Taco Trump

Pick one:

   --- Trump is a master negotiator. He wrote the book on deal making.

or

   --- TACO. Trump Always Chickens Out. He blinks. He caves. 

President Donald Trump's response to a CNBC reporter's question on how he felt about the "taco" label was absolutely on brand for Trump.  

Don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question. To me, that’s the nastiest question.

Even Fox News said Trump was "not happy" and "rattled." Fox tolerated one of its commentators saying, on air, that there was, indeed, "some fundamental that was wrong with his tariff policy."

The taco label came to public attention on a business network. It referenced a profitable stock trade. Trump's various announcements on tariffs bring an immediate drop in the stock of the companies most affected, e.g., Apple, whose phones are assembled in China, when a 135% tariff is announced on imports from China. Then, in a few days, seeing the upheaval in the financial markets, Trump temporizes and puts that announcement on "pause" or reduces the tariff proposal. The market rebounds in relief. A trade opportunity was evident. Buy low after the tariff announcement, and then sell high when Trump chickens out. 

The "taco trade" benefits Trump insiders. Pam Bondi, Trump's attorney general, sold between $1 million and $5 million worth of shares in Trump Media stock during market hours on April 2, 2025, the so-called "Liberation Day," just before Trump announced worldwide tariffs after the stock market closed. The stock market and Trump Media stock fell sharply. A buying opportunity emerged promptly when Trump reversed himself.

ProPublica wrote that other Trump insiders made similar "taco-trades":

More than a dozen high-ranking executive branch officials and congressional aides have made well-timed trades since Trump took office in January, most of them selling stock before the market plunged amid fears that Trump’s tariffs would set off a global trade war, according to a ProPublica review of disclosures across the government.

"Taco Trump" is the most promising of the various insults leveled by Trump detractors. Democrats have not been able to match Trump's success attaching a mentally-sticky insulting name to an opponent: Lyin' Ted, Little Marco, Low-energy Jeb, Pocahontas, Sleepy Joe. "Taco Trump" goes straight at the Trump value proposition -- his supposed dealmaking acumen. It targets his competence and character. It asserts that he is a bad negotiator because he reverses himself out of fear. Or, alternatively, as rising-star commentator Scott Galloway suggests, even worse, Trump does it on purpose to allow friends and family to front-run his policy reversals. 

Taco Trump is a happy alliteration that rolls off the tongue. It is insulting without seeming nasty. Trump's tariff flip flops are weird, with on, off, back-on, now-changed, then changed-again tariffs in response to events. Trump Always Chickens Out has the tailwind of being simple and plausible. It is how the financial media are covering it: Trump responds to market chaos and caves.

Taco lends itself to visual parody, all of which tends to diminish Trump. 

Will the "Taco Trump" meme stick? History says no. "Teflon Don" shrugs off insults. But "Taco Trump" has potential. Trump's tariffs got off to a bad start, what with putting tariffs on uninhabited islands, and first impressions matter. Trump wants tariffs. Tariffs that protect products involving national security -- steel, shipbuiilding, drones, batteries, advanced computer chips -- have bipartisan support. Some surely will get implemented and there will be give and take in the negotiation and that will be public. The "gives" will get a name attached: taco. Events will help Democrats.

And the term lends itself to visual teasing. Laughter disempowers a strong-man leader so Democrats will milk this for all its worth.

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