President Trump is ramping up his campaigning ahead of the 2018 midterms — on Friday, he rallied support in both North Dakota and South Dakota, after holding a rally in Billings, Montana, the night before.

The president's schedule Friday was a packed one, holding roundtables and delivering remarks in both states in support of GOP candidates. Mr. Trump stumped for Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer, running for Senate in North Dakota against Democrat Heidi Heitkamp, and for Republican Rep. Kristi Noem, who's running for governor in South Dakota.

The president spent much of his remarks Friday running through his list of accomplishments, and making the case that Democrats would stunt that growth.

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Mr. Trump claimed he fell asleep during a speech former President Barack Obama made earlier in the day, in which the former commander-in-chief said Mr. Trump is a "symptom, not the cause" of the nation's division.

"The miracle is going to start, because now, we're getting things ready," Mr. Trump said of how his work on trade will spur the economy.

Mr. Trump opined that if Democrats had won the 2016 election, the economy would be shrinking by 4.2 percent, not growing by 4.2 percent, as it did in the second quarter of this year.

The president also blasted the new book "Fear" by Watergate journalist Bob Woodward, calling the book and its unflattering portrayal of his presidency inaccurate.

"They gotta pay," Mr. Trump said, discussing foreign countries that the U.S. helps defend. "Because we're not going to be the protector of the world and lose a fortune and have our taxpayers paying while these other countries are living very beautifully thanks to us. Not fair. So we changed that around, I hope everybody agrees..."

"And by the way then this idiot Woodward who wrote this book which is all fiction said that I said something like that but he put it in a very crude manner," he continued. "The concept is true, but the way it was said was very you know, hey -- I went like to the best college, I did lots of good -- I mean you read this thing, the quotes were wrong. All these — John Kelly, General Mattis, they were all writing 'I never said that, I never said that.' You know. Well it's fiction. But they do put down the concept of I said that, and said isn't that horrible, isn't that crude? Crude? You know what, I want to have our nation protected and I don't want to be taken advantage of by other countries in the world."

The president's swing through the Dakotas comes as Republicans are doing all they can to hold onto the House. The latest CBS News poll shows Democrats are more likely to take control of the House than not. But Mr. Trump has been distracted this week by Woodward's new book and by a scathing New York Times op-ed penned by an anonymous senior administration official.

The two accounts have intensified the president's attacks on the "fake news" media, which he already criticizes frequently. The president called the op-ed "unfair," and has suggested that the New York Times hand over the name of its author. Mr. Trump has also called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions — whom he blasts regularly — to find the identity of the op-ed author.