Trump’s roller coaster week of insults, denials, and bungled messaging paints a damaging portrait of a White House in chaos

Asked about Trump’s remarks, Frederiksen said, "I’m not going to enter a war of words with anybody, nor with the American president."

Trump, in characteristic fashion, responded by falling back on a familiar and misleading line of attack when he criticized Denmark for not meeting NATO’s defense spending target of 2% relative to GDP.

"For the record, Denmark is only at 1.35% of GDP for NATO spending," Trump tweeted. "They are a wealthy country and should be at 2%. We protect Europe and yet, only 8 of the 28 NATO countries are at the 2% mark. The United States is at a much, much higher level than that."

He added: "Because of me, these countries have agreed to pay ONE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS more – but still way short of what they should pay for the incredible military protection provided. Sorry!"

Trump has repeatedly railed against European members of the alliance and accused them of not spending enough on their own defense and relying instead on the US military’s protection. But defense experts say Trump’s transactional approach to foreign policy represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the strategic role NATO plays in preserving the global order.

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Trump: American Jews who vote Democratic show ‘great disloyalty’

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the president stunned the public when he said American Jews who vote for Democrats display either "a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty."

The comment sparked immediate and sustained backlash, as well as accusations that he was invoking one of the oldest anti-Semitic tropes in the book by suggesting that American Jews have a dual loyalty to Israel.

"Where has the Democratic Party gone?" Trump asked reporters Tuesday at the White House. "Where have they gone, where they’re defending [Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar] over the state of Israel? And I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty."

Jewish voters in the US tend to support the Democratic Party: roughly eight-in-10 voted for Democrats in the 2018 midterms. American Jews also have unfavorable views of Trump, with just 26% approving of the job he’s doing as president, according to Gallup.

But Trump’s comments on Tuesday painted Jews as a monolith and a group that should somehow be treated differently than others.

Trump defended his remarks on Wednesday when a reporter asked if they were anti-Semitic.

"No, no, no. It’s only in your head. It’s only anti-Semitic in your head," Trump said to the reporter.

After clarifying that the "disloyalty" he meant was to Israel and fellow Jews, Trump said, "If you vote for a Democrat, you’re very, very disloyal to Israel and to the Jewish people."

On Wednesday, as the controversy around his comments continued to rage, Trump added fuel to the fire when he retweeted a prominent right-wing conspiracy theorist who claimed Israeli Jews "love him like he’s the King of Israel" and "the second coming of God."

(Fact check: Jews don’t believe that a Messiah or Messianic Age has come yet — let alone a second one. Additionally, the teachings on the subject vary differently among Jews.)

Following Trump’s remarks this week, Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote on Twitter that the president "made it clear he thinks Jews have a dual loyalty to Israel. This anti-Semitic trope has been used to persecute Jews for centuries & it’s unacceptable to promote it. He should apologize immediately."

"Jews have had a long history of being in countries where we are accused of being disloyal," Aaron Keyak, the former head of the National Jewish Democratic Council said in a statement to Insider. "Just because President Trump is deeply unpopular in our community is no reason to slander us with echos of some of the most insidious attacks against our people."

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Trump bungles his economic messaging

There was no dearth of policy blunders from the Trump administration this week either.

The president spurred confusion when he flip-flopped on whether he was considering payroll tax cuts to boost the economy amid fears of a recession.

On Monday, the Washington Post reported that administration officials were weighing the option. A White House official publicly denied the story.

The next day, Trump undercut that denial when he said in the Oval Office that the measure was on the table.

But he reversed his position on Wednesday, telling reporters a payroll tax cut isn’t necessary because the American economy is doing well.

"I’m not looking at a tax cut now," he told reporters at the White House. "We don’t need it. We have a strong economy."

Trump has touted the US economy’s strength throughout his presidency and believes it will be a key pillar of his 2020 platform. But the Trump administration has struggled to keep its economic message straight in recent days. That’s been compounded by the president’s frustration with reports saying the economy is flashing warning signs of another recession.

The president has since complained in private conversations with aides and allies that his opponents are conspiring against him to skew economic data and damage his chances in the upcoming election. In particular, according to The New York Times, Trump has privately claimed that "forces that do not want him to win" are exaggerating the effects that his trade war with China have had on the global economy.

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Trump backtracks on background checks

Trump also reversed his position on expanding background checks for firearm purchases in the wake of two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. In the days following the shooting, the president emphasized that he was interested in taking measures to curb the US’s astronomical rate of gun violence.

It wasn’t the first time Trump had floated the idea of strengthening background checks, and there was significant skepticism from within and outside the White House about whether he’d follow through on his pledge. Indeed, he appeared to lay the groundwork to backtrack when he said in recent days that the background check system is effective enough the way it’s currently configured.

But according to The Atlantic, Trump’s eldest daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, believed that she could convince her father to back universal background checks if the measure was paired with a flashy Rose Garden ceremony where Trump signed a document and called it "historic" and "unprecedented" — an event that would draw exactly the type of positive media attention the president craves.

The Atlantic reported that Trump "loved" the idea and was "all spun up about it." But after a phone call Tuesday with Wayne LaPierre, the CEO of the National Rifle Association, during which he floated the idea to LaPierre, Trump backed down.

LaPierre reportedly gave an unequivocal "no" when Trump asked him if the NRA was willing to back stronger background checks. And with that, The Atlantic reported, "the Rose Garden fantasy" went up in smoke and Trump told LaPierre background checks were off the table.

Trump denied on Wednesday that he’d indicated anything of the sort to LaPierre.

John Haltiwanger contributed to this report.