This week, Wall Street figured out something about Donald Trump (that Vladimir Putin has known for quite a while now) and gave it a catchy name: "TACO." This stands for: "Trump Always Chickens Out."

Let's start with Putin, before we get to the economic TACOs. Trump has been flailing around on Russia's invasion of Ukraine ever since he got into office again, as Vladimir Putin plays him like a violin. This has now descended into outright ridicule:

[T]he Russian government is now mocking [Donald] Trump. On Sunday evening, after Russia pounded Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drone strikes, Trump posted that "something has happened" to [Vladimir] Putin. "He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people."

A Kremlin spokesman attributed Trump's remarks to "emotional overload."

On Tuesday morning, a petulant Trump posted again: "What Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD. He's playing with fire!"

The Russian state-owned propaganda outlet RT immediately responded to Trump's "playing with fire" threat. "Trump's message leaves little room for misinterpretation," it wrote. "Until he posts the opposite tomorrow morning."

Back here at home, some conservative voices are chiming in on how toothless Trump has been towards Putin as well, from the Wall Street Journal to Brit Hume on Fox News. Republican Representative Don Bacon summed it up as: "Putin is making a mockery of Trump."

Through it all, Trump keeps threatening dire (but unspecified) consequences for Russia if it doesn't immediately end its war of aggression, but then Trump pushes any such decision off for "two weeks." Trump's been repeating the "two weeks" line from the first days he got back into office, without ever following through two weeks (or four weeks or two months) later, on any of it. In other words... Trump always chickens out. Which Putin has known all along. Trump even refused to slap the same 10 percent tariff on Russia that he inflicted on pretty much every other country in the world (even one solely inhabited by penguins). Things have gotten so bad that the Republican Congress is even (gasp!) considering acting on its own to sanction Russian oil and gas exports.

Wall Street, as mentioned, is now taking it all into account, as the "TACO trade." Trump blusters about some new insane tariff he's going to impose, and then has to immediately back off when someone explains to him that he is just shooting the American economy in the foot. This happened last weekend over a threat to slap a 50 percent tariff on Europe, which was rescinded before trading began the following week. This week, Trump just darkly warned that China is somehow not living up to what they had promised (when Trump chickened out and lowered their tariff rate by 115 percent), but by next week he'll have backed off, so the markets barely noticed. Call it the price of a chicken TACO. California Governor Gavin Newsom joined in the fun by saying: "It's raining tacos today" in a recent interview.

There's an even catchier phrase making the rounds across the pond as well to describe Trump's economic flailing:

What remains is the wreckage: a loss of faith in U.S. credit, reflected in what the Brits are calling a "moron premium" that the markets are imposing on Trump, which is pushing up bond yields and interest rates; a generation of talent departing the federal government; a loss of goodwill among foreign partners that would take years to rebuild, if it can be rebuilt at all; and the devastation of the scientific research at American universities that has long powered the American economy.

During the Biden years, Trump liked to say that "the world is laughing at us." Now it really is.

Trump was asked about the TACO label by a reporter this week, and his petulant answer is worth watching, but nobody's yet asked him about the "moron premium," so maybe we've got that to look forward to!

Meanwhile, American judges are not laughing. They are instead ruling against Trump in a big way. Two judgments were handed down this week which both agreed that Trump's whole "Liberation Day" tariff scheme was flat-out illegal. An appellate court jumped in to block the ruling for now, giving the plaintiffs and the Trump administration roughly two weeks to respond, but Trump's legal argument is so shaky that many experts are predicting he'll eventually lose, even in the Supreme Court. Trump also lost in court on his deportation orders (in multiple rulings), his vendetta against law firms, and on his war against Harvard. Trump responded (naturally) by attacking the judges, and even turned his ire on the former chair of the Federalist Society (calling him a "sleazebag" who "probably hates America") for recommending all these judges that Trump appointed that keep ruling against him.

Trump is proving (as if anyone really needed any proof) that all that talk about how Republicans approve of legal immigrants was nothing more than lip service, deployed to somehow show they have some shred of compassion. But it's no more than a lie. Trump is singlehandedly removing the legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, so he can quickly deport them. This was snarkily pointed out in a Washington Post article (emphasis in original):

You might not have noticed it, but last week the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States surged by 350,000.

