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He followed it up in rapid succession with two more tweets on Blumenthal: "Never in U.S. history has anyone lied or defrauded voters like Senator Richard Blumenthal. He told stories about his Vietnam battles and.......conquests, how brave he was, and it was all a lie. He cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness like a child. Now he judges collusion?"

TV, of course. And, specifically, CNN -- which Trump likes to say he never watches.

Blumenthal had appeared on CNN's "New Day" right around 7:45 a.m. And, in the interview, he blasted Trump -- and defended special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation into Russian meddling into the 2016 election.

"There is no minimizing or underestimating that attack by the Russians," said Blumenthal. "It was purposeful and relentless, and it involved propaganda and hacking into our voting machines or at least an attempt to do it and potential collusion by the Trump campaign and then obstruction of justice. That investigation must be pursued."

This morning's timeline is proof positive of something we have long known: The idea that Trump doesn't watch TV -- and CNN in particular -- is ridiculous.

TRUMP: OK. The one thing I've learned to do that I never thought I had the ability to do. I don't watch CNN anymore.

AP: You just said you did.

TRUMP: No. No, I, if I'm passing it, what did I just say (inaudible)?

AP: You just said

TRUMP: Where? Where?

AP: Two minutes ago.

TRUMP: No, they treat me so badly. No, I just said that. No, I, what'd I say, I stopped watching them. But I don't watch CNN anymore. I don't watch MSNBC. I don't watch it. Now I heard yesterday that MSNBC, you know, they tell me what's going on.

Ahem.

If you did think that, you don't know Donald Trump.

During an interview with the Washington Post in August 2016, Trump interrupted the interview no fewer than five(!) times to watch or point out something on the TV that was on throughout.

"But the thing he wants to show is on the opposite wall, above the fireplace, a new 60-plus-inch flat-screen television that he has cued up with clips from the day's Senate hearing on Russia. Since at least as far back as Richard Nixon, Presidents have kept televisions in this room, usually small ones, no larger than a bread box, tucked away on a sideboard shelf. That's not the Trump way."

There has never been a president more obsessed with cable TV news -- and the tone and tenor of the coverage of his White House -- than this one. And it's not even close. Trump watches the shows closely, always looking for supporters and detractors -- fingers at the ready to call out hypocrites with a few taps on his phone.

This is who he has been his whole life. It's who he is now. And it's who he will be even after he leaves the White House. Tigers don't change their stripes. And Donald Trump watches CNN.

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Donald Trump says he doesn't watch CNN. Except ... - CNN

By Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images.

Peter Thiels support for Donald Trump did not come cheap. While Thiels $1.25 million donation to the Trump campaign could have been a rounding error on the Silicon Valley billionaires bank statement, his political advocacy cost him untold social capital in the overwhelmingly liberal Bay Area. Yet even as he became a pariah in some corners of San Francisco, Thiel was fervent in the defense of his convictions. No matter what happens in this election, what Trump represents isnt crazy and its not going away, Thiel declared in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. just before the election. He points toward a new Republican Party beyond the dogmas of Reaganism. He points even beyond the remaking of one party to a new American politics that overcomes denial, rejects bubble thinking, and reckons with reality.

Thiels incredible gamble seemed to pay off, for a time. During the transition period, Thiel was a top adviser to the president-elect, playing a crucial role in several staffing decisions and flanking Trump, opposite Mike Pence, during the administrations tech summit at Trump Tower in December. Thiel continued to serve as a kingmaker throughout the first month of Trumps presidency and was said to be consolidating his power within the West Wing. Back in San Francisco, Thiels employees reportedly began referring to their boss as the shadow president.

More recently, however, Thiel appears to have soured on his riskiest, most controversial investment. BuzzFeed News reports that while Thiel remains publicly supportive of the president, he has repeatedly criticized Trump in private, describing the White House as incompetent. Citing three sources who recounted some half-a-dozen private conversations, BuzzFeeds Ryan Mac writes that Thiel sees Trump as a one-term president and doesnt think he would win re-election in 2020. According to two anonymous sources, Thiel expressed as early as January that there is a 50 percent chance this whole thing ends in disaster. An unnamed guest who attended an event with Thiel in May said the venture capitalist appeared annoyed with the first few months of Trumps presidential tenure.

Some of the animus may be more personal than political. One person who recently spent time with Thiel told the Hive that the iconoclastic billionaire does not enjoy spending time with the president. While Trump has said he deeply loves Peter Thiel, Thiel has avoided the Trump circus in the West Wing. An avowed libertarian, Thiel was initially excited by Trumps unorthodox style and willingness to upend the establishment. But the disruption that Trump has brought to Washington doesnt appear to be the kind that Thiel was betting on.

