I remember reading in the CIA fact book that North Korea has a 100% participation rate in their elections. The way you vote is that you line up at the polling station with armed guards to protect the vote.
You are given a slip of paper with the candidate's name on it.
You vote by placing the paper into the voting box. You are, of course, free to not vote for the candidate by not putting the slip into the box.
Completely free. With arms guards there to protect your safety. In full view of other people in your neighborhood.
He's using tariffs as a sword to show off his power.
Tariffs is pretty much the most dangerous non-military weapon that the President can use without any legislative action. You are correct that his goal isn't chaos itself, but we would be remiss if we don't understand why Trump is using them.
Trump not only wants to look powerful, he wants to feel powerful. He is like a kid who knocks someone else's blocks down so that people can see he's in charge. Through his eyes, he sees someone else's suffering from his actions and then he can see the pain of those people as they look at him in disbelief. Trump is using tariffs as a stick to cause panic in those countries so that he can see them grovel at his feet.
That's why he doesn't care that it hurts his supporters. I would go so far as to say he wants his supporters to be hurt so that they can know that he's in charge.
This is authoritarianism. This is about him. Even if whatever trade deals come out of these tariffs are worse than they were before him, he claims victory because he forced the other side to the table.