Political Tribune

Donald Trump, Economy, Opinion, Politics

Trump Loses It Over ‘Nasty Question’ From Reporter

The president raged, once again, at a reporter.

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541 points

In his second term, even more so than in his first, Donald Trump has frequently responded to questions from reporters by shaming them for even asking the questions. He did that again on Wednesday when he was asked about his frequent waffling on tariffs, which has led to stock market volatility.

Traders even have a name for it, “TACO,” which stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out,” which doubles as a trading strategy. Traders can plan their moves based on Trump’s vacillating tariff moves and, therefore, profit.

“I think the only person or entity he listens to is the stock market,” Eric Sterner of Apollon told Business Insider this week: “I think that’s a big part of his scorecard — what the stock market does.”

On Wednesday, Trump was asked about the concept of “TACO Trade,” which was coined by a Financial Times columnist earlier this month.

“I chicken out? I’ve never heard that,” the president 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?…And because I gave the European Union a 50 percent tariff and they called up and said, ‘Please let’s meet right now. You call that chickening out?”

He also touted billions of commitments on his recent visit to the Middle East. Trump claimed that when he went to Saudi Arabia, “the king” told him that America was “the hottest country in the world.”

“But don’t ever say what you said,” Trump said. “That’s a nasty question. To me, that’s the nastiest question.” He went on to characterize the changing tariff percentages as a negotiating tactic.

His answer to the question didn’t particularly convince critics of Trump.

Photo courtesy X screengrab

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Stephen Silver

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Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy.

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