President Donald Trump promised to pay every American adult $5,000 if Republicans keep their majorities in Congress in November’s midterms.
“Here is my promise,” Trump said Wednesday, “if the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them — because of our tremendous economic success, like in history, we’ve never had anything like what’s happening, but because of our tremendous strength and success economically — I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.”
“That alone should win the midterms,” Trump said, speaking at the party’s midterm convention in Dallas. He added the only condition on the payment, which he dubbed the “Trump dividend,” is that Americans must spend that stimulus in the United States.
There are about 245 million adult citizens in America, meaning Trump’s promise would cost more than $1.2 trillion.
Trending
Speaking at the novel Republican midterm convention, Trump compared the proposed payments to a company distributing cash to shareholders and credited his economic policies and tariffs with making them possible.
Federal law bars anyone from offering financial compensation to persuade a voter to cast their ballot in favor of or against a particular candidate.
Trump did not specify when the payments would arrive or detail how the program would be funded. He has previously teased a stimulus payment from tariff money.
Wednesday’s proposal came midway through the president’s remarks in Dallas, where he cast November’s midterms as a choice between preserving his agenda and surrendering gains on immigration, taxes and public safety.
There, he urged Republicans to vote as though he was on the ballot.
“If we lose,” Trump warned, “you’re going to lose your border, you’re going to lose your tax cuts, you’re going to lose your safety and security, you’re going to lose your wealth.”
He also pledged to show up for some 35 competitive congressional races before November, promising rallies and town halls to help Republican candidates.
“They might be winning by a little, or losing by a little, or tied,” Trump said. “We can win every one of those races, but I’m going to go to every one of those states for congressmen and for senators.”
That effort, he said, would include returning to Texas to campaign for Ken Paxton for Senate.
Trump touted his economic record, celebrated immigration wins, predicted a swift end to the Iran war and called opposition to transgender women in women’s sports “one of our greatest sound bites of all time.”
More than anything, he said, Trump worried Democrats might switch their positions before Election Day: “I’m petrified that they’ll change.”
“The choice in this election is very, very simple. Democrats are asking you to vote for their failed far-left agendas,” Trump said. “And I’m asking you to let us finish the job we began with the greatest two years in the history of the presidency.”
This story has been updated with further comments from President Trump.
Author
