Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) trolled the hell out of Donald Trump and his supporters this past weekend just by eating a taco on TikTok.
The California Democrat posted a video of himself sitting in his office when someone walks up and asks, “Hey, Congressman, what the fuck is up with Trump always chickening out on tariffs?”
Swalwell responds by biting into a Taco Bell crunchy taco that just happens to be sitting on his desk.
The video alludes to TACO, or “Trump Always Chickens Out,” a reference to the president’s tendency to announce huge tariffs, only to reverse course days later.
The notoriously thin-skinned president doesn’t seem fond of the acronym and chewed out a reporter for asking “a nasty question” about it last week.
Swalwell’s taco TikTok made quite an impact with conservatives. Some suggested the video was part of the Democratic National Committee’s plan to attract more male voters to the party.
Fox News’ “Outnumbered” even did a segment on it.
Swalwell seemed amused by the attention, tweeting, “I don’t know what this Fox News lady ate for lunch, but she’s talking about what I had.”
Other Trump supporters got into a MAGA tizzy over Swalwell’s video.
A couple of right-wing outlets, probably well aware of the trending term, apparently decided that feigning ignorance was the right way to go.
Others felt obliged to reference an MSNBC interview between Swalwell and Chris Matthews from November 2019, in which a fart sound could be heard at one point.
Although Trump supporters tried to dismiss the trolling, “Trump Always Chickens Out” is catching on, according to one conservative thought leader.
Rick Lowry of the National Review appeared on Fox News Sunday and admitted “TACO” is sticking, much to Trump’s chagrin.
“Apparently, Trump was irritated in part because he hadn’t heard it, and afterwards was irked with his aides not telling him about this,” Lowry said, before admitting that the “TACO” insult is “catchy, kind of funny and gets to a real phenomenon with the tariffs, which [is that] he’s backed off them.”