Jimmy Kimmel launched a back-handed defense of Donald Trump after the president was accused of “chickening out” of his threat to wipe out the “whole civilization” of Iran.
Trump has frequently been called out for backing down over his brazen threats—with the U-turns earning the nickname TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out).
Kimmel explained why he dislikes the acronym and said he “congratulates” Trump for capitulating over his threat.
“I have to be honest, I don’t like this TACO thing, this ‘Trump always chickens out,’ because it puts him in a corner,” the late-night host began.
“I congratulate him for chickening out,” he explained. “I think it was the right thing to do. A lot of presidents, after wasting $40 billion on blowing up a school full of children, would stick with it. They would keep going until their demands for the reasons they started this war were met.
“They would keep bombing until they knew for sure that Iran would stop enriching uranium and murdering protesters. But not Donald Trump. Our president, he looked at the price of gas. He looked at the polls. He said, ‘Oops.’ And he tucked his pointy little tail between his porky pink legs and tiptoed right back out to the golf course. Mission accomplished, everyone.
“That takes guts right there,” he concluded.
Over Easter, Trump wildly threatened to wipe out “a whole civilization” and bomb Iranian bridges and power plants, should the country not agree to open the Strait of Hormuz.
He backed down from these threats after reaching a ceasefire agreement with Iran, but by then several key MAGA figures had turned on him for overstepping the mark.
Earlier in his monologue, Kimmel succinctly summarized the latest war update: “Thankfully, we got a TACO Tuesday instead of a war crimes Wednesday.”
Kimmel is not the only Trump critic who dislikes the “TACO” phrase. Several Democrats have said that the meme-like term trivializes the seriousness of Trump’s actions.
Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari, for example, wrote on X, “I do not appreciate anyone—Democrat or Republican—taking this moment to make TACO jokes to say Trump ‘chickened out.’ The president was threatening genocide against 90 million Iranians. I’m grateful there’s a ceasefire & scores of innocent people didn’t die tonight.”
Rep. Jim McGovern shared a similar sentiment, telling MS NOW, “I’m not going to call him chicken for backing down, I’m just relieved for the world that he backed out,” he said. “I’m not going to call him TACO; I may call him insane.”
