At the Republican convention in Dallas, Texas, Donald Trump said: “If the Republicans win, you will win with us and receive $5,000”. He suggested calling the payment a “Trump dividend” and clarified that the money could only be spent within the United States.
At the same time, Trump did not explain what funds could be used to finance the program. He was not referring to his personal money: Trump’s own fortune was estimated at $7.3 billion last year.
According to Reuters calculations, about 270 million adults live in the United States, so fulfilling the promise would cost roughly $1.35 trillion. Such a payment would require government funds and congressional approval, meaning money from taxes and other levies or borrowing.
About an hour after the speech, U.S. Vice President J. D. Vance tried to clarify the idea. He suggested that wealthy Americans would not receive payments and speculated that the money could be raised through import tariffs, but Associated Press (AP) notes that such revenues are nowhere near the required amount.
AP also reminds readers that the annual U.S. federal budget deficit is about $1.8 trillion, and the national debt exceeded $40 trillion in August for the first time. Trump directly linked the promise to the election results and said that Americans would receive the “dividend” only if Republicans keep both chambers of Congress.
The promise came less than two months before the election, in which Republicans risk losing control of at least one chamber of Congress. Reuters called the proposal “an extraordinary attempt to persuade voters to support his party”, and lawyer John Day, quoted by AP, noted that the scheme does not necessarily fall under the ban on buying votes because the payments are intended for all eligible citizens regardless of whether they voted and for whom.
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