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Why Trump's 'TACO' Nickname Has Him So Upset
TREMENDOUS CONTENT
Why Trump’s ‘TACO’ Nickname Has Him So Upset
By Margaret Hartmann, senior editor for Intelligencer who has worked at New York since 2012
JUNE 2, 2025
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty Images
Donald Trump is a huge fan of acronyms, memes, and nasty nicknames — unless they’re being used against him. While people have been calling the president “TACO” for weeks, he learned this only when, live on camera, a reporter asked him about the moniker on May 28. Trump was visibly rattled, and he reportedly berated his team for not warning him about the new term.
So what’s the meaning of TACO? Who coined the term? Does this have anything to do with the infamous Trump taco-bowl tweet? Here’s what you need to know, whether you’re a curious observer or a president who just realized everyone’s laughing at you.
{snip}
> What’s the origin?
Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong coined the term in the May 2 edition of his “Unhedged” newsletter. He used the phrase to describe how stocks plunged when Trump initially announced his extreme “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2, then rebounded later in the month after the president responded to the market panic by easing or delaying various tariffs. Armstrong wrote:
{snip}
Why Trump’s ‘TACO’ Nickname Has Him So Upset
By Margaret Hartmann, senior editor for Intelligencer who has worked at New York since 2012
JUNE 2, 2025
Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photo: Getty Images
Donald Trump is a huge fan of acronyms, memes, and nasty nicknames — unless they’re being used against him. While people have been calling the president “TACO” for weeks, he learned this only when, live on camera, a reporter asked him about the moniker on May 28. Trump was visibly rattled, and he reportedly berated his team for not warning him about the new term.
So what’s the meaning of TACO? Who coined the term? Does this have anything to do with the infamous Trump taco-bowl tweet? Here’s what you need to know, whether you’re a curious observer or a president who just realized everyone’s laughing at you.
{snip}
> What’s the origin?
Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong coined the term in the May 2 edition of his “Unhedged” newsletter. He used the phrase to describe how stocks plunged when Trump initially announced his extreme “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2, then rebounded later in the month after the president responded to the market panic by easing or delaying various tariffs. Armstrong wrote:
How to make sense of stocks rallying, spreads tightening and gold falling — while oil and yields are telling you that the growth outlook continues to get worse?
Regular readers will not be surprised by Unhedged’s view that the recent rally has a lot to do with markets realising that the US administration does not have a very high tolerance for market and economic pressure, and will be quick to back off when tariffs cause pain. This is the Taco theory: Trump Always Chickens Out.
{snip}
2 replies
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