California Gov. Gavin Newsom led the charge Thursday as Democrats mocked President Donald Trump’s tariff policies being thrown into disarray by federal judges.
Speaking to the MeidasTouch podcast, Newsom weighed in on court rulings delivered within the past 24 hours that invalidated Trump’s tariffs and quipped: “It’s raining tacos today.”
“It’s not a good day for Donald Trump and his central economic program,” he continued. “We’re very, very pleased at this moment, this brief moment.”
Newsom’s taco zinger was a reference to the TACO acronym Wall Street investors have been using to degrade the president’s oscillating tariff policies. The acronym stands for “Trump always chickens out,” and was scrutinized by the president in a press conference Wednesday.
Several other Democrats also followed suit with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis telling Politico Thursday that the court move against Trump’s tariffs is “the most substantial for our economy, for our prosperity.”
Democratic New York Rep. Joe Morelle similarly told the outlet, “It’s interesting watching the president flail around here; he proposes tariffs and then he backs off.”
“If this is people’s idea of a master negotiator, I don’t know what people think a bad negotiator is,” he continued.
Jon Cooper, a former campaign chair for Barack Obama, also hinged on Trump’s Wall Street taco nickname in a celebratory X post Wednesday shortly after the U.S. Court of International Trade struck down his tariff policies.
“A special poem for #TacoTrump,” Cooper wrote alongside a diss poem titled “Trump Always Chickens Out (Tariff Remix).”
A special poem for #TACOTrump: 🌮 pic.twitter.com/L3UgLP9b4Z
— Jon Cooper 🇺🇸 (@joncoopertweets) May 29, 2025
The U.S. Court of International Trade struck down Trump’s tariffs Wednesday night, saying that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 Trump invoked when announcing his tariffs in April does not grant him “unbounded authority.”
A second federal court similarly countered the president’s tariffs in a ruling Thursday, with D.C. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras again reiterating that Trump’s emergency claims do “not authorize the President to impose the tariffs set forth.”
TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) May 29, 2025
The Trump administration swiftly appealed the rulings.
A federal appeals court has since temporarily reinstated Trump’s tariffs as it considers the administration’s request to keep the tariffs in place while litigation ensues. The decision exclusively applies to the Court of International Trade’s ruling.
Excellent #TACOTrump pic.twitter.com/3j4UX4MX9j
— TRUMP CLOWN (@kiko69264573307) May 29, 2025
Trump responded to the court rulings in a Truth Social post Thursday night, posting: “Radical Left Judges, together with some very bad people, are destroying America. Under this decision, Trillions of Dollars would be lost by our Country, money that will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
“It would be the harshest financial ruling ever leveled on us as a Sovereign Nation,” he continued. “The President of the United States must be allowed to protect America against those that are doing it Economic and Financial harm.”
The post Democrats Troll Trump With Taco Jokes Amid Tariff Chaos appeared first on The Daily Beast.