Don't worry, an army of gangbangers and other criminals didn't charge the border. Rather, President Donald Trump simply decided to turn 350,000 legal immigrants into illegal ones.

And the Supreme Court just chimed in, which will allow Trump to up that figure to over half a million now. So much for all that "we welcome immigrants who follow the rules" GOP nonsense, eh?

Trump showed his contempt for the rule of law in a big way this week, issuing a passel of pardons to all sorts of nefarious types. These included: a sheriff convicted of accepting $75,000 in bribes, a tax cheat whose mother attended a Trump fundraiser that cost a cool million bucks to attend, reality stars who defrauded banks out of $30 million, a gang leader and murderer who was serving multiple life sentences, and too many others to even list (here's a full rundown for those interested). Trump even mused about pardoning the terrorists in Michigan who hatched a plot to kidnap the state's governor, although he hasn't actually done so yet. It doesn't matter how heinous a crime you've committed, if you either give Trump lots of money or just say nice things about him, he will consider letting you out of jail! The corruption is obvious, and it stinks to high heaven.

Let's see, what else has been happening? R.F.K. Junior put out a report that (unsurprisingly) said exactly what he wanted it to say about health risks, but it was quickly shown to have been at least partially generated by A.I. And it had all the errors A.I. programs routinely make, like citing non-existent scientific papers or just drawing the wrong conclusions. Kennedy also singlehandedly announced that the COVID vaccine would not be recommended for small children and pregnant women, and cancelled a contract with Moderna to create a bird flu virus, for good measure.

Elon Musk finally made his exit from the government this week, and will be going home to spend more time with his failing companies. He launched a third test of his Starship rocket this week, which (just like the first two) failed spectacularly. Tesla sales continue to fall off a cliff, down 49 percent in Europe even while Europeans are buying more and more electric vehicles. And today the New York Times ran an article which detailed the massive amounts of drugs Elon's been taking, which would go a long way towards explaining his erratic behavior. Musk took the time to slam Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" on his way out the door, but Trump immediately forgave him (another TACO!). Democrat Tim Walz had the funniest comment on it all, which we will close with today, pointing out that Elon Musk, by leaving, is "finally rooting out waste and abuse."

We're going to hold off on handing out an award to him, but it was heartening to see that a younger Democrat, Representative Robert Garcia, is officially in the running to become the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee. The position is vacant because of the death of Representative Gerry Connolly, who last year beat out the much-younger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for the position. There are some old-guard (read: geriatric) Democrats also running, but it would be a good thing (in our humble opinion) to get some new blood in the House leadership, and this is a dandy opportunity to do so (since it is such a high-profile position).

One other House Democrat who has expressed an interest in running for the position is Representative Jasmine Crockett, who is an absolute firebrand and would do an excellent job at getting the Democratic message out.

We're giving the Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week to Crockett this week because of her outrage at the commencement speech that Donald Trump gave at West Point this week. This was not your run-of-the-mill address to graduates, it was just another campaign rally speech (complete with a discussion about trophy wives) -- which was totally inappropriate for the venue.

Crockett did not mince her words in denouncing Trump's speech:

[Donald Trump] literally sounds like someone who has broken out of the insane asylum. Like, he'd just be all over the place. Like, get him some A.D.H.D. medicine, if nothing else, because I don't know where he's ever gonna go.

I don't think that those that have gone through West Point expected to have their commander in chief address them and start talking about trophy wives, or start talking about how he had so many investigations. What a great reminder that you are not qualified to be the person that potentially will command us as troops to go into war. Like, that is not instilling confidence whatsoever. And honestly, our troops deserve better. Our graduates deserve better. We as a country deserve better. And frankly, if we are going to ever be seen as the world leaders that we historically have been, the world deserves better.