Thiel, whose book Zero to One was a must-read for Trump campaign staffers last year, did not deny BuzzFeeds reporting. The night he won the election, I said President Trump would face an awesomely difficult task, Thiel said via a spokesperson. Today its clear that resistance to change in Washington, D.C. has been even fiercer than I anticipated. We still need change. I support President Trump in his ongoing fight to achieve it. A spokesperson for Thiel also responded to allegations that Thiel doesn't enjoy spending time with Trump. Whoever says that is wrong, he told The Hive.

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Peter Thiel Sours on Donald Trump - Vanity Fair

The United Nations imposed significant new sanctions on North Korea last weekend, in response to the dictatorship's repeated ballistic missile tests. Kim Jong Un's regime will be banned from exporting goods and services and cut off from foreign investors, at least to an extent.

This combined effort to confront what is, among other things, the foremost national security threat to the United States, is a big win for President Trump.

Deploying diplomacy backed by the credible use of force, he and his UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, were able to rally the entire 15-member UN Security Council into concerted action. While these sanctions won't alone bring Kim Jong Un to serious negotiations, they will cause him real pain. Analysts believe the sanctions will cost North Korea around a third of its $3 billion total export market.

While North Korea's transgressions it's evil, so let's say it plainly are undeniable, this sanctions vote was far from simple. It required China to change. Beijing would not have done so without believing that Trump might take military action against North Korea. Up until now, China's actions against Kim have been limited. Allowing this vote to pass the United Nations Security Council, where it has a veto, however, demonstrates that when Trump makes a military threat, China takes him seriously.

That is a 180-degree about face from its approach to North Korea over recent decades, reflecting a shift in U.S. policy.

In 1994, the Clinton administration, acting after on the vapid advice and after the grating intervention of former President Jimmy Carter, offered fuel aid to North Korea in return for its promise to suspend nuclear research. The deal lacked safeguards and North Korea immediately began cheating, as sensible people predicted it would.

In May 2009, after North Korea tested a nuclear weapon, Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, gave a vintage Obama administration response, "I think we were all impressed with the fact that the Russians and the Chinese denounced this so strongly." The Chinese were surely laughing up their sleeves at this absurdity. It would set the tone for the remainder of Obama's years in office.

In 2010, after Kim Jong Un orchestrated the North Korean sinking of a South Korean ship, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged to respond with a "clear and unmistakable message". As good as her word, she did nothing message received and clearly understood.

In January 2016, her successor, John Kerry, tried to persuade China to restrain North Korea's nuclear program. But when asked whether the U.S. would increase its pressure on China if it didn't act, he havered, saying, "It's time for everybody to make sure that this does not continue as business as usual." Predictably, it did.

Shortly before leaving office, the Obama administration passed a U.N. resolution restricting North Korea's coal exports. But unlike Trump's resolution, that one lacked a corollary threat and so China continued dancing with Kim.

Trump's approach has changed everything and shown his ability to do what others have not. Supported by Nikki Haley, Trump has, on China and North Korea at least, strengthened the foundations of American diplomacy. The combination of hard and soft power is important. Authoritarian regimes such as China's are unimpressed if international agreements don't have teeth as well as smiles.

This diplomatic success is also crucial in the precedent it sets. With Iran rapidly advancing its own ballistic missile program, Washington must ensure that hostile adversaries are aware that ballistic missiles offer only existential danger, not security. If North Korea's ballistic missile program is allowed to rise unchallenged, Iran and others will pursue that technology as their first priority. Why wouldn't they? If North Korea gains regime security from the possession of ballistic missiles, other regimes will seek the same safety. The stakes are high, considering Iran's penchant for theologically rooted expansionism and the political sectarianism that defines Middle Eastern politics.

Further action will be needed against North Korea, Iran, and any other actor who follows their path.

First, Rex Tillerson urgently needs to get on the Trump-Haley script and stop presenting a message of American confusion. Second, Trump must continue his military buildup around the Korean Peninsula, which has been instrumental not just in pressing China to corral North Korea, but also in ensuring that American commanders have the means to take decisive action if necessary. Third, in return for supporting the Iran nuclear deal's continuation, Trump must rally U.S. allies to support a crackdown on Iran's ballistic missile program.

In Ukraine, Syria, and the East and South China Seas, Obama's policies persuaded the Chinese that America was weak and would offer only ineffectual opposition to those threatening its interests and security. That has now changed. Cultivating a perception of inherent unpredictability, crafting credible diplomacy, and broadcasting confident military strength, Trump is turning heads in the capital of our long-term strategic rival.

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Donald Trump and Nikki Haley chalk up a victory on North Korea and China - Washington Examiner

The former chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) has described President Donald Trump as a man obsessed with his own self-image, who needs to know everything is playing to a narrative he has developed in his own head.

