President Donald Trump’s critics say he follows a predictable cycle: sow chaos, issue sweeping threats, and then retreat under pressure. The left has even coined a nickname — TACO, or “Trump Always Chickens Out.” But supporters argue what looks like retreat is often tactical recalibration.
Supporters say that Trump is scoring wins and ensuring both domestic political opponents and international allies make concessions. Trump has always used “disruption and chaos as a negotiating tool,” according to Republican strategist Cesar Conda.
“He creates uncertainty on purpose, sees how the other side reacts when they’re uncomfortable, and then adjusts his next move from a position of strength,” Conda told the Washington Examiner. “I think what looks like chaos from the outside is often very intentional — it keeps people guessing and forces them to negotiate on his terms.”
Yet, those accomplishments do not always register because the same tactics Trump uses to get results — threats and bluster — inflate the stakes and provide opponents with the opportunity to downplay concessions, while pointing to Trump’s own retreat from maximalization.
“Because negotiating partners are uncertain about how Trump will actually respond, they often hedge their bets or comply in order to minimize maximum regret,” Costas Panagopoulos, a Northeastern University political science professor, told the Washington Examiner. “Unpredictability can sometimes breed compliance and concessions.”
While it is difficult to ascertain how intentional Trump’s “disruption and chaos” are, the public response is more clear.
For example, the shooting deaths of anti-ICE protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minnesota in January were captured on camera. The recordings ricocheted around the world and prompted demonstrations from Minneapolis to Milan, host of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. They also led to a drop in Trump’s average approval rating from 44% to42% in mere days, according to RealClearPolitics.
The public pressure caused Trump to dispatch border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota for a “softer touch.” Homan on Thursday announced the president had approved the drawdown of about 3,000 federal immigration law enforcement officers from Minnesota after two-and-a-half months on the ground.
Democrats contended Trump ending the surge of immigration officers was an example of the president caving.
“Minnesotans stood together, stared down ICE, and never blinked,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who is running for governor of the North Star State.
Yet, the White House argues Trump did not blink. Aides cite the Trump administration arresting 4,000 illegal immigrants and a deal with Minnesota to transfer illegal immigrants detained in county jails to the federal government. Both changes are at odds with Minnesota’s “sanctuary state” status, which prohibits local law enforcement from coordinating with federal immigration authorities.
“Overall, we made a lot of progress through extensive engagement meetings with them and other key stakeholders,” Homan said at a Thursday press conference.
Trump got a similar result through his threats to seize Greenland and tariff NATO allies opposed to his plan. Despite unifying most of NATO against him, Trump secured talks with Denmark and Greenland over expanding U.S. access and military presence in the Arctic territory.
But probably the most notable example was Trump’s use of the Liberation Day tariffs and other duties to bring trading partners to the table to renegotiate terms of, in some cases, long-term trade deals, though the stock market plummeted, at least in the short-term, and many agreements continue to lack specificity.
“You saw it throughout his business career — whether it was pushing lenders to the brink during casino restructurings or dramatically walking away from real estate and TV deals, including ‘The Apprentice’,” said Conda. “The pressure and uncertainty weren’t accidental; they were part of the strategy to improve his leverage and get the deal that he wanted.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson added: “President Trump has delivered on nearly every single promise he was elected to fulfill – from securing the border, to solving international conflicts, to putting American businesses first, the president is turning promises into action. While the media and Democrats have often been panicans about some of these signature achievements, President Trump always proves them wrong.”
Not everyone agrees with the assessment. Democratic strategist Jim Manley declined to give Trump credit since the president, for example, promised to deliver 90 trade deals in 90 days before he imposed his Liberation Day tariffs last April.
“He has failed miserably,” Manley told the Washington Examiner. “Only a handful have been agreed to, and many of those still lack specifics. Look, the fact of the matter is that Trump talks a good game, but he is so focused on building monuments to himself that he can’t focus on the real work of getting stuff done.”
Claremont McKenna College politics professor John Pitney concurred, joking that when Trump acts “like a normal president, he gets normal results.”
“But his abnormality tends to eclipse everything else,” Pitney told the Washington Examiner.
Trump’s decision to approve the drawdown of federal immigration law enforcement officers from Minnesota comes amid White House pushback on speculation it represents a presidential flipflop in response to criticism and, more pointedly, polling.
IRAN, GAZA, AND ENDING MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL HANG OVER TRUMP AND NETANYAHU MEETING
But for John McCain 2008 presidential campaign communications director Dan Schur, Trump has “clearly become preoccupied with the prospect of another impeachment and so he has become extremely focused on keeping a House majority.”
“He is frustrated that a growing number of Republicans are now balancing loyalty to him with their own more immediate political needs,” Schur, now a professor at the University of California Berkeley, Pepperdine University, and the University of Southern California, told the Washington Examiner. “The combination means that he has become slightly less obstinate, and even while his language still sounds unyielding, he is beginning to adjust to the reality of outside pressures that could impact swing voters.”