That is the type of voice Democrats need right now, creating soundbites for cable television consumption on a regular basis. We will be watching the jockeying for this position closely, and dearly hope that one of the two younger candidates prevails over the septuagenarians also in the running. Democrats have been woefully inadequate at getting their message out in response to Trump, so it seems like it's definitely time for some younger blood getting a chance to do so on a regular basis.

In any case, Representative Jasmine Crockett was the Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week this week.

[Congratulate Representative Jasmine Crockett on her House contact page, to let her know you appreciate her efforts.]

At times we have to hand out our Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week award not to a nationally-known or prominent politician but instead to someone few people have even heard of, because the seriousness of their actions demands such strong condemnation. This is one of those weeks.

In fact, we have to admit that we're merely assuming that he is a Democrat, since nowhere in the multiple news articles on the story we read listed his party affiliation. But he was appointed deputy mayor of Los Angeles by a Democratic mayor, so we feel it's a pretty safe assumption to draw. In any case, here are the sordid details:

A former Los Angeles official agreed Thursday to plead guilty to a felony charge after fabricating a bomb threat against the City Hall he was hired to protect as the deputy mayor of public safety.

Brian K. Williams, 61, who rose from the city attorney's office to become a deputy in two mayoral administrations, admitted in a plea deal that he had concocted a bomb threat and called it in to City Hall last October, the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles said in a statement.

. . .

According to the plea agreement, Mr. Williams, while participating in a virtual morning meeting, used a voice application on his personal cellphone to call his city phone. He then called the Los Angeles Police Department to say that an unknown man had just threatened to bomb City Hall.

Ten minutes later, federal prosecutors said, he texted the mayor's office: "Bomb threat: I received phone call on my city cell at 10:48 am this morning. The male caller stated that 'he was tired of the city support of Israel, and he has decided to place a bomb in City Hall. It might be in the rotunda.'"

The U.S. attorney commented: "In an era of heated political rhetoric that has sometimes escalated into violence, we cannot allow public officials to make bomb threats." We wholeheartedly agree with that painfully-obvious sentiment.

Because Williams entered into a plea agreement, there are plenty of unanswered questions left -- such as why he did what he did. The date of the false threat was four days before the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, but no motive was explained for why Williams decided to create groundless fear and chaos. Williams now faces up to 10 years in prison for his crime.

Whatever his reasons, we have always condemned political violence in all its various forms, and while Williams wasn't exactly threatening violence himself, he was using false threats of violence for some twisted political reason or another, which is bad enough. So although "deputy mayor of Los Angeles" is not a prominent national office and we admit we'd never heard of Williams before now, we find that his behavior was so reprehensible that we had to award him this week's MDDOTW in condemnation of his actions.

[Brian K. Williams is no longer a public official, and it is our blanket policy not to provide contact information for private citizens, sorry.]

Volume 798 (5/30/25)

Our first three talking points come from a commencement speech journalist Scott Pelley just gave to the graduates at Wake Forest University. The speech is inspirational, as all good commencement speeches are, but it goes beyond the normal platitudes that are routinely offered up in such speeches. Pelley identifies the scary times we live in, as we all watch American democracy under attack on a daily basis. He calls out (without mentioning him by name) Donald Trump for his poisonous strongman tactics. And he warns the graduates that in difficult times more is expected of the upcoming generation.

Our final four talking points are specifically for Democratic politicians, as usual, but the first three are really for anyone and everyone to use.

   Afraid to speak

Pelley begins by identifying the problematic times we live in.

To move forward, we debate, not demonize. We discuss, not destroy. But in this moment -- this moment, this morning -- our sacred rule of law is under attack. Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack. An insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses, our homes and into our private thoughts. The fear to speak. In America? If our government is -- in Lincoln's words -- "of the people, by the people and for the people" -- then why are we afraid to speak?

   An old playbook

Pelley then goes into detail as to how this is all happening.

Did you hear that phrase in the Declaration [of Independence]? "Pursuit of truth?" Why attack universities? Why attack journalism? Because ignorance works for power.

First, make the truth seekers live in fear. Sue the journalists. For nothing. Then send masked agents to abduct a college student, a writer of her college paper who wrote an editorial supporting Palestinian rights, and send her to a prison in Louisiana and charge her with nothing. Then, move to destroy law firms that stand up for the rights of others.

