In the wake of outrage over the misogynistic comment, Lemon began telling allies that Al Sharpton, Ben Crump, and other black leaders "come to his aid if he were axed from the network, and would defend his firing as a move to bolster CNN's whiteness," according to the report.

Of course -- you can't fire me, I'm black and gay.

Former liberal National Review "journalist" Tim Alberta has more. Former liberal National Review "journalist" Tim Alberta seems as angry as every other batsh!t crazy liberal that CNN dared to interview Trump, a likely nominee for a major party presidential nomination, any time on their air.

He's very angry at Chris Licht.

Later in the profile, Licht explained some of his views on diversity to Alberta.

"Licht recalled a recent dustup with his own diversity, equity, and inclusion staff after making some spicy remarks at a conference. "I said, 'A Black person, a brown person, and an Asian woman that all graduated the same year from Harvard is not diversity,'" he told me.

A minute later--after noting how sharing that anecdote could get him in trouble, and pausing to consider what he would say next--Licht added: "I think 'Defund the police' would've been covered differently if newsrooms were filled with people who had lived in public housing." I asked him why. "They have a different relationship with their need with the police," he said."

If Licht elaborated on his plans to hire more public-housing residents into the ranks at CNN, Alberta didn't quote him on it.

Angry staffers and low ratings have plagued CNN CEO Chris Licht's first year on the job.

At a holiday party, Licht mostly kept to himself and read bad publicity about himself instead of interacting with his staff.

That anecdote is from a revealing new profile about Licht in The Atlantic.

CNN CEO Chris Licht has been on the job for just over a year. In that time, CNN has suffered through low ratings and even lower employee morale, fired one star anchor, hosted a widely-criticized town hall with former President Donald Trump, and dismantled its much-touted new morning program. A damning new profile of Licht in The Atlantic written by Tim Alberta reveals the CEO was as fascinated with his own bad press as everyone else:

At a holiday dinner for his D.C.-based talent, Licht went around the private room at Café Milano, shook hands and spoke briefly with each of the journalists, then sat down and spent much of the dinner looking at his phone. Not only did he say nothing to address the group--as they all expected he would--but Licht barely interacted with the people seated near him. It became so awkward that guests began texting one another, wondering if there was some crisis unfolding with an international bureau. When a pair of them caught a glimpse of Licht's phone, they could see that he was reading a critical story about him in Puck."

I continue to be impressed by National Review's near-perfect record in hiring outrageously biased liberal as "reporters" for a "conservative" blogzine. It's almost as if they do so intentionally.