On the opening night of the Republican Party’s pointless and counterproductive midterm convention, Donald Trump declared, “If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate … I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.”
After adding that Americans would be required to spend the money in the U.S. (as if the government could somehow monitor how and where tens of millions of people were utilizing their own money), the president reiterated, “So if the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump dividend. Congratulations. Now all we have to do is win.”
Soon after, as Wednesday night’s festivities wrapped up, JD Vance appeared on Fox News to defend the president’s pitch. “I don’t think it’s a controversial idea,” the vice president said in apparent seriousness.
Reality quickly proved otherwise.
In the aftermath of the bizarre speech, it was tempting to dig into the substance of the president’s pitch, explaining in detail why this is utterly bonkers. But it’s probably best not to invest too much time into this — because there is no plan and there will be no checks. The whole idea is an absurdity, born of desperation as GOP officials and candidates confront headwinds in the midterm elections.
But that doesn’t mean Trump’s plan to send out imaginary checks is irrelevant.
For one thing, this was the only new idea presented at the Republicans’ midterm convention, which means the nonsensical idea is suddenly in the spotlight, throwing the party off message at a difficult time. For another, many GOP officials and conservative media voices are expressing their discomfort with the idea, dividing the party instead of unifying it with 53 days remaining before Election Day.
Complicating matters further, the president has given Democrats an opportunity to go on the offensive, accusing him of peddling fraudulent “bribes” as voters weigh their choices.
Trump made matters worse Thursday when he tried to defend his own pitch, which he obviously hadn’t thought through.
After having blindsided his own party’s congressional leaders with this idea, the president told Fox News and CBS News in separate interviews that he thinks he might be able to spend more than $1 trillion on this initiative without congressional approval, which is plainly absurd.
It also reinforces the underlying question about why he wouldn’t just start cutting the $5,000 checks now. When Fox host Laura Ingraham pressed him on this very point, Trump’s position descended into incoherence.
“If you have the money, why not give it out?” Ingraham asked. The president replied, “Because they can’t, I’ll tell you what, because the Democrats can’t do it because with them it’s negative growth.”
This was gibberish, based on an obvious falsehood. (Economic growth is weaker now than during any modern Democratic president’s administration.)
What we’re left with is one new pre-election idea, which many in his own party hate, which even Trump can’t defend, which Democrats appear delighted to seize on and which has been exposed as ludicrous.
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