‘Meltdown’: Trump Fumes When Confronted With ‘Always Chickens Out’ Claim
May 28, 2025
By David Badash
President Donald Trump’s tariff policy has been highly criticized, especially for his seemingly arbitrary, up and down, in-effect and paused actions, which have led the stock markets to rise and fall—providing little stability or reassurance to manufacturers and investors alike.
“Traders are loading up and dumping stocks based on Trump’s erratic approach to announcing tariffs and then retreating on them,” The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
McGill University Associate Professor Robert Rutledge, an astrophysicist, on Tuesday posted a screenshot from a New York Times article titled, “Stocks Rally on the ‘TACO Trade’,” which explained the phenomenon.
During Wednesday’s swearing-in ceremony of Trump’s interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., former Fox host Jeanine Pirro, a reporter confronted the president with remarks from analysts who have dubbed his tactics “TACO,” or, “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
“Mr. President,” a reporter said (video below), “Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the ‘Taco Trade.’ They’re saying Trump always chickens out on your tariff threats, and that’s why markets are higher this week. What’s your response to that?”
After some back-and-forth, the President admitted, “I’ve never heard that,” before growing defensive.
“You mean because I reduced China from 145%, that I set down to 100% and then down to another number, and I said, ‘You have to open up your whole country.’ And because, I gave the European Union a 50% tax tariff, and they called up, and they said, ‘Please, let’s meet right now. Please, let’s meet right now.'”
Trump claimed that “after I did what I did, they said, ‘We’ll meet anytime you want.'” And we have an end date of July 9th. You call that chickening out?”
He then lashed out at his predecessor, President Joe Biden, for not imposing high tariffs.
“Because we have $14 trillion now invested, committed to investing, when Biden didn’t have practically anything, Trump claimed, although there are few actual, finalized agreements.
“Biden, this country was dying,” Trump continued. “You know, we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. I went to Saudi Arabia. The king told me. He said, ‘You got the hottest—We have the hottest country in the world right now.'”
“Six months ago, this country was stone cold dead,” Trump alleged. “We had a dead country.”
“We had a country people didn’t think it was gonna survive, and you ask a nasty question like that?” he said, attacking the reporter. “It’s called ‘negotiation.’ You set a number. And if you go down, you know set a number at
After explaining his China policy, he again attacked, telling the reporter, “don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question.”
“For me, that’s the nastiest question.”
Economist Justin Wolfers on Tuesday explained some of the ramifications of “TACO.”
“Those truck drivers … won’t have goods to truck across the country, they also won’t be stopping a gas stations to buy a sandwich. And then the sandwich demand falls off and on and on it goes. But I think it’s actually the effects are far deeper than that,” Wolfers explained.
“There’s an asset here that really matters called ‘American credibility.’ There was a time when the President opened his mouth when you had to pay attention, because you thought it meant something, that it was a shift in policy that other countries could rely on and respond to. That’s no longer the case.”
After specifically mentioning TACO, Wolfers continued with more examples. He noted, for example, “there’s a factory that could be built, except that one of the most important imports we get from the European Union is precision machinery. And that either just went up 50% or went up 10%, but no one can be sure.”
Critics blasted the President for his Oval Office remarks.
Democratic strategist Keith Edwards mocked Trump, saying that he “just learned Wall Street is calling his tariffs ‘TACO trade’ (‘Trump Always Chickens Out’) — and you have to watch his meltdown.”
The political action committee Really American called it “an insane moment,” noting that Trump had “a complete meltdown.”
“What’s hilarious about this whole thing is there has to be people in the admin who know about this stuff and everyone is afraid to tell him bad news,” noted Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko. ” So we get to see him lose his s— for the first time live on tv.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
'Nasty button pressed': Nicolle Wallace mocks triggered Trump after TACO jokeMay 28, 2025
By David Badash
THE NEW CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
President Donald Trump’s tariff policy has been highly criticized, especially for his seemingly arbitrary, up and down, in-effect and paused actions, which have led the stock markets to rise and fall—providing little stability or reassurance to manufacturers and investors alike.
