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But three weeks into his presidency, he has been repeatedly disarmed and frustrated by partisan opponents and the machinery of a government designed to check his power.

"I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I'll build them very inexpensively," Trump said during his June 2015 campaign kick-off. "I will build a great great wall on our southern border and I'll have Mexico pay for that wall."

Trump's promise to build a wall on the southern border was a consistent crowd-pleaser during the campaign. Congressional Republicans have vowed to finance its construction, but have been short on the how and when details.

Pressed to provide a bit more detail, Trump advocated for allowing people to buy insurance across state lines. But that carries concerns for critics from both sides of the aisle.

And with demonstrators flooding town hall meetings to rail against Republicans' health care plan, or a convincing lack thereof, full repeal seems a long ways off.

A little more than a week before his inauguration, Trump declared at a wild press conference in New York that "Russia, China, Japan, Mexico, all countries will respect us far more, far more than they do under past administrations."

Trump during his campaign, and after being elected, asserted over and again the US, mostly because of Obama, had been diminished in the eyes of the world. He pledged to reverse that and restore those purported losses.

While it's unclear exactly how outsiders' views of the US have shifted over the past three weeks, Gallup found that only 29% Americans believe "other countries around the world have respect for the president." Two-thirds of respondents said they did not.

Here's how those numbers stack up against Presidents Obama and George W. Bush at similar stages of their first terms:

The executive order, which also paused the US refugee program and halted the entry of Syrian refugees indefinitely, set off mass protests around the country. Within 24 hours, judges were hearing arguments against it. Now, after seeing it blocked in multiple venues, Trump will have to decide if he wants a Supreme Court showdown or to go back to the drawing board.

On Friday, he signaled both options remained on the table. And more pointedly, doubled down on his argument in favor of some kind of ban.

"There are tremendous threats to our country," he said during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, eschewing specifics but suggesting that he, as President, was privy to information that would shake the broader public.

However it plays out, what's clear now is that Trump's December 2015 announcement "calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on" is a long way off -- and even more measured versions have significant challenges ahead.

Delivered days before the travel ban, this too set off an avalanche of protest, both in the streets and among mostly Democratic leaders in major urban centers like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Smaller cities like New Haven, Connecticut, and Austin, Texas, have also threatened to fight back in court.

In the private dealings of his family business, Trump's decision-making went unquestioned -- at least publicly. But the presidency is ruled by a different calculus, one its new resident, three weeks into his four year term, is struggling to command.

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This is going to be harder than Donald Trump expected - CNN