President Trump is praising President McKinley’s tariffs as “beautiful,” casting them as a tool to rebuild American industry and deliver prosperity. He says taxes on imports will unleash a Gilded Age-style boom, but they can also break the stubborn partisan stalemate while healing divisions such as those lingering after the Civil War.

On “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, Trump said that America “had so much money” in McKinley’s era that “we didn’t know what to do.” He noted that Congress had to set up a commission to deal with the surplus and suggested that tariffs might even raise enough revenue to replace the income tax, which “stupidly” replaced it.