Remember TACO?

Democrats are flailing. By now, we are all aware of this, and it is evident in the polls. 

And nothing exemplifies their messaging problem more than the TACO meme. TACO stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out”–the idea being that Trump talks big and backs down when he gets pushback. It was coined after Trump moved deadlines for imposing tariffs, and Democrats tried to make TACO a thing. 

WATCH: Trump just hit a home run with his response to a reporter’s snarky question.

Reporter: “Wall Street analysts have a new term called the TACO trade.. Saying ‘Trump Always Chickens Out on tariffs'”

Trump: “You call that chickening out? Because we have $14 trillion now… pic.twitter.com/Ld5Y6RCdjf

— George (@BehizyTweets) May 28, 2025

It was a weird line of attack, because it contradicted their other major line of attack–that Trump is an evil dictator bent on imposing his will on the United States and even that Trump might begin arbitrarily jailing his political opponents. 

I mean, which is it? Does the man talk loudly carry a tiny stick, or does he act like a caudillo in the mold of Saddam Hussein or Vladimir Putin? (NSFW:)

Rep. Eric Swalwell posts bizarre video of a person asking him “what the fck is up with Trump always chickening out of tariffs?” and he proceeds to eat a taco. pic.twitter.com/IfHLDfyxjz

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 2, 2025

Most of that talk died down after Trump dropped bunker busters on Iran, but if you search X, you can see some Democrats still trying to keep the meme alive. 

Did Donald Trump TACO? pic.twitter.com/FDM4IRoEbZ

— Lucas Sanders 💙🗳️🌊💪🌈🚺🟧 (@LucasSa56947288) July 30, 2025

But it is instructive to look back at this idiotic line of attack now that Trump is simultaneously cutting extremely favorable trade deals that practically humiliate our trading partners and dropping crippling tariffs on those countries that have refused to cut deals. 

Far from chickening out, Trump has been doing what he always does–backing his opponents into a corner and making them squirm until he gets what he wants. You may or may not like his approach–in international politics, the game is usually played with conciliatory talk being the public discussion and all the hardball taking place behind closed doors, ensuring that humiliation is avoided when the opponent caves. 

This American girl explains in detail why President Trump is called “Taco.”🌮 🐥#Trump #TACOTrump https://t.co/w2PoQylDq5 pic.twitter.com/sydTNSfFh4

— ShanghaiPanda (@thinking_panda) May 31, 2025

The entire TACO affair is instructive because it exemplifies how the Democrats struggle to find their rhetorical footing. One day, it is TACO, the next, he is a brutal dictator who imposes his will on everyone, ignoring norms and the law to get what he demands. 

Worse, because Trump haters don’t feel the need to be consistent, is the reality that their criticisms are proven ill-founded within days or weeks of their being trotted out. The meme pops up and disappears before it can stick. 

🚨 BREAKING: President Trump just signed an order RAISING his reciprocal tariff on Canada from 25% to 35%, effective at midnight

This comes after Canadian PM Carney tried playing games on trade

FAFO, Canada! pic.twitter.com/a0caM6EgxY

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) July 31, 2025

Memes only stick and become effective when they ring true. The idea has to resonate–create a chuckle or an aha! moment–whether they are what we call memes (photos/drawings with captions) or the rhetorical earworms that stick with people and shape their perceptions. (The concept of meme is not specific to the images, but to the spreading of ideas.) 

TACO never made any sense–that’s why it came and went so fast–and the Democrats thought they had something there that would stick. 

🚨 AUGUST 1ST.

President Donald J. Trump signs an Executive Order modifying reciprocal tariff rates, resetting decades of failed trade policies. America First 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/hsgQzlY1Uy

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 1, 2025

The only Trump meme that ever stuck was invented in 2016/17, which was the stink they created around the Russia collusion hoax and the vague sense that Trump is a déclassé bigot, and that meme has finally lost its power to persuade. Trump got elected, burying the effectiveness outside Democratic circles, and the Democratic circle is shrinking. 

More Tariffs announced: Switzerland 39%, Syria 41%, Laos and Burma 40% among others.

Expect to bring in over $700B a year in tariffs.

FED keeps interest rates high trying to destroy the Trump Economy and retain deep state control. Trump WINNING!
GOLD WILL DESTROY THE FED! https://t.co/GReHh9B3ff pic.twitter.com/TUDsY0KTl9

— TRUTH NOW ⭐️⭐️⭐️🗽 🎺 (@sxdoc) August 1, 2025

Democrats keep losing because the only tool they have is criticizing Trump, and they are really bad at it. Their power to shape narratives has slipped away–not so much with their die-hard supporters, for whom an anti-Trump grunt will get them excited, but with the persuadable people in America, who determine elections.

Trump’s fate is now in his own hands, and the Democrats and, to a lesser extent, the media have little power to shape any Trump-related narrative. They cannot persuade or drill ideas, fair or foul, into our heads. 

TACO is the perfect example of this reality. They poured all their effort into the meme, and it had all the impact of a speck of dust hitting a speeding Mack Truck. 

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