Trump’s policy didn’t change. What changed is that people became reluctant to defend the actual reason economists oppose tariffs—because they think free trade is good. That’s one of those “spherical cow” arguments with a poor track record.
So critics of Trump shifted to attacking tariffs as a “tax.” But economists don’t oppose tariffs for that reason. Economists think consumption taxes are good! And there is no inconsistency between accepting higher prices for foreign goods to further industrial policy, and also opposing higher prices caused by money printing.
The "changed policy positions" of supporters that I described in the two prior paragraphs, which you seem to have just ignored. I certainly knew Trump was going to impose massive tariffs (aka taxes landing chiefly on consumers), run up the debt, and create hefty price inflation like he did the first time around. But all of the people saying they were supporting Trump because of "inflation" certainly didn't appear to. I will ask again: how was your "I support Trump because he wants to raise taxes. BTW I'm a democrat" argument received in 2024? Did you find a lot of agreement among fellow Trump supporters?
And as I also said, tariffs aren't really a "consumption tax" as economists champion, because they also tax industrial investment - exactly one of the things Trump claims his policies are meant to encourage, not discourage. But you skipped addressing that point, too.
Trump’s policy didn’t change. What changed is that people became reluctant to defend the actual reason economists oppose tariffs—because they think free trade is good. That’s one of those “spherical cow” arguments with a poor track record.
So critics of Trump shifted to attacking tariffs as a “tax.” But economists don’t oppose tariffs for that reason. Economists think consumption taxes are good! And there is no inconsistency between accepting higher prices for foreign goods to further industrial policy, and also opposing higher prices caused by money printing.