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When a candidate seeks office by running as a renegade opposed to both dominant parties, it shouldn’t come as a shock if he later has trouble finding friends in office. Still, it’s remarkable how quickly Donald Trump has managed to isolate himself in the White House, struggling to find allies among Republicans and Democrats alike. Rather than follow up his successful presidential bid with an effort to heal wounds and suss out supporters for his key initiatives, his 70 days in office have left him both loathed by Democrats – nothing new there – but also caught between two antagonistic wings of the party he nominally represents.

Several of the news organs Trump despises are suggesting he’s edging towards open war with the conservative Republican faction among which his biggest enthusiasts were located. While the White House may dismiss it as Fake News, the reportsonce again originate in Trump’s own words: specifically, another of the series of intemperate tweets that have consistently gotten him into trouble. This time he launched an outburst at the Freedom Caucus, the powerful hardliners who were a regular thorn in the side of President Barack Obama, Democrats, moderate Republicans and the party’s entrenched ruling class. If anyone should be Trump people, you’d think, it’s the 30-40 the members of the Freedom Caucus, who make up a small minority of the 246 Republicans in the House of Representatives but have used it to produce influence well beyond their numbers. Instead, the president is threateningto help defeat those who face re-election in next year’s mid-terms.