During a long self-celebrating speech at a Republican convention in Dallas, Texas, Donald Trump attempted to revitalise his conservative base while trying to buy other voters.
If Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections, every American adult will receive $5,000 (€4,300). That’s the extraordinary gambit Donald Trump is making to reverse his party’s sagging fortunes in November.
“So if the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump dividend,” Trump told Republicans in Texas, as the party struggles in polls against the Democrats.
Within an hour, Vice President JD Vance appeared to try to walk back Trump’s proposal — at least in part — by suggesting the dividend payments would not go to the wealthy. Vance suggested it could be paid for by US tariff revenues, though the suggested payment dwarfs what the US has taken in through the protectionist measures.
The dubious promise would likely cost more than $1 trillion (€860bn) and require congressional approval, and would further exacerbate the country’s nearly $1.8 trillion (€1.55bn) annual budget deficit and concerns about inflation.
The sum would far exceed U.S. tariff revenues even before the Supreme Court tossed much of the president’s tariff program last year.
‘I’m on the ballot’
Doubling down on his bet that he can help Republicans defy opinion polls and retain both houses of Congress on 3 November, Trump said: “I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot.”
“I’m on the ballot, I’m on the ballot — just one more time,” he told the crowd.
Opinion polls overwhelmingly show that Trump’s approval ratings are in the low 30s, as voters become increasingly angry about high prices and the war he launched against Iran.
He did not say where the money would come from, citing only that “our country is making so much money.”
The national debt last month topped $40 trillion (€34.4bn) for the first time.
Trump has frequently lamented that, during the modern era, the president’s party almost always loses seats in Congress during the midterms, and he has looked for unorthodox ways to defy the trend, including this week’s convention.
“We’re going to change that,” Trump said. “There’s no reason for it.”
Would it be legal?
Trump’s proposal would have to be approved by Congress, but it would be legal because the payment would go to everyone regardless of how they voted, or whether they voted at all, said New Mexico-based attorney John Day.
“This is a campaign promise,” Day said. “It’s not a payment to individuals to try to get them to vote in a particular way.”
The move was reminiscent of billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to buy votes in last year’s Wisconsin state Supreme Court race, where he handed out million-dollar checks to voters to try to boost a candidate who ultimately lost.
Trump has discussed the possibility before but has never tied it to his party’s electoral fortunes. Earlier this year, he proposed a $2,000 (€1,720) dividend and said he didn’t think he needed approval from Congress.
Last year, Trump gave members of the military a $1,776 (€1,527) check that he called a “warrior dividend.”
“I will get a bill ready so that we can get the Trump Dividend passed immediately after the November 3rd election,” Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio wrote on X late Wednesday. “Because Republicans (and America) will win!”
Decision Desk HQ, an election data agency, projects Democrats to win the House 230-205 and the Senate to finish 51-49 in their favor in November.