WASHINGTON _ When other presidents were dealt the kind of jolting setback that President Donald Trump received from the courts this week, they learned from those moments to alter their approaches to the job.
Trump, however, has a history of stubbornness and a self-proclaimed mission to upend almost everything his predecessors have done. That could color how he confronts the limits on his power as he tries to make the kind of sweeping changes he expected to deliver.
Signs of struggle in the White House have emerged between those who want Trump to keep his aggressive style and those who want him to seek more consensus.
So far, those who like new policies to land with the clatter of breaking glass have had the most sway. But Thursday's ruling blocking Trump from suspending the U.S. refugee program and travel from seven Muslim-majority countries capped a week that saw his authority under assault on several fronts.
Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who leads the House Oversight Committee, joined Democrats in calling for an ethics rebuke against senior White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who promoted the fashion line of Trump's daughter in a televised interview from the White House.
National Security Adviser Michael Flynn discussed U.S. sanctions with a Russian diplomat during the transition, when President Barack Obama was still in office, The Washington Post and others reported, despite previous denials from Flynn and Trump administration officials. Experts view the discussions as inappropriate and perhaps illegal.
And Trump, in what many saw as weakness, publicly acceded to Chinese President Xi Jinping's demand that he reaffirm the "one China" policy that Trump flouted when he took a congratulatory call from Taiwan.
Despite historically low popularity ratings and an outward sense of tumult, Trump and those in the administration continue to express confidence, shaded with defiance, blaming the media for distorting a fast-moving period that has pleased his core supporters.
"When you look at the totality _ we've issued 25, plus or minus, executive actions, nominated a Supreme Court justice," said Sean Spicer, White House press secretary, in an interview. "When people actually take the time to look at what has happened, it is a pretty ... amazing and successful 21 days."
There are indications Trump's team is making adjustments on the fly. After the legal setbacks on his travel ban, advisers huddled to brainstorm alternate paths that might accomplish similar goals without a drawn-out court battle.
On Friday, they scrambled over a plan for narrower travel restrictions while they considered pursuing appeals. While Trump was speaking aboard Air Force One that afternoon about his next steps, advisers were still debating how far to take the appellate process.
Presidents eventually figure out they need to shift power away from campaign aides who helped them win election in favor of experts in government who can craft policy and manage the bureaucracy more effectively, said Elaine Kamarck, a former aide in the Clinton White House who writes about the office of the presidency. "What he's now seeing is that a court order actually stops executive action," she said of Trump. "It doesn't matter what he says or what he tweets."
She compared the slapdown of Trump's travel bans to a shock Bill Clinton faced early in his presidency, when he bungled an attempt to fulfill a campaign promise to allow gays to serve openly in the military. "It was a failure to consult with the government before taking action," she said.
Clinton's advisers urged him to pick his political battles more selectively and seek more input from those who had spent careers navigating the government.
Trump has shown hints that he is willing to accept advice, especially as members of his Cabinet are approved and begin offering it. And though he does not sound humbled, Trump has said that the stakes are greater than others could grasp.
"I've learned tremendous things that you could only learn, frankly, if you were in a certain position, namely president," he said Friday at a news conference while speaking about the threat of terrorism.
Kamarck saw Trump's outreach to China as evidence that he is willing to defer to experts and curb some of his more provocative behavior. Yet hours after he moderated on China, he refreshed his attack on the judiciary in unusually personal terms, calling the appeals court ruling a "disgrace" on Twitter.
The dual signals match divisions within Trump's inner circle.
One side is led by nationalist ideologues including chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, former publisher of the far-right Breitbart News website. The more traditional conservative side is led by Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, former chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Bannon had a strong hand in drafting the overturned immigration order that was issued a week into Trump's presidency. Although it was temporarily blocked by the appeals court, Trump and his aides say they will keep fighting for the goal.
One Trump aide, who requested anonymity to reveal internal deliberations, said the administration would wage a stronger fight with help from the new secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, and the new attorney general, Jeff Sessions. The official said Trump's executive action is a better issue to debate than fending off attacks over Trump's family businesses or Flynn's contacts with Russia.
Trump advisers who pushed for the travel ban said they were not deterred by Thursday's decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which some expected to lose. The court, in their view, is stacked with liberal, activist judges who want to act in solidarity with the judicial branch. One of the three judges who sided against them, however, was appointed by GOP President George W. Bush.
Aides believe if they continue the court fight, the courts will uphold the basic intent of the order, which is to stop people who might pose a risk from entering the U.S. Even if they prevail in court, though, it could take months, stalling their agenda.
Those crafting Trump's immigration policies share a broader, long-term goal of shrinking the foreign-born population in the U.S. and transforming the immigrant makeup of the country by limiting the number of people who, in their view, won't assimilate.
The Trump administration "is under no obligation to admit any particular person and we have a right to develop a system in which we're selecting immigrants that we think will be able to make positive contributions to U.S. society," a senior administration official told reporters at the White House two days after the travel ban order was signed.
Despite aides' confidence, one longtime Trump associate, political consultant Roger Stone, says Trump is deeply worried about a string of leaks to the media _ including a report depicting the president as wandering the White House at night in a bathrobe and others suggesting he is naive.
Stone says Trump has a loyalty problem in that the White House is stocked with people who were not early supporters. He named only three people _ Bannon, Conway and policy director Stephen Miller _ as loyalists.
"He needs to make some wholesale changes," said Stone. Stone attacked Priebus for, in his view, spending too much time with Trump and not enough time running daily White House operations.
A White House official said Trump does not speak with Stone.
Trump's court setback has emboldened Democrats, who are still trying to emerge from a devastating election that saw them surrender control to the GOP.
"It's a major, major, major defeat for this administration in just the (first) few weeks," said Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., the No. 4 House Democrat. He promised more resistance "because they'll continue to overstep."
Trump may also face new friction from GOP members of Congress. Several conservatives faced hostile crowds Thursday during meetings with constituents, most notably Chaffetz, whose district is one of the most conservative in the country. Many demanded more oversight of Trump.
Still, though Trump's presidency has already generated enough news for a lifetime, it is early. And many Republicans who weathered his campaign are equipped to deal with further stumbles.
They point to the loyalty of Trump's strongest supporters, who believe that most of the resistance he faces is a byproduct of his willingness to shake up the status quo. And they view demonstrations against the administration skeptically, believing most are the work of Democratic special-interest groups.
The real test for Trump, Republicans believe, will come when he begins negotiating with Congress on taxes, health care and the federal budget. Trump has been in touch with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., regularly.
As the administration has wobbled, GOP leaders have proceeded cautiously, sometimes gently distancing themselves from controversy, sometimes avoiding it altogether. They are laying the groundwork for moving their agenda forward in Congress, and in the case of the Senate, working to confirm the remaining members of the president's Cabinet and preparing to consider his Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch.
"They've seen this movie for six months. They've had to answer for it for six months," said one GOP strategist, requesting anonymity to share the thinking of senior Republicans. "I really don't get the sense that there's a panic button in the near future."
