They’re worse than sales taxes, because the goods imported are subject to levies even if they’re unsold and eventually destroyed.
Right, but the goal is to solve a marketing issue. The Trump base is resistent to criticisms of dear leader and the mechanisms behind tariffs raising all prices can be misunderstood (and let's be honest, who really trusts economists). Call it a sales tax, they know what that is. The mechanism doesn't matter.
To "solve the marketing issue", you have to be able to market to them.
They have 100% bought into a totally controlled media ecosystem. How do you get your marketing material on Fox, or Truth Social?