White House spokesman Hogan Gidley on Thursday described the dramatic scene in the wee hours when a plane carrying Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and three freed American prisoners touched down at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, D.C.

Gidley, the deputy White House press secretary, said on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that it was an emotional scene as President Donald Trump greeted the prisoners who had been held in North Korea.

“I was there last night, and I got to see everything,” he said. “And I’m gonna tell you, I am so tired today. You know why I’m tired? I’m tired of winning.”

Gidley mocked critics in the media who spent weeks lambasting Trump for warmongering rhetoric toward North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, only to shift gears and accuse him of going soft on a monstrous dictator.

Gidley referenced predictions that a Trump presidency would mark an end to American partnerships abroad and economic catastrophe.

“Just the opposite’s happened,” he said. “We’re respected. We are feared. And quite frankly, we’re more beloved than we were before, when Barack Obama was president. And it’s all because Donald Trump knows how to negotiate. He knows how to deal on the world stage. Our partnerships are stronger.”

Gidley called the release of Kim Dong Chul, Kim “Tony Kim” Sang-duk and Kim Hak-song an act of good faith by North Korea. He called efforts to denigrate the achievement “grotesque.”

The approach advocated by Beltway pundits and the inaction of bureaucrats is the very reason North Korea is on the brink of an intercontinental nuclear missile in the first place, he said.

Now, Gidley added, Trump has a chance to negotiate a deal that includes full denuclearization.

“No one thought this could be done,” he said. “Not just getting the returnees back to this country. But to even have the potential to denuclearize North Korea, it was a dream. It was a joke. It was a punchline for late-night pundits.”

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Gidley lamented that the media barely even acknowledge the historic nature of what Trump has accomplished.

Related: Trump and Pompeo Secure the Release of Three North Korean Detainees

“In less time than it took for you to play that soundbite, the media went right back to [special counsel] Mueller … They feel duty-bound to try to take him down in so many ways and manners and methods,” he said.

Gidley expressed frustration that so many senators who supported John Brennan for CIA director under Obama — including Republican John McCain of Arizona — now oppose Trump nominee Gina Haspel.

“If this were Barack Obama nominating Gina Hapel, she would have been confirmed before you could finish the phrase, ‘Gina Haspel should be confirmed,” he said. “I mean, they would have voted her in almost unanimously.”

PoliZette senior writer Brendan Kirby can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.