Overview

• In May, Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong coined “TACO”—short for “Trump Always Chickens Out”—to lampoon the president’s pattern of imposing and then reversing tariffs.
• On June 21, U.S. forces struck Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan, three deeply buried Iranian nuclear facilities.
• The operation deployed three B-2A Spirit stealth bombers flying from Missouri alongside 30 submarine-launched Tomahawk Block IV missiles.
• Trump had given Iran up to two weeks to resume serious nuclear negotiations before ordering the strikes.
• Conservative commentators, including Erick Erickson, credited the TACO taunt with compelling Trump to demonstrate his resolve through military action.