Michael Steele, who was chair of the RNC from 2009 to 2011, made the comments in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

This is who he is. This is a guy obsessed with his own self-image,how his numbers are doing, whether everything is playing to a narrative he has developed in his own head, Steele said.

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U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in Huntington, West Virginia, on August 3. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Not everyone listens to you just because you're president. You have 535 members of Congress who have a different view. You have Cabinet secretaries who, while they might work for you, still carry out different agendas, he addedinapparentreference to Trumps criticism of the members of the GOP who have failed to back him on issues including health care.

Despite having a Republican majority inthe House and the Senate, Trump has failed to find popular support on his cornerstone election pledge to repeal and replace Obamacare, andhas made no secret of the fact he isunimpressed with members of his own party.

He tweeted after the Senate health care bill collapsed: 3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!

Steele also suggested Trump had difficulty dealing with people who did not agree with his opinionincluding those in what the president describes as the fake news mediabecause he had always been in a position of power in business.

When he said he wanted something done at Trump Tower, it got done. No one said, 'No sir, I really don't think we should do that,' because if you did, you didn't come into work the next day, as there was no job, Steele explained.

Steele was elected chairman of the Maryland Republican Party before serving as the state's lieutenant governor from 2003 to 2007. He was the first African-American politician to head the RNC when he was elected in 2009.

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Donald Trump is 'Obsessed With His Own Self-Image,' Ex-RNC Chair Michael Steele Says - Newsweek

Donald Trump on the campaign trail in Las Vegas, Nevada June 18, 2016. REUTERS/David Becker/Files

Sam Horn, author of Take the Bully by the Horns, a book on workplace bullying, pointed out that flouting the norms of decorum is nothing new for Donald Trump: In a 1989 interview with Larry King, he bluntly told the CNN host that his breath was bad, then admitted that throwing people off-guard was a tactic he used to shift the dynamic of power.

This is classic bullying behavior, Horn said. They will do or say anything in order to knock the person off balance in order to get control, she said.

A person going on the offensive solely to protect their ego is exhibiting a hallmark of narcissistic behavior, Spain said. Narcissism is largely about dominance. Its about making yourself feel big and important by making other people feel small and unimportant. In other words, a colleagues feelings or reputation arent collateral damage they were the target in the first place.

The example Trump sets is particularly likely to embolden bad bosses, according to Spain. Because narcissism is largely about dominance, its worst features are shown in hierarchical relationships, he said.

While this is bad news for the people stuck working under egomaniacs, these bosses also reinforce the nice-guys-finish-last ethos embraced by Trump in their own workplaces.

When we see behaviors in our leaders, its permissive, said career coach Brenda Abdilla, who said she has more clients today trying to cope with hostility or belittlement, particularly from bosses. It can encourage more bad behavior over time, she said.

A backlash against political correctness a favorite target of Trumps, both before and after the election also is shaping this dynamic. When the Workplace Bullying Institute surveyed employees on the prevalence of bullying at their jobs, it found that nearly one in 10 believe that other peoples perception of what constitutes bullying behavior is overblown a figure more than double what it was just three years ago.

Namie said this willingness to label others as overly sensitive accelerates a normalization of abusive behavior in the workplace. Thats the attack on civil behavior by calling it political correctness, he said.

Its setting a precedent where it becomes impossible to discipline people for standards of behavior, Horn warned. Companies and leaders arent holding bullies accountable.

But while a mere plea for civility in the office might fall on deaf ears, an appeal to the bottom line is another story. Experts say the best argument for not tolerating tantrums, tirades and takedowns is the negative effect they can have on a companys performance. While companies might tacitly condone boorish or inappropriate behavior in workers who possess key skills or bring in significant revenue, they wont be able to overlook collateral damage these employees inflict on the business.

The time it takes to address those situations takes away from other work to move strategic initiatives forward, said Robert Farmer, a human resources professional and a member of the Society for Human Resource Managements special expertise panel. From there, its going to start to impact productivity and performance, he said.

Obnoxious behavior has a ripple effect, Horn said. We think its only the person involved whos being hurt, but everyone witnessing it is also being affected by this behavior, she said. In families, sometimes theres a problem child and the problem child is often the one who gets all the attention [and] the good kids get ignored.

When good workers become disengaged or leave the company, dealing with the inevitable fallout wastes resources. With more turnover, the cost to train people multiplies, Cohen said. You have to pay a lot more to recruit and train people so they can be productive employees.

Companies need people to work together and share ideas, but employees wont do so if they face things like profanity and personal attacks. It shuts down communication so theyre no longer a team, Abdilla said.

Thats kind of scary, especially in an environment where youre trying to build collaboration, Letizia said. We need fresh innovation in American business. Businesses dont thrive if everyone is held under the thumb of a bully.

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Donald Trump Is Ruining Workplace Morale - NBCNews.com