Just days ago President Donald Trump made a speech to Congress, and to the nation, that was notable for its civility, its inclusiveness and its seeming extension of an olive branch to Democrats in Congress. It was seen as a possible turning point for the president, who had spent his first month in office trying to convince everyone that he won the election, he won huuuge, and that things are now running like a fine-tuned machine.

Then on Saturday he fired off some early morning tweets accusing former President Barack Obama of tapping his phones during the campaign. He offers no proof or substantiation for the claim, but there it is, out where the public can see it. Any good will he might have generated with his speech on Tuesday is gone.

Why does the president feel the need to do this? Does he really think he is getting his message out to the American people without the filters of the media? And what is that message?

A day earlier, Trump had tweeted an old photo of Sen. Chuck Schumer with Vladimir Putin during a Putin visit to the U.S. 14 years ago and demanded an investigation into Schumer’s ties to Russia and Putin. What is the message here?

The message seems to be that Trump doesn’t like all the attention being paid to his administration’s contacts and connections with Russia. His speech didn’t make the Russia issue go away; in fact things heated up when Attorney General Jeff Sessions failed to mention a couple contacts with a Russian ambassador during his Senate confirmation hearings. Does Trump think he can make the issue go away by tweeting allegations of wrongdoing and duplicity about his enemies?

If he does, it’s not working.