The Note: Vacationing Trump tees off on North Korea and opponents

— -- WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

THE TAKE with ABC News' Rick Klein

Was he bored? Reckless? Venting? Winking to his base? Or was he playing out a grand strategy he hasn't clued others in on? President Trump has proven his love of improv in the past, and showed it again while *not* on vacation in Bedminster. The headlines didn't stop: Trump suggested that Mitch McConnell should think about stepping down; said "fire and fury" might not have been a tough enough warning for North Korea; thanked Vladimir Putin for forcing cuts in U.S. embassy staff; blamed Presidents Clinton and Obama for bad decisions in the past; said he is actually "honored" by some leaks since it means staffers are "all fighting for love"; and declared that he's "doing the military a great favor" in banning transgender people from serving. It's fair to say the nation hasn't seen freelancing like this before. It's Trump letting Trump be Trump, and it's a clear attempt to take control of the message machine personally. What's also clear, though, is that when the president gets a whole bunch of things off his chest, the ripples extend out in unpredictable ways.

THE LEFT LOOKS TO THE FUTURE

Progressive leaders are meeting in Atlanta this week for the 2017 Netroots Nation Conference, an annual event that has garnered attention in the past as grassroots activists strategize about future campaigns and challenge lawmakers. Two years ago, the Black Lives Matter movement set the stage when they demanded responses from Democratic presidential candidates at the event. During a conversation with ABC News, spokesperson for Democracy of America Neil Sroka said one leading topic of conversation this year was how the left planned to entice Democratic leaders to embrace "Medicare-for-all" in the party platform. "I think there is a broad understanding that simply doing everything we can to protect Obamacare isn't enough," he said. Instead, progressive thought-leaders like Sroka believe a bold position like Medicare-for-all is necessary to distinguish the Democratic Party from Republicans and Trump. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is slated to speak tomorrow, ABC News' MaryAlice Parks notes.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I'm very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll." -- President Trump on Russian President Vladimir Putin expelling U.S. diplomats.

THIS WEEK ON "THIS WEEK": After President Trump suggested his "fire and fury" comments to North Korea weren't "tough enough," Martha Raddatz reports live Sunday from the frontlines of the nuclear threat in Seoul, South Korea. Plus, after his whirlwind 11-day stint in the White House, George Stephanopoulos speaks exclusively with former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, only on "This Week" Sunday. And the Powerhouse Roundtable debates the week in politics, with Republican strategist and ABC News contributor Alex Castellanos, ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd, and ABC News' Cokie Roberts.

NEED TO READ with ABC News' Daksha Sthipam

Key moments from Trump's comments to reporters. http://abcn.ws/2vJzGCn

Manafort changing legal strategy as Mueller probe expands. Sources close to Paul Manafort, the one-time Trump adviser, tell ABC News that this change in legal counsel signals a bigger change in strategy. http://abcn.ws/2wN6NSB

President Trump calls opioid crisis "national emergency." President Donald Trump called the nation's ongoing opioid crisis a "serious problem" Thursday and announced plans to formally declare it a "national emergency." "We're going to spend a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money on the opioid crisis," Trump said to a group of reporters at his golf club in New Jersey. http://abcn.ws/2vqMUB5

"Really quite sad": Diplomats react to Trump thanking Putin for expelling US embassy workers. Current and former U.S. diplomats reacted to President Trump's comments thanking Russian President Vladimir Putin for expelling U.S. embassy workers with dismay. A State Department official who is a foreign service officer told ABC News that the perception among employees is that Trump does not support the institution or its diplomats abroad. http://abcn.ws/2hP3sQd

Mattis: War with North Korea would be "catastrophic." Secretary of Defense James Mattis made his first on-camera remarks Thursday about North Korea's threats to attack Guam with ICBMs, saying that a potential nuclear incident "would be catastrophic." "My portfolio, my mission, my responsibility is to have military options if you need it. However...you can see the American effort is diplomatically led...the tragedy of war is well enough known," Mattis responded. http://abcn.ws/2vry2mb

Vacationing President Trump tells Sen. Mitch McConnell, "Get back to work." President Donald Trump, who is on a working vacation at Bedminster, prodded Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to "get back to work" in a tweet Thursday. Trump also warned that McConnell's tenure as majority leader could be questioned if he doesn't get the repeal and replace done. http://abcn.ws/2uqmVIX

"When you put this guy in a cage and think you're controlling him, things like this happen." The Washington Post

McCain offers Afghanistan strategy amid Trump's indecision. Navy Times

The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the key political moments of the day ahead. Please check back Monday for the latest.