Overview

• On May 29, a clip claiming to show “TACO” spelled out in contrails above President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate went viral across X, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram Threads and YouTube.
• The acronym “TACO,” short for “Trump Always Chickens Out,” was coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong and spread as a critique of Trump’s tariff reversals.
• Lead Stories and Snopes issued fact-checks on May 30 confirming the footage was fake and likely produced with AI tools.
• Analysts noted that no aircraft appears until the final seconds, simultaneous letter formation would require multiple planes, and building shapes in the video don’t match Mar-a-Lago’s layout.
• AI-detection software assessed the clip as 99.9% likely to be generated, and no other eyewitness videos or reputable news reports have surfaced to support its authenticity.