Trump

And why we can't keep up

Trump’s biggest political advantage has never been ideology, charisma, or even shamelessness. It is his instinctive domination of the political OODA loop, the cycle of “observe, orient, decide, act” that governs combat, competition, and crisis. He understands that the side that controls tempo controls outcomes. He moves quickly, changes subjects without apology, and rarely lingers long enough on any one theme to allow his opponents to orient themselves, much less respond effectively. He’s not interested in debate: he’s interested in changing the subject before his opponents can think of a zinger.

MAGA doesn’t articulate this in doctrinal language, but he is pure tempo. He observes the moment, acts decisively, and immediately forces everyone else to react. Before his opponents can finish condemning one statement, he has made another. Before a narrative hardens, he fractures it. Journalists, institutions, and political adversaries are forever one step behind: fact-checking yesterday while he dictates tomorrow.

Guys, we’ve been doing this for a decade.

In military operations and in fighting more generally, leading the dance is everything. Whoever sets the rhythm forces the other side into a reactive posture. There is a moment in Black Hawk Down when the second helicopter is shot down, and General Garrison says quietly, “We have just lost the initiative.” It is one of the most instructive lines in the film (and I have heard from old JSOC folks that he did, in fact, utter those words). The mission does not fail because of cowardice or incompetence; it fails because the operation is suddenly responding to events instead of dictating them. From that moment on, every decision is constrained by the enemy’s actions. Options that before made sense disappear as fast as a pair of Delta Force snipers in a Mogadishu mob.

If one is inside of an adversary’s OODA Loop, you are making two or three decisions before they can make one. It is why an experienced black belt effortlessly coasts through a blue belt’s attacks. It’s why the Blitz steamrolled France. It’s why if you play a chess match and your novice opponent gets two moves for every one of yours, you can’t keep up.

That is precisely the danger of Trump’s political style. As long as he controls the tempo, his opponents are trapped in a permanent rescue mission to mitigate and salvage. Reacting is not a strategy, especially when your OODA Loop is too slow.

The rare moments when Trump is vulnerable are the moments when he cannot control the pace. Jeffrey Epstein was dangerous to him not because of any single allegation, but because the story resisted easy displacement. It lingered, forcing him, briefly, into a reactive stance. And yet even then, all it took to reset the board was a single, shocking escalation: the kidnapping of a head of state, followed by open threats to unravel the most successful military alliance in history, an alliance that has consistently advanced American interests. We woke up to a blindfolded South American caudillo in a Nike sweatsuit…. Jeffrey who?

That should terrify anyone who cares about democratic governance, because it reveals the central, inherent weakness of the opposition: we do not have the initiative. We have arguments, norms, process, and restraint, but we do not “lead the dance.” We aren’t walking him down in the ring, backing him into a corner with body shots. We’re just eating jab after jab, trying to get our feet set, and wiffing at air.

Regaining the initiative is not about matching his extremism or mimicking his style. It is about understanding the battlefield we are actually on. Politics is not only persuasion; it is momentum. It is about forcing choices. The only realistic opportunity to reset the tempo is the midterm elections. Power changes the rhythm of events. With control over budgets, especially ICE’s, war powers, investigative authority, and the revived, credible threat of impeachment, the opposition can once again dictate terms rather than chase headlines.

If America, as we know it, makes it to November, it can attack. Issues like Epstein stop being distractions and start becoming pressure points. Reaction turns back into initiative. Trump knows this, of course.

If a Democratic House of Representatives cannot drive an agenda, well…

Democrats, and democrats of all stripes, must internalize this lesson. Speed matters. Moral righteousness without tempo is impotence. The fight is not only over ideas but over who gets to decide what happens next.

Until the opposition learns to both keep up with the pace and, eventually, lead the dance, Trump will continue to dominate the field, not because he is always right, but because he is almost always moving first, inside of our OODA Loop, making his second move by the time we realize he made his first one.