U.S. President Donald Trump returns to Washington from the World Economic Forum (WEF) aboard Air Force One, U.S., January 22, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
The new year has already brought several opportunities for President Donald Trump to embrace his "T.A.C.O." nickname: "Trump Always Chickens Out."
Writing for CNN, Stephen Collinson listed recent examples of Trump backing down under pressure.
Less than a week ago, former top Trump aide Steve Bannon told The Atlantic's Ashley Parker that the only way to stop Trump is to stand up to him. Each time someone does, he backs down.
“He’s driving deep. Remember, our strategy — I say it every day — is maximalist. You have to take it however deep you can take it and, quite frankly, until you meet resistance. And we haven’t met any resistance," Bannon said.
In 2026, however, Trump is meeting that resistance.
On Monday night, it was announced that Greg Bovino, Trump's commander-at-large of U.S. Border Patrol, was leaving Minneapolis. The move follows a massive uprising in Minnesota and nationwide after a Border Patrol agent brutally shot and killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an ICU nurse at the Veterans Administration.
The administration desperately attempted to paint Pretti as a "domestic terrorist," alleging he approached "law enforcement" and claimed he was"brandishing a weapon." Videos showed a very different story, and not even top Trump supporters were willing to repeat the claim.
Even Trump appeared to backtrack when speaking about Renee Nicole Good, a Minneapolis mom who was similarly gunned down by federal agents. In an interview with the New York Times, Trump struggled with the narrative that Good ran over anyone or attempted to kill anyone.
When top officials began claiming protesters shouldn't carry guns, Second Amendment loyalists in the GOP were vocally outraged, further fracturing Trump's angry coalition of voters.
Minneapolis is just the latest example. Last week, Trump backed down from his strongman routine over the Arctic island of Greenland. Once ignored or laughed off, his push to buy or annex the Danish territory escalated to threats of military force.
Financial markets crashed, and the global community rose up over the idea of a potential war. Trump was forced to play cleanup at the World Economic Forum in Davos after days of speeches rebuking him. He announced an "indefinite deal" with NATO over Greenland — though it's unclear what he gained beyond existing treaties.
Trump had threatened huge tariffs in revenge for NATO allies sending military forces to protect Greenland. He has since backed down after reports revealed his tariffs are pushing countries to craft trade deals with China instead of the U.S.
The Swiss forum grew worse. Trump arrived following a barn-burning speech from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Justin Trudeau's replacement. Carney made clear he wasn't playing Trump's game — and gave other nations permission to follow. They did.
Trump's so-called "Board of Peace", which he claimed would rebuild Gaza, was rejected by Western powers.
Trump was even forced to publicly back down from NATO bashing after claiming soldiers did nothing for the U.S. The outrage — particularly in the U.K., where even King Charles III got involved — prompted a Truth Social post praising U.K. soldiers as fantastic and vital during America's time of need.
Days before Davos, acting Venezuelan president Delcy Rodríguez announced she'd had “enough” of Trump’s "imperialist" dictates to run her country from the White House. This came after a meeting with top oil executives made clear they want nothing to do with Trump's bid to seize oil fields. It isn't economically sensible, Exxon told him: "Uninvestable."
In another backtrack, Trump has abandoned his war on "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI). While many colleges and corporations caved to his pressures, the American Federation of Teachers and allies did not. The administration has now dropped the case.
"In many areas, Trump can flex the authority of the executive branch, and there’s not much that opponents can do. But elsewhere, he could encounter real resistance — for instance, in a forthcoming Supreme Court ruling on the legality of his tariff policies," CNN noted.
While predicting future upheavals, the CNN report closes by noting "a turbulent first month of 2026 shows that the narrative of Trump as an untouchable strongman leader impervious to all restraint is not yet baked in."