Ben Shapiro last year decried Donald Trump’s tariff talk as a negotiating tactic.

“I’m going to chalk this one up to the bull----ing... do I take seriously the idea that, without congressional legislation, he is going to be able to levy a 20 per cent tariff on everything coming into the country? No, I don’t,” he insisted during a debate on the Free Press website just before the election. “He’s a wheeler dealer, he tends to use tariffs as a piece of leverage.”

Yet just six months later, the podcaster appears to be eating his words.

Mr Shapiro is just one of an army of content creators, alongside the likes of Joe Rogan and Barstool Sports’ founder and owner Dave Portnoy, who both helped Mr Trump appeal to millions on his path to election victory in 2024.

But some loyal soldiers of the Maga cavalry may now be losing faith in their commander-in-chief after his controversial tariff policy wiped trillions from the global economy.