'TACO' Isn't a Slam: It's Key to Trump's Success

Russ Douthat says what critics see as 'chickening out' explains the president's resiliency
Posted Jun 2, 2025 10:46 AM CDT
'TACO' Isn't a Slam: It's Key to Trump's Success
President Trump speaks to reporters in the rain after arriving on Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, May 30, 2025.   (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Trump bristled last week when asked about the nickname of TACO—standing for "Trump Always Chickens Out" in regard to tariffs and the like. He might have instead taken it as a compliment, suggests conservative columnist Russ Douthat in the New York Times.

  • "The willingness to swerve and backpedal and contradict himself is a big part of what keeps the president viable, and the promise of chickening out is part of Trump's implicit pitch to swing voters—reassuring them that anything extreme is also provisional, that he's always testing limits (on policy, on power) but also generally willing to pull back."

A lot of voters appreciate that Trump puts institutions he dislikes under pressure, "but their approval is contingent on a dynamic interaction, where he accepts counterpressure and retreats," writes Douthat. The column offers a warning, however, about "the inherent danger in living, for three years and eight months more, with a president who we know from the experience of Jan. 6, 2021, doesn't always backtrack when he enters dangerous terrain." (Read the full column.)

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