He did battle in court over his controversial immigration and refugee ban, and at times seemed to attack the justice system itself.
He took a swipe at a major retailer that dropped his daughter's clothing line, then dispatched a top advisor to exhort a national television audience to purchase the products.
But he backed down from his earlier tough talk on Taiwan, assuring Chinese President Xi Jinping that he will not abandon U.S. support for a "one China" policy.
Mr. Trump this week hit the trifecta that is defining the early days of his presidency: All-out war over his signature controversial policies, an inability to separate his business interests from the office he holds and, at least in some small way, the growing realization that the weight of power means backing down on some of his most strident positions before the election.
Even as Mr. Trump's fledgling administration appears stuck in this unending string of roadblocks and distractions, the problems have had virtually no effect on his popularity.
Ipsos/Reuters tracking polls since Mr. Trump took office Jan. 20 have consistently shown a rough tie between his supporters and detractors. The most recent figures, from earlier this week, put disapproval of the President at 47 per cent and approval at 45 per cent with eight per cent of respondents expressing mixed feelings.
"Peoples' opinions of Trump are already pretty fixed," said Chris Jackson, a vice-president with Ipsos Public Affairs. "People who voted for him don't really care about a lot of this sound and fury. If anything, it seems to them that if he's pissing all of these people off, he must be doing the right thing."
Mr. Trump has charged ahead on his agenda – signing orders on immigration, trade and the wall on the Mexican border. He has shown no qualms about doing battle with the states, Democratic opposition or numerous advocacy groups lined up against him.
But he has been consistently dogged by revelations that he has failed to separate himself from his business interests, even after taking over the world's most powerful government, by failing to divest his assets. And he seemed determined to draw a line under these ethical questions this week when he used Twitter to attack Nordstrom for ditching Ivanka Trump's line of clothes. In defending Mr. Trump, his counsellor, Kellyanne Conway, even plugged Ms. Trump's products on Fox News.
But the conversation with Mr. Xi underscored a contradictory thread in Mr. Trump's early days, and perhaps the one that makes him most like a conventional politician. For all his campaign-trail bluster about standing up to China, he appears to have realized he must soften his approach rather than risk an early confrontation with the world's most populous country.
He has similarly backed down from promises to immediately repeal Obamacare, opting to take time to design a replacement policy first. And even on trade, Mr. Trump appears to be gearing up for a renegotiation of NAFTA – and delaying those talks for the time being – rather than immediately summoning the other countries to the bargaining table.
Much of what Mr. Trump is going through now are the same "growing pains" that most new leaders face, contends Irwin L. Morris, a political scientist at the University of Maryland. The broader arc of his presidency – and whether his voting coalition holds together – will ultimately be determined by longer-term matters such as the economy and the shape that health-care reform takes, he said.
Still, Mr. Morris said, Mr. Trump is proving the atypical president both his supporters and detractors expected. For one thing, his trouble separating business from his office is at least partly a function of the fact that he is the only president who has never held elected office or served in the military before.
For another, it is hard to think of another president who has gone all-in on as massive a battle as the immigration fight so soon after taking over.
"It is really early in the administration to have a strikingly significant issue get this kind of blowback," Mr. Morris said.
And this could augur poorly for the President in the long term. Despite the near-even divide between his supporters and opponents, Mr. Jackson points out, it may not mean much if one side is more motivated than the other to stand up and fight.
"The immigration order isn't changing peoples' minds, but it's not just about changing peoples' minds: It's also about getting them to show up," Mr. Jackson said. "And right now, it's really motivating his opponents."
Adrian Morrow