Lunch with the man who coined TACO

By Darian Woods,

Angel Carreras, Kate Concannon

Published July 22, 2025 at 8:55 AM EDT

Despite presidential saber rattling and huge tariff threats, the U.S. stock market keeps reaching record highs. Why?

Today we sit down with the man who coined the acronym TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) and chew through several hypotheses. (Over tacos, of course.)

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Darian Woods

Darian Woods is a reporter and producer for The Indicator from Planet Money. He blends economics, journalism, and an ear for audio to tell stories that explain the global economy. He's reported on the time the world got together and solved a climate crisis, vaccine intellectual property explained through cake baking, and how Kit Kat bars reveal hidden economic forces.

See stories by Darian Woods

Angel Carreras

Angel Carreras is an assistant producer for The Indicator from Planet Money. He is a Bakersfield-raised, Cal State Long Beach graduate. He previously worked at KCRW, the NPR member station in Los Angeles. He has produced award-winning and character-driven work, with subjects that have included masked puppeteers, mutual aid groups, and community activists.

Kate Concannon

Kate Concannon is the Supervising Senior Editor at The Indicator from Planet Money. She leads this small, collaborative team of hosts, reporters and producers in making sense of crucial, but often complex and confusing, economic news in just 10 minutes a day.