Conservative Radio Host Thanks ‘Progressives’ for TACO Attack on Trump: Otherwise ‘Bombs Might Not Have Dropped’

President Donald Trump walks to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Conservative radio host Erick Erickson celebrated President Donald Trump’s bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran over the weekend by taking a swipe at the Left for pushing the acronym “TACO”, or “Trump Always Chickens Out” in recent weeks.

Critics attacking Trump with “TACO” memes began in May as a response to Trump regularly issuing new tariffs and then clawing them back after a negative market response. The term was reportedly first coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong to describe the predictable pattern stock traders on Wall Street were using to profit from the swings in the market.

The term later took new life as Trump’s critics used it to mock him for all sorts of gaffes, from falling up the stairs of Air Force One, to his recent claim he would wait two weeks to decide whether or not to bomb Iran. “Trump Had Secret Talks with MAGA Guru Before Iran TACO Move,” blared a Daily Beast headline a day before Trump bombed Iran. The Drudge Report also ran a headline calling the two-week timeline a “TACO” move.

“Thanks progressives and @kaitlancollins for pushing the TACO line about Trump. No doubt that was in his mind as he was deciding how to handle Iran. These bombs might not have dropped but for your help,” wrote Erickson following the U.S. attack on Iran.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins covered the Trump “TACO” meme in its early days, conducting an interview with Armstrong about it.

Trump was directly asked about the “TACO” jab during a presser in late May. “Mr. President, Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the taco trade. They’re saying Trump always chickens out on your tariff threats. And that’s why markets are higher this week. What’s your response to that?” CNBC White House correspondent Megan Casella asked Trump at the time.

After defending his tariff policies, Trump added to Casella, “Six months ago, this county was stone-cold dead. We had a dead country. We had a country– people didn’t think it was going to survive, and you ask a nasty question like that. It’s called negotiation.”

“Don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question… To me, that’s the nastiest question,” Trump added, clearly angered by the suggestion he was “chickening out.”