Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 40 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
“There Are Three Things You Can’t Coach”

Jonah Elkowitz, Photo ID: 2529055697 (Shutterstock)
Before I make a few more points about what has been a whirlwind first days of the second Trump administration, I would like to establish a couple (or maybe more) about the first. If I had to rank administrations of the last several decades, Trump One would be in the top three or four easily. The only other candidates are Coolidge, Reagan and Eisenhower, in that order. Trump’s might well have been the best foreign policy presidency of the bunch. His constitutional compliance was as good or better than anyone’s.
With that said, we should easily admit he got off to a rough start. He was a rookie. His personnel were not always the best in the beginning. I had suspected that they would not be. He had little background with that circle. His lack of dependable contacts within that community was going to be a handicap from the beginning. He did not have a deep knowledge of the “lay of the land” and would have to depend on someone who had experience. Of course, the major problem he faced was that there actually was (and still is) such a thing as a Uni-party and a Deep State and a closed political class. And they are all protective of a status quo in which they operate comfortably.
And that status quo is, quite simply, the enemy of grassroots governance.
At the moment, the GOP establishment class is working to appear as dependably supportive of grassroots goals as they had promised to be for decades. But their open support for a 2017 President Trump was hard to see, even with control of both congressional houses. Still, there was principled, if incomplete, pruning of the administrative staff before the term was over.
In the end, Trump delivered the most conservative, grassroots-favorable administration at least since Reagan. After a terribly flawed election and some missteps of his own, he had four years to position the aggressive agenda he intended from the beginning.
He was very much like the fired football coach I referenced in an earlier post. Which leads me to the headline for this post. There is an old coaching axiom which says there are three things you can’t coach: speed, size and experience.
They are all important components and each one’s impact is dependent on how it is developed and used. But there is only one of them that you are not born with. That is experience. As a player or a coach, no matter how well prepared you might be there will be mistakes made because you haven’t been there before. But if you are the right type, each of these becomes a lesson not just well-learned but internalized.
One of the lessons of experience is a focused sense of urgency which I have spoken of before. Time is valuable. The political class will always preach caution as a delaying tactic. Regardless of their rhetoric, actual change is rarely their goal unless it increases their power or favors government.
Perhaps the biggest stumbling block for Reagan was GOP senators. Trump had to contend with the same things from “standard” GOP congressional types across the board. His election was a direct threat to political class members of both parties which did all they could to stymy this more “populist” agenda. Truthfully, they still will if the public turns a blind eye.
My sense is that you are now seeing not just an experienced Trump but a comfortable one. You are watching Trump being himself completely. That also is a lesson of experience. He began his political journey with a distinct vision. He really hasn’t changed opinions or views much over the last 30 years. Now the vision is matched with experience.
The Trumpian mission might be more in line with our founding vision than any pursued for at least the last 30 years but he is no ideologue. He is a pragmatic fixer. The simple truth (and most truth is quite simple!) is the founding vision provides both the freest and most prosperous society for mankind. I am not sure if Mr. Trump could write a concise treatise on Liberty. But by the time he had run through a variety of examples, seemingly vaguely connected stories, wide predictions of outcomes, and blended in all with his rhetorical “weave,” he would have given a pretty good common-man picture of its operation.
He is a born leader not because of gilded-word diversions but because of a focus on straight-line paths to solutions. The Alinsky political types are of a different breed. They have to hide their ultimate goals of social destruction from the useful idiots whom they manage with a false utopian promise. They are not leaders, they are managers and manipulators. As a result, they are basically destroyers.
Trump’s whole direction is to solve things. And he instinctively wants his solutions to be the best. That is his view of America itself. I will admit that the biggest problem I have had with him when he began his first campaign stems from that very trait. It was his handling of the United States Football League. His drive as the most influential owner led to it going head-to-head with the NFL and then its demise. It cost me a job. But it was his vision not to be second best that drove that push. It is a tendency that I understand very well. It is one needed to achieve great things.
Because we are seeing a Trump who is very much himself, there is purpose, precise direction and determined urgency to the early days of the administration that, I am sure, will sustain itself for the length of the term. This brings to mind some other elements of successful leadership that are more important than pretty words and good manners. They are purpose and direction. And in this case, the goals which are targeted by that purpose and direction are shared with the American people.
I have speculated before that it is possible that most, if not all, positive change for mankind comes from outliers. This president is not just an outlier himself but has collected a band of outliers to help in his mission — and hopefully this helps to seed a next generation who rejects a political class with globalist views in favor of nurturing and growing a distinctly American character centered on liberty. It could well bring a day when the decisions that impact American citizens are not made in situation rooms, plush offices with closed doors or party caucus meetings, but instead by the free and honest selection of office holders.