With that done, power can rewrite history. With grotesque, false narratives, they can make heroes criminals and criminals heroes. And they can change the definition of the words we use to describe reality.

"Diversity" is now described as "illegal." "Equity" is to be shunned. "Inclusion" is a dirty word. This is an old playbook, my friends. There is nothing new in this.

   Run with it

And he finishes with a rousing and inspirational call to action.

Who are you? You are the educated. You are the compassionate. You are the fierce defenders of democracy, the seekers of truth, the vanguards against ignorance. You are millions strong across our land.

You might be sorry that you were picked by history for this role. But maybe that was the plan. Hard times are going to make you better and stronger. In a few minutes, when that diploma hits your hand, it's not a piece of paper you're holding. We're handing you a baton. Run with it.

   TACOs for everyone!

This term has already gotten under Trump's skin, so Democrats should use it every chance they can get.

"Wall Street came up with a catchy new term this week -- TACO. Or: Trump Always Chickens Out. Since he began playing with the world's economy like a deranged child blowing the heads off his sister's Barbie dolls with firecrackers, he has been forced to reverse himself over 20 times now (and counting). The cycle is always the same, because Trump simply does not understand what he is doing. He'll make some grand tariff announcement, and then the economy reacts badly, and Trump backs down. He is now 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' on the world's stage. He talks a good game, but he never sticks to it. He tells everyone that his tariffs will be wonderful because they will do all sorts of good things, and then he chickens out when good things don't immediately start happening. Wall Street has now figured it out -- Trump always chickens out. TACOs all around!"

   Putin eating Trump's lunch

It goes beyond economics as well, so point it out.

"Vladimir Putin is absolutely eating Trump's lunch on a regular basis. Trump thought he was such good buddies with Putin that he could get him to do whatever he wanted, but it's pretty clear that the opposite is true. After months of trying to cozy up to Putin in a fruitless effort to get him to stop his war in Ukraine, Trump is finally realizing that he's getting played. So Trump has tried to sound like a tough guy and issued vague threats to Putin. Putin has reacted by mocking Trump on the world stage. Because Putin knows full well that Trump will chicken out in the end. He's nothing but a paper tiger, which Putin has known all along. In fact, if you listen really hard you can hear Putin laughing at Trump, all the way from Moscow."

   Moron premium

An even better insult hasn't quite gone viral yet, but it really deserves to.

"The financial markets didn't just come up with a TACO, people are also talking about how America is now paying a 'moron premium' on the world stage. Bond investors, who finance a country's national debt, use the term when talking about the penalty they place on countries with erratic regimes. When a country institutes economic policies that are idiotic or chaotic or just plain crazy, then bond purchasers demand a higher return when buying that country's bonds. This is now happening to the United States, and it will mean we will all pay more to borrow money to keep our government going. That's how far we have fallen in the eyes of the rest of the world -- we've gone from being the ultimate safe haven for investors to them demanding a 'moron premium' because Trump is inflicting such damage on the economy on a regular basis. The term fits like a glove, really, for Donald Trump."

   Senator Cruella De Vil

Republican politicians have been holding fewer and fewer town hall meetings, because they are afraid to face their own angry constituents. Senator Joni Ernst held one this week and showed her true Republican colors. They just do not care what their policies do, period.

"When Senator Joni Ernst tried to explain how kicking millions of people off Medicaid -- which the new Republican budget will do -- is actually a good thing, at a recent town hall meeting she held. But the crowd wasn't buying her snow job at all. When an audience member rightly pointed out the new GOP budget will have the most drastic consequences imaginable by stating: 'People will die!' Ernst channelled her inner Cruella De Vil and responded without a shred of empathy or compassion: 'Well, we're all going to die... for heaven's sake, folks...' So there you have it, from the lips of a Republican: they are kicking millions off Medicaid and their new plan is 'crawl off and die somewhere.' You just can't make this stuff up, folks. Republicans just do not care what pain their policies cause, period."

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground