(CNN) In the wake of a series of mailed bombs to his most serious critics and to CNN last week, President Donald Trump was visibly perturbed -- about the midterms.

"Now this 'Bomb' stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on."

Give the man credit: He tweets exactly what he's thinking. He said it again on the White House lawn. "But we have to start the momentum again."

What's he doing to restart it?

He's throwing false promises up against the wall and seeing what sticks pre-election. He's stoking fear with a web ad that portrays immigrants as heinous criminals only the Democrats would let into the country. He threatens to defy the Constitution and end birthright citizenship through executive order (he can't do it by fiat). This, of course, from the same man who tweeted in 2012 -- after President Barack Obama issued an executive order on "Dreamers" -- calling such actions "major power grabs of authority."

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