Vote Republican, Get $5,000? Trump Makes Bold Midterm Pledge

US President Donald Trump says he would offer every adult American a $5,000 (£3,700) payout if Republicans win both chambers of Congress in November’s midterm elections, a plan that would cost more than $1 trillion.

The controversial offer was made during a speech at the Republican Party’s first-ever convention held in the middle of a US presidential term.

Trump gave no details on how the plan would work or where the money would come from, saying only that the funds would have to be spent in the United States.

Democrats quickly described the proposal as an “empty promise”, while others questioned whether such a pledge would be legal.

There are nearly 270 million American adults, meaning a $5,000 payout to each person would cost the US government about $1.3 trillion.

Questions over the feasibility of the plan have already emerged, particularly as prices continue to rise in the US, partly as a result of the consequences of the war that the US and Israel started with Iran in February.

Iran’s retaliation has included attacks on US bases and allies in the Gulf, while the country has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas traditionally transits.

The disruption has caused fluctuations in oil prices worldwide, while Trump has faced pressure from members of his own party to end the war.

On Wednesday, the US president warned his supporters that the war would not end until after the midterms and that oil prices would not fall until then.

He made the comments ahead of his speech in Texas and repeated them at the convention, where he argued that short-term economic pain was necessary to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

Trump’s lengthy speech at the Republican convention in Dallas, Texas, focused heavily on the conflict’s impact on Americans’ standard of living.

His pledge to increase their spending power drew loud applause from the audience.

“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them,” Trump said, “I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.”
“We don’t want you going to Canada to spend the money,” he said.

“We don’t want you going to China, to Germany. You got to spend the money in the United States of America.” It is not clear how the spending would be monitored.

It is not the first time Trump has promised such payouts. He has previously proposed $2,000 cheques funded by tariff revenues.

Other US politicians have also made promises of economic rewards linked to electoral success.

For instance, Democrats in Georgia promised $2,000 relief payments if their party took control of the Senate at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the US, Congress authorises government spending. However, in his Dallas speech, Trump did not say whether he planned to seek congressional approval for the payments, which he called “Trump Dividends”.
Beyond the estimated overall cost to the US treasury, the latest proposal could also raise legal questions.

Federal laws prohibit payments intended to influence voting.

However, some experts argue that Trump’s promise could be interpreted as a pledge to cut taxes, which would be legal.

An election law expert who spoke to the New York Times said Trump’s promise could also be protected under the free-speech provisions of the First Amendment to the US Constitution.