The administration has clamped down on press briefings, offering secretary Sean Spicer only under the condition that the television cameras be turned off for the duration and shunting ever-more of the duties onto deputy Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The moves are almost certainly designed to help inoculate Spicer and his team from his employer's oft-reported post-briefing fits of rage.

A battle between the White House and, of all people, the hosts of MSNBC's conservative Morning Joe program went from ridiculous to slime-covered with presidential tweets about facelifts and the news that presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner personally attempted to blackmail the hosts into an apology for unflattering comments about Trump by threatening them with a tabloid outing of their personal relationship.

But Trump's attention has remained focused on stories of "collusion", specifically, and his mood has deteriorated such an extent that it has unnerved even his own advisers.

Some in the White House fret over what they view as the president’s fits of rage, and Trump’s longtime friends say his mood has been more sour than at any point since they have known him. They privately worry about his health, noting that he appears to have gained weight in recent months and that the darkness around his eyes reveals his stress.

This, from a Washington Post story that revealed that Trump is conducting frequent early-morning calls devoted specifically to the Russia investigation and strategizing against Trump's perceived enemies: "the special counsel leading the Russia investigation; the 'fake news' media chronicling it; and, in some instances, the president's own Justice Department overseeing the probe."

(One of the fruits of those strategy sessions may or may not be last week’s sudden, curious push by well-connected Republican media figures like Brit Hume and Sean Hannity to insist that even if collusion on the part of the Trump campaign were hypothetically to be found, it would not be a "crime." Hannity, in particular, is close to the Trump team and has often acted as mouthpiece for defenses that few other pundits could muster a willingness to support.)

Evidence of Trump’s ever-worsening mood is readily apparent. Throughout the campaign and administration he has regularly responded to news reports of the Russia hacking investigation with outbursts of furious Twitter wrath. It is a pattern; it has not lessened with time or as a result of any of the forces marshaled to suppress it. Sometimes it attacks the specific outlet or program making the damaging remarks, other times his fury is directed at all journalism, everywhere.

But the current Trump rampage against the press has lasted a week, and seems beyond anything that has come before. Presented with his Twitter proclamations, you would not be alone in supposing that the sitting president is losing whatever is left of his mind.

x Since the Obama Administration was told way before the 2016 Election that the Russians were meddling, why no action? Focus on them, not T! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2017

x The real story is that President Obama did NOTHING after being informed in August about Russian meddling. With 4 months looking at Russia... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2017

x ..under a magnifying glass, they have zero "tapes" of T people colluding. There is no collusion & no obstruction. I should be given apology! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2017

x Wow, CNN had to retract big story on "Russia," with 3 employees forced to resign. What about all the other phony stories they do? FAKE NEWS! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017

x So they caught Fake News CNN cold, but what about NBC, CBS & ABC? What about the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost? They are all Fake News! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017

x The failing @nytimes writes false story after false story about me. They don't even call to verify the facts of a story. A Fake News Joke! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2017

x The #AmazonWashingtonPost, sometimes referred to as the guardian of Amazon not paying internet taxes (which they should) is FAKE NEWS! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2017

x I am extremely pleased to see that @CNN has finally been exposed as #FakeNews and garbage journalism. It's about time! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2017

x The FAKE & FRAUDULENT NEWS MEDIA is working hard to convince Republicans and others I should not use social media - but remember, I won.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2017

x I am thinking about changing the name #FakeNews CNN to #FraudNewsCNN! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2017

x My use of social media is not Presidential - itÃ¢ÂÂs MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL. Make America Great Again! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2017

It should be noted that this new fury began immediately after a Trump admission that no White House tapes existed of his conversations with fired FBI director James Comey, conversations in which, Comey told a Senate committee, Trump allegedly pushed the FBI head to curtail the agency’s probe into Michael Flynn. It continued after a now-retracted CNN story alleging a Trump ally was being investigated by Congress for financial ties to Russia. By the end of the week and the new apparent confirmation of campaign collusion it had turned into the incandescent mess you see above; while we can be assured that Trump indeed is aware of the new Flynn stories, however, he has remained curiously silent about it, lashing out in seemingly every other direction.

But in the president’s own written words, his fury is indeed over the Russia investigation specifically. It is an extended attempt to discredit the press in totality, and to paint the entire investigation as a hoax being peddled by a worldwide cabal of the very topmost press outlets, all together and in cahoots, merely for the sake of undermining him and his greatness. It is not only unhinged behavior from a sitting president, it isn’t even normal behavior for someone attempting to convince the nation or investigators that stories of “collusion” are, at the end, nothing to be worried about.

We can only imagine how things may devolve from here.