Former President Donald Trump is known for dishing out fiery remarks during press briefings—but on May 28, it was a reporter who fired the first shot. And Trump? He didn’t hold back.
Now well into his second term, Trump has been busy issuing sweeping executive orders and slapping controversial tariffs on foreign nations. His hardline tactics have rattled global markets, triggering turbulence for major U.S. giants like Apple and Walmart.
Though Wall Street initially took a hit, markets have since recovered. The reason? Some say it’s because investors have learned not to take Trump’s threats too seriously. And in classic trader fashion, they’ve turned that sentiment into a snarky acronym.
Enter: T.A.C.O. — “Trump Always Chickens Out”
At a live White House press conference, CNBC reporter Megan Casella confronted Trump head-on with the term.
“They’re saying ‘Trump Always Chickens Out’ on the tariff threats, and that’s why markets are higher this week. What’s your response to that?” she asked.
The acronym, coined by Financial Times journalist Robert Armstrong earlier in May, mocks Trump’s habit of making bold tariff threats—only to later backtrack or delay them.
Needless to say, Trump wasn’t laughing.
One clear example of Trump’s back-and-forth tariff tactics came with his recent decision to delay a staggering 50% tariff on EU imports—from June 1 pushed back to July 9. This move bought precious time for trade talks—and gave the markets some breathing room to bounce back.
Not long before that, on May 12, Trump paused a planned 145% tariff on Chinese goods with a 90-day freeze, calming jittery investors and temporarily easing trade tensions.
But when CNBC’s Megan Casella threw the “T.A.C.O.” nickname at him during a May 28 White House press conference, Trump was far from amused.
At first, confusion flickered across his face.
“I kick out?” he asked, clearly unsure.
“Chicken out,” Casella clarified.
“I’ve never heard that,” Trump said, before quickly shifting gears into defense mode.
“You ask a nasty question like that,” he snapped. “It’s called negotiation. You set a number… if I set a number at a ridiculous high, I go down a little bit, they want me to hold that number—145% tariff.”
Trump explained his rationale bluntly: “We were doing no business because of the tariff, because it was so high. I knew that. But don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question.”
Then, with unmistakable emphasis, he added:
“Six months ago, this country was stone-cold dead. People didn’t think it was gonna survive. And you ask a nasty question like that?”
He doubled down, warning Casella:
“Don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question.”
And the Fire Didn’t Stop There…
For anyone hoping Trump’s second term would come with fewer fiery moments toward the press—think again.
Just days earlier, on May 20, he clashed with another journalist during a Capitol Hill briefing.
When a reporter from nonprofit outlet NOTUS asked about criticism from Congressman Andy Harris—“Andy Harris said you didn’t adequately convince enough people to vote for the bill?”—Trump wasted no time firing back.
“Who? I don’t even know what the hell that is. Get yourself a real job,” he snapped, dismissing the question and the journalist outright.