I would rather have a president who chickens out when it is prudent to do so

The person who coined the acronym TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) probably did not intend it to be complimentary toward the president. Since its introduction, the abbreviation has been invoked whenever President Trump reverses or suspends any of his policy actions after he realizes that the political cost of not doing so will be too high for him. Those flip-flops, some people say, suggest that the president is not as courageous as he portrays himself to be. Whatever the motivations are, some of the U-turns are sensible and necessary.

President Trump designated April 2, 2025 as “Liberation Day.” On that date, he imposed a universal 10 percent tariff on all goods imported into the U.S. On top of that, he placed a range of reciprocal tariffs on imports from around 90 countries. The tariff announcements caused both the stock and bond markets to nosedive. According to Morningstar, a financial services firm, in the two days following Liberation Day, U.S. stock markets lost a combined $6.6 trillion in value. The spike in bond yields triggered widespread fears that major economic damage would ensue if the president didn’t change course. He did just that the following week when, on April 9, he announced a 90-day pause on most of the reciprocal tariffs.

Sixty-two percent of American adults are invested in the stock market. I am one of them. While it was painful to watch my life savings evaporate in such rapid fashion in the week following Liberation Day, I knew that I was in a much better position than many others because I am still working. For retirees who have no regular sources of income and rely predominantly on their stock portfolios for their day-to-day expenses, those few days must have been quite nerve-wracking. One of the worst investment decisions anyone can make is to sell shares when they have lost so much of their value. But most pensioners had little choice. The severe damage that selling stocks during such a market downturn does to a portfolio is often irreversible, especially when people lack the means to replenish their accounts with new, cheaply bought shares.

The tariff-pause announcement instantly calmed nerves in the financial markets. Stock indices have risen almost steadily since then. The Wall Street Journal reported on June 27 that the S&P 500 reached a new record-high that day, after rallying 24 percent from its April low. The Journal says that “it is the swiftest-ever recovery back to a closing high after a decline of at least 15%.”

Even in normal times, the stock market moves like a rollercoaster so it is pretty much guaranteed that something else will cause the index to drop sharply again at some point. But there is no question that this recovery from the tariff-induced meltdown has been quite impressive.

Next week happens to be when the 90-day pause ends. President Trump has threatened in recent days that he may or may not extend the deadline for countries to reach trade deals with the U.S. to avoid a resumption of the reciprocal tariffs on their exports to America. The financial markets will probably experience some fresh hiccups as the date, July 9, approaches. But having learned some harsh lessons in April, the president is likely to tread a bit more cautiously this time.

There are senior officials in President Trump’s administration, such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who have deep knowledge of how financial markets work. It’s been reported that those two men are among those who advised the president to do the about-face to avoid causing too much economic disruption. Thankfully, he took their advice.

A thought occurred to me after reading the Wall Street Journal article about the market recovery. No matter how frustrating it is at times to live in a democracy, there is something about this system of government that is quite admirable. Despite Republicans having complete control in Washington and thus theoretically able to do whatever they and the president desire, there are so many natural roadblocks across the national political landscape that make dictatorial rule nearly impossible in America. The steep losses on Wall Street had an adverse impact not only on Democrats, but also the president’s supporters. He had to worry about them.

Dictatorships lack such natural checks on power. Presidents and prime ministers there have advisers as well. But those counsellors are cowed into silence. Tyrants tend to view themselves as the sole repositories of wisdom in their societies. They do no wrong. Because internal dissent is often completely absent, it takes outside parties to point out errors of judgment. When that happens, the typical autocratic response is to discredit those external voices and double down on whatever mistakes they’ve been made aware of.

I have watched this movie play out in country after country where dictators rule. If we lived in one of those nations, our stock portfolios might be down on the floor by now. Despots simply don’t care if some dumb actions they take end up causing chaos and misery and endangering the welfare of their citizens. They imprison, torture, and kill their compatriots if that is what it takes for them to impose their wills on their societies.

Even in democracies, we should want strong leadership. Weak and indecisive presidents can sometimes cause as much harm as reckless ones. President Trump will most likely continue to be as erratic as he has been these past five months. And it’s been reported that he hates the TACO acronym. He should know that there are lots of Americans like me who actually want him to chicken out when that is the prudent to do. There is nothing to be embarrassed about that.

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source http://www.expertclick.com/NewsRelease/I-would-rather-have-a-president-who-chickens-out-when-it-is-prudent-to-do-so,2025311273.aspx