TACOs away!

Why calling Trump TACO - Trump Always Chickens Out - is dangerous.

TACOs away! by Sue Nethercott

It is true that Trump does not always follow through to the end on a lawsuit or other action until he wins.

But Trump has never let the appearance of losing phase him - his actions often have a different aim than the obvious one. And he can always spin a loss as a win to the faithful, and now that he has much of the media under his control, many people will not even hear of the losses.

Take his many lawsuits prior to his second 'presidency'. Often the expectation was not to win, but to delay and/or to bankrupt his opponents. Even if he lost the case, he gained something from it.

He was willing to suffer the ignominy of several bankruptcies, if they furthered his financial aims, just as many large corporations declare bankruptcy just to rid themselves of their debts, and show no shame at all.

Trump may get mad when he loses a case he actually wanted to win, like the one where he was convicted of 34 felonies, but he has not chickened out of that one. He is still working to win it in the end.

He may have appeared to have chickened out on tariffs, but if his aim was to have made himself and his families and friends very wealthy with pump and dump schemes, and to make world leaders come and beg (or at least to treat him as an equal), then he has been winning.

Of course, not every leader who came to the White House let him win. He denigrated Zelensky, saying he had no cards, when Zelensky had a very big card - operation spiderweb. Trump is so subservient to Putin that he said Ukraine started the war, and appeared not to realise that Russia had won very little at very high cost, and was in no position to win the war. Putin and Trump negotiating peace was nothing more than Putin talking to himself. And whatever else you can say about him, Putin does not chicken out.

Trump may have backed down on some of the lawsuits against his insane actions this presidency, but some of them have caused enough delay for him to have been able to do a lot of damage to America, and he seems in no hurry to obey the judges who have ruled against him. And his actions were at least successful in his aim to spread chaos and uncertainty and fear, which are so useful to despots..

So, Trump may chicken out when it suits him, but when it does not, he escalates. More lawsuits. More threats. More illegal actions.

Bombing Iran was not chickening out. It was escalation. It will give him a fix of his need to be the 'strong leader' (read crazy idiot). But after a while, like all addicts, he will need another fix and a stronger dose. So, what is left? Nuclear bombs and / or World Ware Three, with no more reason than WW1 started with.

If you, singly or collectively, have any power or influence over Trump or his sycophants or his supporters, and you do nothing to remove him now, you will very likely be partly responsible for WW3. Do you want that on your conscience? Do you want that as your legacy? Make no mistake, white 'Christian' straight males will suffer the results as much as anyone else. Republicans, that means you!