“Traders are loading up and dumping stocks based on Trump’s erratic approach to announcing tariffs and then retreating on them,” The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
McGill University Associate Professor Robert Rutledge, an astrophysicist, on Tuesday posted a screenshot from a New York Times article titled, “Stocks Rally on the ‘TACO Trade’,” which explained the phenomenon.
During Wednesday’s swearing-in ceremony of Trump’s interim U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., former Fox host Jeanine Pirro, a reporter confronted the president with remarks from analysts who have dubbed his tactics “TACO,” or, “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
“Mr. President,” a reporter said (video below), “Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the ‘Taco Trade.’ They’re saying Trump always chickens out on your tariff threats, and that’s why markets are higher this week. What’s your response to that?”
After some back-and-forth, the President admitted, “I’ve never heard that,” before growing defensive.
“You mean because I reduced China from 145%, that I set down to 100% and then down to another number, and I said, ‘You have to open up your whole country.’ And because, I gave the European Union a 50% tax tariff, and they called up, and they said, ‘Please, let’s meet right now. Please, let’s meet right now.'”
Trump claimed that “after I did what I did, they said, ‘We’ll meet anytime you want.'” And we have an end date of July 9th. You call that chickening out?”
He then lashed out at his predecessor, President Joe Biden, for not imposing high tariffs.
“Because we have $14 trillion now invested, committed to investing, when Biden didn’t have practically anything, Trump claimed, although there are few actual, finalized agreements.
“Biden, this country was dying,” Trump continued. “You know, we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. I went to Saudi Arabia. The king told me. He said, ‘You got the hottest—We have the hottest country in the world right now.'”
“Six months ago, this country was stone cold dead,” Trump alleged. “We had a dead country.”
“We had a country people didn’t think it was gonna survive, and you ask a nasty question like that?” he said, attacking the reporter. “It’s called ‘negotiation.’ You set a number. And if you go down, you know set a number at
After explaining his China policy, he again attacked, telling the reporter, “don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question.”
“For me, that’s the nastiest question.”
Economist Justin Wolfers on Tuesday explained some of the ramifications of “TACO.”
“Those truck drivers … won’t have goods to truck across the country, they also won’t be stopping a gas stations to buy a sandwich. And then the sandwich demand falls off and on and on it goes. But I think it’s actually the effects are far deeper than that,” Wolfers explained.
“There’s an asset here that really matters called ‘American credibility.’ There was a time when the President opened his mouth when you had to pay attention, because you thought it meant something, that it was a shift in policy that other countries could rely on and respond to. That’s no longer the case.”
After specifically mentioning TACO, Wolfers continued with more examples. He noted, for example, “there’s a factory that could be built, except that one of the most important imports we get from the European Union is precision machinery. And that either just went up 50% or went up 10%, but no one can be sure.”
Critics blasted the President for his Oval Office remarks.
Democratic strategist Keith Edwards mocked Trump, saying that he “just learned Wall Street is calling his tariffs ‘TACO trade’ (‘Trump Always Chickens Out’) — and you have to watch his meltdown.”
The political action committee Really American called it “an insane moment,” noting that Trump had “a complete meltdown.”
“What’s hilarious about this whole thing is there has to be people in the admin who know about this stuff and everyone is afraid to tell him bad news,” noted Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko. ” So we get to see him lose his s— for the first time live on tv.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
TACO stands for "Trump always chickens out"
Sarah K. Burris
May 29, 2025
RAW STORY
Donald Trump (Photo via Reuters)
At the top of her Thursday show, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace showed the clip of President Donald Trump snapping at a reporter who asked him about the new "TACO trade" nickname he's earned.
Financial Times commentator Robert Armstrong invented the joke in his newsletter. TACO stands for "Trump always chickens out," and refers largely to the trade war.
