President Donald Trump is no stranger to throwing punches during press conferences — but on May 28, it was a reporter who landed the first jab.
And Trump didn’t take it lightly.
Now into his second term, Trump has wasted no time rolling out a slew of executive orders and controversial tariffs aimed at countries around the globe.
His aggressive moves have shaken the stock markets, impacting major U.S. companies like Walmart and Apple. But while Wall Street initially dipped, markets have bounced back in recent days — and traders have come up with a cheeky nickname for why.
That nickname? One that Trump clearly did not appreciate.
“Trump always chickens out”
During a live press conference at the White House on May 28, reporter Megan Casella of CNBC, boldly asked Trump:
”They’re saying ‘Trump Always Chickens Out’ on the tariff threats and that’s why markets are higher this week. What’s your response to that?”
The acronym T.A.C.O.— “Trump Always Chickens Out” — was coined by Financial Times journalist Robert Armstrong in a May 2 column. It pokes fun at Trump’s recurring habit of making aggressive tariff threats, only to later postpone or soften them.
One example is the president’s recent decision to push back the implementation of a 50% tariff on EU imports from June 1 to July 9 — buying time for negotiations and giving markets a chance to rebound.
Another came on May 12, when he hit pause on a planned 145% tariff on Chinese goods, issuing a 90-day freeze that eased investor concerns.
”A nasty question”
But Trump didn’t see the humor in the T.A.C.O. nickname.
At first, he appeared puzzled.
“I kick out?” Trump asked.
“Chicken out,” Casella repeated.
“I’ve never heard that,” Trump said.
Then, clearly irritated, he snapped:
“You ask a nasty question like that. It’s called negotiation. You set a number… if I set a number at a ridiculous high, I go down a little bit, they want me to hold that number. 145% tariff.” Trump said that “we were doing no business because of the tariff, because it was so high. I knew that. But don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question.”
”Six months ago, this country was stone-cold dead. We had a country, people didn’t think it was gonna survive. And you ask a nasty question like that?”
And he didn’t stop there.
”Don’t ever say what you said. That’s a nasty question,” he warned the reporter.
It’s not the first time Trump has bristled when the tables were turned.
“Get yourself a real job”
For those who thought Trump’s second term would come with fewer jabs at reporters — think again. If anything, he seems more irritable than ever when faced with tough questions from the press.
On May 20, Trump had another frosty exchange — this time on Capitol Hill.
A journalist from the nonprofit news outlet NOTUS pressed him, asking:
”Andy Harris said that you didn’t adequately convince enough people to vote for the bill?”
Trump, never one to let a jab go unanswered, quickly turned it around.
”Who? I don’t even know what the hell that is. Get yourself a real job,” he fired back, dismissing the journalist entirely.
TRUMP: Who do you work for?
REPORTER: NOTUS
TRUMP: I don't even know what the hell that is. Get yourself a real job. pic.twitter.com/pzyw54LAB5
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 20, 2025
