Comment by lmeyerov
I don't recall there being favorable reception when Trump's Congress passed it nor since. At best, non-awareness, and 'cost of business' for whatever the other talking points at the time.
You can see the older HN threads, people were shocked, and it comes up perennially, with calls to restore favorable tax treatment that incentivizes vs punishes business growth. Same pattern in social media responses to news articles.
Yes, as far as I can tell, this change was made to help balance the cost of other provisions in the TCJA. On paper, it would have at least let them claim they'd take in 5 years of extra tax revenue in from tech businesses (most of it in year 1). I don't think it has any long-term benefit for anyone, even the government.