Trump snapped at the reporter, saying, "And you ask a nasty question like that!"
"Oh! She got the nasty, nasty button-pressed," said Wallace. "Chicken out, defined there by Donald Trump publicly for the first time. Trump blocked by the courts, shocked by the markets, and mocked by Wall Street analysts is where we start today."
Wallace's guest Armstrong told Trump that one of his concerns is that the TACO joke was a good thing, because he backed off of destructive tariffs. His fear is that Trump's humiliation means he will no longer back down, and that's bad for the American economy.
"I meant to make a joke, not cause a recession," Armstrong told Wallace. "He's the president! I'm an inky-finger hack making a dumb joke! I'm the one who's supposed to behave carefully around the president of the United States? How did we get here? I mean, the situation is — bizarre doesn't even begin to cover it, as far as I'm concerned."
He commented on the "serious question about" living in "a world in which you're not allowed to make fun of the president."
"Look, the reason the TACO trade joke, which is kind of a dumb joke, stuck, is because it has this huge element of truth in it," he explained. "And yes, a lot of times in the last, you know, 12 or 18 hours since that conversation in the White House, people have either written me or mentioned me on social media saying, this guy's dumb joke is going to cause a recession. And I don't like that at all. I meant to make a joke, not cause a recession."
Charlotte Howard, executive editor of The Economist, recalled a "boiling" Trump who was forced to listen as President Barack Obama excoriated him at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2011. It infuriated Trump enough to inspire his bid for the presidency.
"He does detest being mocked," Howard told Wallace.
"The fact that we're having that conversation points to this weird environment in which, you know, some people seem to be treating Trump like a senile uncle who needs to be appeased," she added.
However, Wallace argued, "No one is humiliating Donald Trump except Donald Trump."
See the clip below or at the link here.
'Serious question': Creator of viral Trump nickname fears he may tank economy out of spite
MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace and Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong on MSNBC on May 29, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via MSNBC / YouTube)
May 29, 2025
ALTERNET
Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong initially coined the acronym "TACO," which stands for "Trump Always Chickens Out," earlier this month. The acronym caught on and President Donald Trump snapped at a reporter who brought it up during a press conference this week. Now, Armstrong is worried of the implications.
During a Thursday panel discussion on MSNBC's "Deadline: White House," conservative journalist Charlie Sykes opined that Trump may end up doubling down on his trade war as a means of proving the "TACO" nickname wrong, thus triggering a global recession in the process. Host Nicolle Wallace then pivoted from Sykes' point to ask Armstrong about whether there's truth to the theory that a "humiliated" Trump could end up permanently damaging the global economy out of spite. She also noted that Trump himself has given weight to the nickname by how frequently he changes his mind from one day to the next.
"The truth of the number of times that he blinked is a data point that exists in public," Wallace said. "We know no investigative journalist dug up the number of times Trump balked because of the poor reception to his tariffs. And they were announced. They were paused. They were raised. They were dropped. They were put back in. They were pulled off. 100 deals in 100 days. There were none. Now there's a framework for one with the UK and the beginning of talks in Switzerland with China. No framework, no deal."
Armstrong responded by saying he knew the "TACO" acronym was "kind of a dumb joke" but that it "stuck" because it has "an element of truth." However, he added that he didn't like the suggestion that his joke in a column could be the catalyst for a global recession due to the risk of angering a sensitive president.
"I meant to make a joke, not cause a recession. But there is a serious question here ... about a world in which you're not allowed to make fun of the president," Armstrong said. "He's the president! I am an inky-fingered hack making a dumb joke. I'm the one who's supposed to behave carefully around the president of the United States? How did we get here?"
Wallace countered that if the economy did slide into a recession, that it wouldn't be Armstrong's fault, but that it would be due to both Trump's policies and a failure of those around him to rein in his worst impulses. Armstrong then made a comparison to former President Joe Biden, and referenced reports that his inner circle kept the octogenarian president away from even other White House staffers to hide his condition.
