Trump Claims He'll Pay Every US Citizen $5,000 If Republicans Win Midterms (He Won't)

With his party facing electoral disaster, President Donald Trump delivered a lengthy, muddled “midterm convention” speech in which he begged his supporters to vote in November — and preposterously claimed that he will send $5,000 checks to every adult citizen in the US if Republicans hold onto Congress.

It’s not the first time in his second term Trump has claimed Americans will receive free money from his administration, even though a president doesn’t have the authority to send out such payments without congressional authorisation. The promise seemed to be an act of desperation.

“If the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000, it will be called the Trump dividend,” Trump said at the Republican Party’s “midterm convention” ahead of November’s elections. 

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the president’s proposal, essentially a voter bribe that could cost than $1 trillion. Not that Congress would ever approve it. 

The president’s party typically does badly in midterm elections, and Republicans face considerable obstacles in their quest to hold the House and Senate, thanks especially to stubborn inflation worsened by Trump’s tariffs and his war in Iran, which has driven record-high gas prices.

Trump acknowledged the historical pattern on Wednesday. His promise to pay Republican voters, delivered during a nearly two-hour rambling speech, seemed like an effort to beat the polls and defy history.

“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic, tremendous economic success, like in history, we’ve never had anything like what’s happening, but because of our tremendous strength and success economically, economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000,” Trump said. 

The president repeatedly suggested last year he would send out direct payments, which both his and Joe Biden’s administration did in response to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

The payments, authorised by Congress, were wildly popular and likely contributed to a record surge in inflation in 2022. 

In a November Truth Social post, Trump claimed that tariff revenue had made America rich. 

“A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone,” Trump wrote. 

“We’re going to be issuing dividends later on, somewhere prior to, you know, probably the middle of next year, a little bit later than that,” Trump said in the Oval Office that month. “Thousands of dollars for individuals of moderate income, middle income.”

Republicans on Capitol Hill panned the idea at the time. The money never materialised. 

Speaking at Wednesday’s midterm convention ― as though he were accepting his party’s nomination for an election where he’s not even on the ballot ― Trump urged voters to remember the money and join him in his fantasy. 

“So please, I ask you this as maybe more important even than the Trump dividend ― please pretend that I’m running and get out and vote on November 3rd or sooner,” Trump said. 

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