Trump promises every American a $5,000 "dividend" if Republicans win the midterms. The last time the government spent a trillion in emergency stimulus, America gained 110 new billionaires.
Details. At the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on September 9, Trump promised a $5,000 "dividend" to every adult citizen if Republicans retain control of both the House and Senate. He compared Americans to shareholders in a public company, arguing "if the Republicans win, you win with us."
► Trump did not specify who would be eligible or what the total cost would be. Paying every American adult $5,000 would cost over $1 trillion. Vance suggested funding it through tariff revenue and excluding wealthy Americans. It remains unclear when the payments would arrive, what legal mechanism would authorise them, or whether Congress would approve them at all.
Context. This is not the first such promise. The White House previously committed to a $2,000 "dividend" funded by tariff income, and Trump separately floated distributing DOGE's savings as a dividend worth up to $5,000. Neither payment materialised.
► The US government has already spent more than $6.5 trillion this year – over $1 trillion on interest payments for the national debt alone, nearing $1 trillion on "national defence," and almost $2 trillion on healthcare. The national debt now stands at more than $40 trillion.
Important to Know. The promise of the dividend aims to help the Republicans secure a victory in the upcoming midterm elections and amounts to a bribe of the electorate. Currently, the polls indicate a Democratic victory in the House and a tight race for the Senate.
► While $5,000 could make a temporary difference to an individual worker, it would not redistribute wealth. The capitalist class, which owns the means of production, pays workers wages and then sells them back the goods and services those same workers produced.
► Any stimulus payment ultimately flows back to the capitalist class through everyday spending, while its funding comes from further government debt, which is ultimately paid by the American working class through taxation, cuts to social welfare and inflation.
► During the pandemic, the US government issued three stimulus checks – $1,200, $600, and then $1,400 per eligible adult – as a lifeline to the capitalist economy, adding almost $1 trillion to the national debt through deficit financing. Similar measures were made across the world, central banks worldwide injected $9 trillion into the economy, flowing largely into financial markets and from there into the ultra-rich – global billionaire wealth rose by $5 trillion to $13 trillion in a single year, at the time the largest jump ever recorded.