And they were right. Trump's reality TV background, always a subtext of his approach to governing, this week became the dominant sensibility as he and his aides repeatedly engaged the celebrity villain from his "Apprentice" days:

• Trump tweets about the former communications director for his Office of Public Liaison: "When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!"
• Even Trump defender Geraldo Rivera scolded the president for that one: "Fear my friend @realDonaldTrump undermines himself by using intemperate, boorish language to describe his enemies. I can't stand @OMAROSA a bully, back stabber & big mouth. But to call her a 'dog' & 'low life' is beneath dignity of the office of @POTUS & open to ugly connotation."
• The enemy of my enemy ... To bolster his case against O, Trump retweets Michael Cohen, the former fixer who turned on him and released an audio clip of Trump discussing hush money. Cohen tweeted: To "the many dozens of #journalists who called me, questioning @OMAROSA claim in her new book that @POTUS @realDonaldTrump took a note from me, put it in his mouth and ate it...I saw NO such thing and am shocked anyone would take this seriously."
• "Trump's campaign arm ... filed a complaint with an arbitrator, accusing former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman of violating a 2016 confidentiality agreement with her tell-all book and publicity tour." (NPR)
• And then, in response to Sarah Sanders' inability to issue a blanket denial on Omarosa's most incendiary allegation, the cable news banners ... CNN: "WH: 'CANNOT GUARANTEE' TAPE WON'T REVEAL TRUMP USING N-WORD" ... Fox: "WH: CANNOT GUARANTEE RECORDINGS WON'T REVEAL TRUMP USING RACIAL SLUR."

A current White House official told us: "From the folks I've talked to (and I know I feel this way), it's honestly more of true disappointment that she did this."

• "Not because she's some pillar of integrity ... but because at the end of the day, she was in the trenches with us."
• "[I]t's truly a bummer to think anyone can turn on so many people, so quickly."
• "And ... she's clearly enjoying it."

The big picture, from an outside West Wing adviser: "Friends and allies are unfazed by the chaos around Omarosa, stunned by his retweeting Cohen ... and fearful about Manafort rolling over."

• Omarosa ends her three pages of acknowledgments: "To God be the glory!"

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• "As a way to celebrate President Trump’s huge announcement, our campaign will be selling a new line of gear," campaign manager Brad Parscale wrote in an email to supporters. "But first we have to make a final decision on the design we will use to commemorate President Trump’s new Space Force — and he wants YOU to have a say."

Behind the scenes: Senior officials told me the White House had no knowledge of this plan.

• "We had an objectively good roll out...and then the campaign does that and makes it all look like a joke," one White House official told me. "It was done with zero White House input. Campaign went rogue."

Trump campaign response: Michael Glassner, chief operating officer of the Trump campaign, told me the campaign "decided to celebrate the president’s innovation and include our supporters in the spirit of it by having them vote on the best caricature logo from six options, which are of course completely unofficial."

• "The winner will be imprinted on t-shirts, which will then go on sale on our online store."
• "Stay tuned for the results — the shirts will no doubt sellout like most of our Trump campaign gear."

• SWIFT cut off Iran from the global financial system in 2012 as a result of American pressure on the Europeans to crack down on Tehran. Then SWIFT reconnected Iran after Obama secured the nuclear deal with Iran.
• "SWIFT is the backbone of the global financial system and without access to SWIFT Iran can't move money around the world, cannot get paid for oil, pay for their imports and would have a difficult time financing its activities abroad," said Mark Dubowitz, an Iran hawk who heads the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and was on the call last week.
• "The administration seems committed to financially and economically squeezing the regime using all instruments of national power," Dubowitz added, "and has already signaled that it will bring back the SWIFT sanctions to deny Iranian banks access to the SWIFT system."

Behind the scenes: Following Trump's withdrawal from the Iran deal, in May, the Europeans have been fighting to keep the deal alive and to make sure that enough money is flowing to placate Iran's leaders. A big part of that is ensuring that Iranian banks remain plugged into the SWIFT network.

• A U.S. source in close touch with senior European officials tells me they want to shield SWIFT from U.S. pressure to expel Iranian banks.
• But Trump officials are signaling they may even sanction SWIFT officials if they keep Iran connected to the global financial system.

What's next? SWIFT is governed by a board of directors, including senior executives from the world's largest banks. In November, the board will have to decide whether or not to call Trump's bluff.

• "Regardless of the views of European political leaders, SWIFT may want to protect the integrity of its financial messaging platform from the illicit financial activities of Iranian banks that will be re-sanctioned by the administration," Dubowitz told me.
• If they do call Trump's bluff, the president will have to decide whether to take the unprecedented step of sanctioning top executives from the world's leading banks, like Citi and J.P. Morgan.

The bottom line: This issue isn't getting much attention yet, but it could become one of the biggest brawls between the Trump administration and the EU.