"Treating the current president with kid gloves by his advisers or by the press or by anybody else is a bad idea. It was a bad idea with a Democrat. It's a bad idea with a Republican. we shouldn't do it," Armstrong said, adding that Biden at least had a "sense of humor" that would prevent him from causing economic harm over a joke.
Watch the segment below, or by clicking this link.
This new nickname must become everyone's motto — because it will drive Trump crazy
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters aboard Air Force One, en-route to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 15, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters aboard Air Force One, en-route to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 15, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
May 29, 2025
Wall Street traders, who are almost feral in sniffing out patterns in which to make money, are using the term coined by Financial Times columnist Neil Armstrong, “the TACO trade”— which stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out”—regarding Trump threatening tariffs, sending the markets plummeting, only to back down later, causing markets to rise.
Trump became agitated yesterday in the Oval Office when a reporter asked him about TACO . At first, he was bewildered, not seeming to know about it, but soon he became angry, calling it a “nasty question.” That’s how you know something is true, when Trump is exposed— humiliated about the truth surfacing—and soon becomes furious.
We can all learn from the market traders and from China and others beating Trump at his own game. In fact, TACO should be a motto—and an ad campaign—for Democrats, because it’s both empowering to those taking on Trump, and it also gets under his skin big time.
There’s no question Trump is engaged in mass corruption and destruction to our democracy, causing what is seemingly irreparable harm. But Trump is also losing a lot too.
Those two things can be true at once. I don’t have to go through all the ways Trump is engaged in corruption—from crypto dinners to pardons—and the ways he’s taken a sledgehammer to our democracy. We’re all seeing it happen every day.
At the same time, those who’ve chosen to fight Trump rather than capitulate find it’s the only way to respond, and they’re often winning. Trying to strike a deal with Trump—as Columbia University and some law firms did—only has him extorting you further, like the mob, as former FBI director James Comey put it last week. Trump is a classic narcissist who doesn’t really believe in striking “a deal.” That involves give and take, calibration and compromise, with both sides coming out on top or able to tell their supporters that.
Trump doesn’t want compromise, and always wants to be the only winner. He wants domination, and once he knows he can dominate you—such as when you agree to his supposed “deal”—he will keep dominating you, as Columbia and the cowardly law firms are finding out. He now wants to control Columbia’s entire curriculum, and he’s making the law firms that struck “deals” with him represent shady MAGA clients, after they agreed to give him and his “causes” billions in pro bono work.
So the only way is to fight him—you have nothing to lose and everything to gain—because more often not he caves in, or is a dealt a blow in court, as happened with three with law firms in recent weeks that said no to him.
China, unlike some other countries, refused to bow to Trump, and retaliated with tariffs. As it escalated dramatically, it was Trump who backed down, dropping the 145% tariffs, with China making no concessions of any kind. TACO was in play.
Even Vladimir Putin, in a terrible example, knows how to play Trump, aware that Trump would never get tough. So far, horribly, it’s TACO again.
Those who fought Trump have also often won in court. Trump had a series of losses in recent days, including the stunning defeat at the U.S. Court of International Trade yesterday. The three-judge panel—an Obama appointee, a Reagan appointee, and Trump appointee—unanimously threw out most of his tariffs. The administration is, of course, appealing, but the states and businesses that brought cases have had a big win, and legal experts believe that the Supreme Court will uphold the ruling.
There was no way that Trump’s using emergency powers granted by Congress decades ago to impose tariffs for an unlimited amount of time was constitutional. But unless you decide to fight it, a court won’t declare it.
The universities and law firms that capitulated to Trump worried they’d suffer losses if they didn’t. Yet, their reputations are now in tatters, a major loss. And the law firms have lost major clients, and are losing attorneys, who are leaving for other firms or starting their own firms. Meanwhile, Harvard has the public behind it in its fight, and the law firms that fought Trump are empowering others.
