Overhauling Venezuela promises to be a chore. The Trump administration has had bad timing. Perhaps the President should be guided by Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, written in 1516. He observed that “the king, being distracted with the charge of two Kingdoms, could not properly attend to either.”

Given the affair in Minneapolis, this seems to be what Donald Trump is facing. Having an explosive situation incited by the killing of Renee Nicole Good and the subsequent distortion of that action by the White House, it seems the President is “distracted” to say the very least. Even his normally compliant Republican base in the House has been rattled by whispers of revolt. Seventeen defectors do not a revolution make, but for Trump it is rare.

Despite the current economic conditions, Trump is facing a crisis largely of his own making. Either he has failed to heed good advice, or he has listened to exceedingly bad counsel. One expects it is the latter rather than the former. Desperate to win the elusive Nobel prize, Trump wants to make “a splash” whether in Caracas or Minneapolis. Whatever the motive, he would be well advised to reconsider his present course.

Trump gave a hint of his mood when he turned on longtime MAGA faithful. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace, and Thomas Massie felt the wrath of the administration for pushing the Epstein affair and for an alternative health plan. Trump did not bother to simply call them mistaken; he called them disloyal. Seemingly, he now prefers the sycophant of all sycophants, Lindsey Graham, whose obsequiousness shattered all records on Air Force One.

To so casually throw MAGA loyalists to the political wolves indicates that Trump has no more respect for his friends than he does for his enemies, and indications are that the minor dissents may become larger in the future. The Senate’s vote to advance the War Powers Act on the strength of five GOP dissents may not be significant in the short run, but it might be a disturbing trend in the future. Lyndon Johnson could provide an example from the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, where two Democrats voted against bombing North Vietnam in 1964, grew steadily by 1966. These things might grow incrementally, but if left unaddressed, they can explode.

Whether he receives good or bad advice, Trump needs to win back those who wish him well. Now he is stuck with the Neo-conservative Hawks and those who called him every name in the book in the 2016 race for the Republican nomination. Those “MAGA” friendly elements still active, such as Stephen Miller, are those who are pushing ICE and creating yet another front. For Trump to alienate his old friends at a time of peril is a mystery.

Politics is a give-and-take proposition. Trump wants loyalty. He has now traded his most faithful for those who eagerly curry favor with their boss. The amen corner in the White House is loaded with opportunists and agenda pushers. The King is so dismayed that he takes comfort in faux loyalty. Trump, like Thomas Moore’s King, is not only out of his element, but he is surrounded by those who care not a whit for him or his movement.