As he jetted to Paris last Friday, President Donald Trump received a congratulatory phone call aboard Air Force One. British Prime Minister Theresa May was calling to celebrate the Republican Party's wins in the midterm elections - never mind that Democrats seized control of the House - but her appeal to the American president's vanity was met with an ornery outburst.
Mr Trump berated Ms May for Great Britain not doing enough in his assessment to contain Iran. He questioned her over Brexit and complained about the trade deals he sees as unfair with European countries. Ms May has endured Mr Trump's churlish temper before, but still her aides were shaken by his especially foul mood, according to US and European officials briefed on the conversation.
For Mr Trump, that testy call set the tone for five days of fury - evident in his splenetic tweets and described in interviews with 14 senior administration officials, outside Trump confidants and foreign diplomats, many of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
"He was frustrated with the trip. And he's itching to make some changes," said one senior White House official. "This is a week where things could get really dicey."
During his 43-hour stay in Paris, Mr Trump brooded over the Florida recount and sulked over other key races being called for Democrats in the midterm elections that he had claimed as a "big victory." He erupted at his staff over media coverage of his decision to skip a ceremony honouring the military sacrifice of World War I.
The president also was angry and resentful over French President Emmanuel Macron's public rebuke of rising nationalism, which Mr Trump considered a personal attack. And that was after his difficult meeting with Mr Macron, where officials said little progress was made as Mr Trump again brought up his frustrations over trade and Iran.
"He's just a bull carrying his own china shop with him wherever he travels the world," presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump was plotting a shake-up in his administration. He told advisers over the weekend that he had decided to remove Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and that he also was seriously considering replacing White House chief of staff John Kelly, who scrambled early this week to try to save Ms Nielsen's job.
The senior White House official, who speaks to the president regularly, said Mr Trump has been grousing lately about getting rid of Mr Kelly. "But he's done this three or four times before," this person said. "Nothing is ever real until he sends the tweet."
During Sunday's flight to Washington from Paris, aides filed into the president's private cabin to lobby him against the leading contender to replace Mr Kelly, Nick Ayers, who is currently Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff. These aides told Trump that appointing Mr Ayers would lower staff morale and perhaps trigger an exodus. But the president continues to praise Mr Ayers, who also enjoys the support of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, according to multiple White House officials.
First lady Melania Trump shared her husband's irritation and impatience with some of the staff. On Tuesday, amid reports that the president had decided to oust deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel over tensions between her and other administration officials, the first lady's office issued an extraordinary statement to reporters calling for her firing.
"It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honour of serving in this White House," said Stephanie Grisham, the first lady's spokeswoman.
Melania Trump said in an October interview with ABC News that the president had people working for him whom she did not trust, but that she has let her husband know. "Some people, they don't work there anymore," the first lady said.
In her role as No. 2 to national security adviser John Bolton, Ms Ricardel berated colleagues in meetings, yelled at military aides and White House professional staff, argued with Melania Trump regarding her recent trip to Africa and spread rumours about Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, according to three current and two former White House officials.
Kelly has sought for months to oust Ms Ricardel, calling her a problematic hire in the West Wing, and Mr Mattis has told advisers that he wants her out as well, the officials said.
An NSC spokesman did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Ms Grisham's statement was remarkable because it is so unusual for a first lady or her East Wing staff to weigh in on personnel matters elsewhere in the White House, particularly in the realm of national security.
Last week, the tumult began even before Mr Trump took off for Paris. After directing Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign, controversy swirled around Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker's qualifications for the job, business entanglements and previous public opposition to the Russia investigation.
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