Trump’s goal, again, is domination, not negotiation and compromise. China and others learned that if you push back, he folds. So, we all should learn from the Wall Street traders’ shorthand—”Trump Always Chickens Out.” It empowers more of us to fight—including major institutions with power and influence, which we need on our side—and it drives Trump crazy.
Wall Street traders, who are almost feral in sniffing out patterns in which to make money, are using the term coined by Financial Times columnist Neil Armstrong, “the TACO trade”— which stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out”—regarding Trump threatening tariffs, sending the markets plummeting, only to back down later, causing markets to rise.
Trump became agitated yesterday in the Oval Office when a reporter asked him about TACO . At first, he was bewildered, not seeming to know about it, but soon he became angry, calling it a “nasty question.” That’s how you know something is true, when Trump is exposed— humiliated about the truth surfacing—and soon becomes furious.
We can all learn from the market traders and from China and others beating Trump at his own game. In fact, TACO should be a motto—and an ad campaign—for Democrats, because it’s both empowering to those taking on Trump, and it also gets under his skin big time.
There’s no question Trump is engaged in mass corruption and destruction to our democracy, causing what is seemingly irreparable harm. But Trump is also losing a lot too.
Those two things can be true at once. I don’t have to go through all the ways Trump is engaged in corruption—from crypto dinners to pardons—and the ways he’s taken a sledgehammer to our democracy. We’re all seeing it happen every day.
At the same time, those who’ve chosen to fight Trump rather than capitulate find it’s the only way to respond, and they’re often winning. Trying to strike a deal with Trump—as Columbia University and some law firms did—only has him extorting you further, like the mob, as former FBI director James Comey put it last week. Trump is a classic narcissist who doesn’t really believe in striking “a deal.” That involves give and take, calibration and compromise, with both sides coming out on top or able to tell their supporters that.
Trump doesn’t want compromise, and always wants to be the only winner. He wants domination, and once he knows he can dominate you—such as when you agree to his supposed “deal”—he will keep dominating you, as Columbia and the cowardly law firms are finding out. He now wants to control Columbia’s entire curriculum, and he’s making the law firms that struck “deals” with him represent shady MAGA clients, after they agreed to give him and his “causes” billions in pro bono work.
So the only way is to fight him—you have nothing to lose and everything to gain—because more often not he caves in, or is a dealt a blow in court, as happened with three with law firms in recent weeks that said no to him.
China, unlike some other countries, refused to bow to Trump, and retaliated with tariffs. As it escalated dramatically, it was Trump who backed down, dropping the 145% tariffs, with China making no concessions of any kind. TACO was in play.
Even Vladimir Putin, in a terrible example, knows how to play Trump, aware that Trump would never get tough. So far, horribly, it’s TACO again.
Those who fought Trump have also often won in court. Trump had a series of losses in recent days, including the stunning defeat at the U.S. Court of International Trade yesterday. The three-judge panel—an Obama appointee, a Reagan appointee, and Trump appointee—unanimously threw out most of his tariffs. The administration is, of course, appealing, but the states and businesses that brought cases have had a big win, and legal experts believe that the Supreme Court will uphold the ruling.
There was no way that Trump’s using emergency powers granted by Congress decades ago to impose tariffs for an unlimited amount of time was constitutional. But unless you decide to fight it, a court won’t declare it.
The universities and law firms that capitulated to Trump worried they’d suffer losses if they didn’t. Yet, their reputations are now in tatters, a major loss. And the law firms have lost major clients, and are losing attorneys, who are leaving for other firms or starting their own firms. Meanwhile, Harvard has the public behind it in its fight, and the law firms that fought Trump are empowering others.
Trump’s goal, again, is domination, not negotiation and compromise. China and others learned that if you push back, he folds. So, we all should learn from the Wall Street traders’ shorthand—”Trump Always Chickens Out.” It empowers more of us to fight—including major institutions with power and influence, which we need on our side—and it drives Trump crazy.
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