Five thousand dollars for every adult citizen. That’s the promise. With Election Day here on Tuesday, President Trump is doubling down on a pledge he’s made all fall: if Republicans win the House and the Senate, he says every adult citizen will get a $5,000 check.
What Trump Promised
Trump first floated the “Trump Dividend” on Sept. 9 at a Republican midterm convention in Dallas, according to NBC. He made it official in a video posted to his social accounts on Oct. 3, saying all adult citizens would get $5,000 if the GOP wins both chambers. He closed the post by saying he would “look forward to signing those checks!” per USA Today.
The details have shifted. Fortune reports that one Oct. 2 post said “every U.S. Citizen,” dropping the word “adult,” before Trump went back to “all adult citizens.” He has not said exactly how the payments would be funded. He has put the cost at about $1 trillion, while Fortune and NBC estimate it would top $1.3 trillion for roughly 270 million adults. Any payment would also need an act of Congress.
One more twist: on Oct. 30, a federal judge in New York ordered the administration to pull three taxpayer-funded ads, including the “$5,000 to Americans” video, from government channels such as YouTube and Instagram. The White House called the ruling “lawless,” per PBS NewsHour.
3 Reactions to the $5,000 Pledge
1. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) didn’t commit, but kept the door open. On NBC’s Meet the Press, he called Trump “a great idea generator” and said Congress would “process that,” per USA Today.
2. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) pushed back from inside Trump’s own party. He said he was “insulted” by the idea that his vote “could be bought for 5K,” and warned the checks could fuel inflation, per NBC.
3. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called the plan a “political bribe” on CNN, noting that Congress, not the president, controls federal spending, per USA Today.
What do voters think? An Economist/YouGov poll from September found 21% of registered voters believe Trump would actually issue the checks if Republicans keep Congress, while 57% said he would not, Fortune reports. On the idea itself, voters were split: 43% support the payments and 45% oppose them.
Why it matters: $5,000 would mean real money for a lot of families in our community. That’s exactly why it’s worth knowing the facts before you vote, including what it would cost and who would have to approve it. Georgia votes Tuesday, Nov. 3. Catch up on our coverage of Obama’s rally in Morrow, then make a plan to get to the polls.
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Sources: USA Today (via AOL), Fortune, NBC, Yahoo Finance, PBS NewsHour
