It's like hijacking a plane pre-9/11. Everyone knew you just followed along because the hijackers wanted something. Then 9/11 happened and hijacking the plane WAS what they wanted.
Tarriffs pre-Trump always were to pressure a change in some policy. Then Trump came along and tarriffs were the policy. But instead of World Trade Center collapsing, it is now just World Trade.
It is like 9/11 but in the sense of the entire law book going out the door by using the excuse of "combating terrorism" and ending up where we are now.
Back when the Patriot act was laudly applauded and institutions like ICE were deployed to violate laws people knew this was going to be the end station.