But it was unclear what had provoked the president’s flurry of activity, and even advisers were searching for the normal cues that set him off: White House officials performing poorly on the Sunday show circuit, or the president’s delayed distillation of negative coverage from the week before.
Mr. Trump on Friday was rebuked by Senate Republicans, 12 of whom voted with Democrats against a national emergency to build a border wall. But the border barely figured into Mr. Trump’s weekend tweets, which appeared to be driven more by idle hands and an empty weekend schedule.
People who spoke with Mr. Trump on the phone over the weekend said he seemed to be in good spirits. Others who communicated with him said he had spent some time railing privately against Andrew G. McCabe, the former deputy F.B.I. director. But they also said he appeared to be a little aimless, and the outpouring seemed to be more driven by a lack of structure. Mr. Trump had skipped his regular weekend trip to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, because of a family commitment that kept him grounded in Washington.
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