JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<a id="link1" href="#">Click me</a>

<!-- I want to simulate a user clicking link2 when the user actually clicks link 1. -->
<!-- My guess is that triggering click just triggers any JS-bound click handlers. But that would defeat the point of e.preventDefault() when you usually have to call this to stop the default href being followed -->
<a id="link2" href="http://google.com" target="_blank">Don't click me</a>

JavaScript

jQuery(document).ready(function(){
    $('#link1').on('click', function(){
       $('#link2').click().css('color','red');
       // $('#link2').trigger('click');
    });
});