Matt Drudge took a public swipe at President Donald Trump on Thursday, mocking him on the front page of the Drudge Report with a headline that played off Wall Street’s latest jab at Trump’s tariff strategy. The top of the site featured the word “TACO” in bold letters a reference to the nickname traders have given to a market pattern based on Trump’s habit of making aggressive tariff threats and then walking them back. The acronym stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
Accompanying the headline was a satirical photo illustration of Trump wearing a suit made entirely of tacos, complete with a taco-shaped crown, poking fun at what investors now see as a predictable cycle of economic brinkmanship followed by retreat.
The jab came just a day after Trump was asked about the term during a press conference. He dismissed it with characteristic defiance, brushing off the suggestion that his shifting trade stances amount to backing down. “I’ve never heard that,” he said. “You mean because I reduced China from 145 percent that I set down to 100, and then down to another number, and I said you have to open up your whole country?” He also defended his tariff threats against the European Union, saying, “I gave the European Union a 50 percent tariff and they called up and said, ‘Please let’s meet right now.’”
Drudge, whose site has long been a magnet for conservative readers and is known for its sensationalist headlines, has become increasingly critical of Trump in recent years. While once viewed as a major online booster for Trump during the 2016 campaign, the tone on the site has shifted, with Drudge frequently featuring negative coverage of the former president’s policies, behavior, and public missteps.
The “TACO” trend itself reflects growing skepticism among investors who believe Trump’s economic threats are more performance than policy. Traders have begun to structure investments around the expectation that Trump will talk tough on tariffs but eventually soften or delay implementation creating profitable volatility in the markets. Drudge’s mockery on Thursday adds another layer of public ridicule to a nickname that’s quickly becoming part of the political lexicon, much to Trump’s irritation.