Bye Bye Elon (You Won’t Be Missed) 5.29.25 Ally Sammarco May 30 Good Thursday evening, readers, and welcome back to Common Sense, your source for news and analysis on the circus that is American politics and entertainment. “TACO” (Trump Always Chickens Out) label takes off, with memes to boot… Taking off on the internet and on cable news is the acronym mocking Trump’s penchant for coming out strong and then backing out with the going gets tough. “TACO,” or “Trump Always Chickens Out” is the new criticism of Trump – obviously pissing him off – in reference to his tough talk and weak action on, for example, tariffs and Russia. NBC News has ten examples. California Gov. Gavin Newsom got in on the fun, stating, “It’s raining tacos today,” on the MeidasTouch Podcast today which Politico noted was “an apparent reference to the TACO acronym that Wall Street investors have used to refer to whiplash over Trump’s see-sawing import taxes. The president has bristled at the name, which stands for ‘Trump always chickens out.’” Meanwhile, we brought you news of a court ruling yesterday about the courts putting many Trump tariffs on hold, for now. That’s no longer the case today, as Trump won an appeals court’s “temporary reprieve” to implement the tariffs, The Guardian reports. Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash Buckle down for “above normal” Atlantic hurricane season, forecasters say… NPR reports, “National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasters are predicting an active Atlantic hurricane season with more storm activity than typical. ‘We’re really looking at an above normal season,’ said Ken Graham, a meteorologist and the director of the National Weather Service. ‘We’re calling for 13 to 19 named storms.’ Storms get names when their wind speeds reach 39 mph or higher. Six to 10 of the forecasted storms are expected to become hurricanes, with wind speeds exceeding 74 mph. NOAA expects three to five major hurricanes — Category 3 and above. The forecasts do not predict if or where the hurricanes will make landfall or how many of these storms will strike U.S. coastlines. Still, now is the time to prepare, forecasters said.” Once again, we offer props to NPR for the tangible news under-reported elsewhere. Common Sense with Ally Sammarco is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. More than Musk: Other senior officials leaving DOGEshit posts, but the agency to continue its work… “Multiple senior DOGE officials are in the process of leaving the Trump administration as Elon Musk officially steps away, sources told ABC News Thursday. Among them is James Burnham, DOGE's top attorney, and Steve Davis, a longtime Musk lieutenant at Musk's private companies, who are both in the process of offboarding from their roles as a special government employees, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.” Despite the newly announced departures, Politico reports how the work of DOGEshit continues… Trump shakes up ICE because it’s not being evil enough… CBS News reports, “The Trump administration is shaking up Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership amid continued frustrations within the White House about the level of immigration arrests and deportations conducted by the agency, officials announced Thursday. Kenneth Genalo will no longer lead Enforcement and Removal Operations, the ICE branch tasked with carrying out arrests and deportations. Genalo, a longtime ICE official, is retiring and plans to advise agency leaders as a special government employee, officials said. ERO has been spearheading the Trump administration's aggressive and government-wide campaign to ramp up efforts to locate, arrest and deport unauthorized migrants across the country.” Considering the damage that ICE’s deportations of American citizens, wrongful tattoo interpretations, and lack of due process, we can only imagine the higher level of damage Trump wishes ICE were inflicting… Today’s Furry Friend Cute crochet cat hats are creating a world in which cats may be able to live without chronic pain. The University of Montreal reached a breakthrough in studying how to alleviate pain in cats – and the secret is the crochet hats. This is the type of good news that often gets lost in the current headlines, but it’s out there. Today’s Buzz We try not to bring you daily updates from the Sean “Diddy” Combs sex trafficking and racketeering trial. Today’s testimony, however, was substantial. Because it involves SA, we allow you to decide whether to view it or not. The Hollywood Reporter has the story. In lighter entertainment news, George R.R. Martin, the author behind HBO’s Game of Thrones series, is back in the news with more drama – this time about the production delay for a movie adaptation of his late friend’s book. EW has the story. Being George R.R. Martin fans means relishing in headlines like this one: Thank you for reading. Check back tomorrow (Friday!) evening for the next edition of Common Sense.