Published in General
Another classic Ole!
Lots I am liking here.
Sowell famously said that getting elected and reelected were priorities number one and two and that whatever was number three was far distant, but I think can-kicking/third-rail dodging would have to be number three.
Bold. Bodacious. Ballsy.
Sowell also said there are no solutions, only trade-offs. But I think he would admit that there is such a thing as an anti-solution and we pay for those daily in taxes and in other ways. So bring on the solutions.
This would be enough for a lesser man to be anti-Trump4lyfe. Guess you’re not one of those.
And Biden couldn’t even get this part right.
There is an old…axiom/joke that goes, ‘
Reasonably[Reasonable] men adapt to their environment, therefore all positive change comes from unreasonable men.’ It is a little pat, but may we be protected from overly reasonable men.Particularly those with pretty words and good manners.
Excellent. Republicans too often are Democrat Lite.
I’d like to think Trump’s yuge win has woken Republicans up. Even some Dems (but not all) are finally taking note of what the voting public really wants . . .
Politicians on both sides are accused of not really wanting to fix things, but wanting to run on the problems over and over again. Some truth to that I think. Trump is different in that he is actually trying to solve problems! I think that is somewhat shocking to a lot of the standard politicians in Washington. What? You mean you actually want to fix this?
I am already saying that Trump is the best President in my lifetime, based on Trump 47 alone. Illegal crossings down by 93% is awesome.
Kicking the MSM in the ‘nads just completed the picture.
Winning the great trade war of Feb 3, 2025 is just icing on the cake.
Enjoyable reading as always. I remember a quote from Sparky Anderson, Manager of the Cincinnati Reds: “speed don’t slump”.
This is winning. For the rest, we’re still waiting for the score to come in.
Dismantling the system of political commissars in the workplace is also a win–a big one. The pardons for many of the J6 defendants are a win.
But the trade wars and illegal drug wars? Far too early to tell.
Bud Lite.
What’s bothersome are the MAGA Republicans who are barely distinguishable from the worst of the Democrats. The ones who support RFK Jr for HHS Secretary, for example.
Count me as one MAGA Republican who supports RFKJr for HHS SEC. I am quite distinguishable from let’s say Chuck Schumer, AOC, and Pocahontas.
Gulf of America baby!
Is this guy wrong in his summary of RFK Jr’s positions?
He can’t have the first, and nobody cares about what his thoughts are on the rest. He’s being hired for a job, and if he messes that up he’s gone.
The organization he’s been asked to run is in charge of a CDC that thinks gun control is its job. Has he said he’s going to tell the CDC to back off of such topics and stick to infectious diseases?
Who gave the CDC permission to think?
Doesn’t matter. They do think that. Most government organizations try to expand their roles and authority until somebody stops them.
If we could just elect a President who would tell each of these Federal agencies to stick to their core mission.
Sorry Subcomandante Whatever Your Name Is, I think the quaint term is that RFK Jr will “serve at the pleasure of the President”. I’m not pretending he’s a conservative but I do support his claim to want to take on Big Pharma and Big Ag to help make America healthy – that is why I support him. I remember years ago when I first joined Ricochet and l heard Rob Long whining that we need to make the Republican Party a big tent party. Trump seems to be doing that and these appointments will carry out his agenda or as Percival noted he will be gone.
Whatever “take on” means. Lacking further information, it sounds like making the deep state deeper, swampier, more regulatory, and more expensive.
That is your pessimistic take. I’m looking for great things. MAGA. MAHA. Shoot, he hasn’t even been confirmed yet and you’ve given up. Trump is into winning, not quitting. We’ll see.
True, I’ve given up on socialism ever working.
When RR went into surgery after the attempted assassination, he asked the surgical team if they were Republicans. The surgeon replied, “Today, Mr President, we are all Republicans.”
Today we need a need team alongside Trump who can perform surgery on bloated government programs. Everyone on that team is, in my book, a Republican.
Sounds like the Uniparty.
What on that list do you think he could do all by himself?
Not if Trump doesn’t want him to,
RFK Jr. would be a Cabinet member, not a mini-Commander-in-Chief.
You ever hear of the team concept? He can’t do any of it all by himself. He needs somebody to appoint him to office, for starters, and to sign his paychecks, so to speak. But with people like you helping him and cheering him on, he can go far.
Do you think Trump has appointed mechanical robots to his cabinet, so he can sit in his office and write program code that they will execute? If that’s how it works, he may just as well keep Biden’s people in the cabinet. Most of them are leftwing extremists, too, not that it will make any difference.