TACO Bell

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/opinion/trump-taco-resilient.html

(‘TACO’ Is the Secret to Trump’s Resilience)

While Mr. Douthat might suggest that, in the right light, there is method to Mr. Trump's madness, the reality is simply that there is madness to his method. His bringing us to the brink, retreating and then dangling us over the edge again on a rinse and repeat cycle is EXACTLY the type of insane instability that serves our markets, our country, so poorly. We do best when we do not see calamity around every corner. And while Mr. Trump and his former partner in crime, Mr. Musk, find sport in perpetually threatening destruction, the universe is neither humored nor improved by the games those people play.

But beyond that, Mr. Trump is at his absolute worst when insults land on his fragile hyperventilated ego. We are in the mess we now find ourselves, I firmly believe, because of that long ago Correspondent's dinner where President Obama played smack down Donald while the orange man turned a very dark shade of red in his seat. Humiliated and determined to seek revenge.

And while the TACO meme has now taken on a life of its own, this could serve as Mr. Trump's motivation, one day soon, to demonstrate he is not a chicken. Taking, in some forum, an unthinkably horrendous step merely to show us his puffed out chest. That he is the tough guy he pretends to be.

And if we think matters are bad now, just wait until a wounded Trump strikes.

While TACO may seem like a funny jab in the face to the President, a look at the little man behind the curtain in Oz, it could well serve as catalyst to unleash his furies. As if what we have already witnessed is not fury enough. Beware.