US President Promises $5,000 Payout To US Adults If Republicans Win Midterms

US President Donald Trump has promised a $5,000 payout to every American adult if Republicans win control of both the House and Senate in November's midterm elections – a proposal that would cost over $1.3 trillion.

Trump made the announcement during the party's first-ever midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, without giving details on how the scheme would be funded or implemented.

"If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000," he told cheering supporters.

He added that the money would have to be spent in the US, saying: "We don't want you going to Canada to spend the money. We don't want you going to China, to Germany. You got to spend the money in the United States of America." He did not explain how that would be monitored.

With nearly 270 million adults in the US, the plan – which he called “Trump Dividends” – would cost an estimated $1.3 trillion.

Democrats have dismissed the pledge as an “empty promise”, while critics have questioned its legality. Under US federal law, payments intended to influence voting are prohibited, though some legal experts argue such campaign promises could be protected as free speech under the First Amendment, or framed as a tax-cut pledge.

It is not the first time Trump has floated such cheques. He has previously proposed $2,000 payments funded by tariff revenues. Similar tactics have been used before, including by Democrats in Georgia who promised $2,000 Covid relief payments during the 2021 Senate runoffs.

The President made the pledge at a time of rising prices in the US, partly driven by the ongoing war involving the US, Israel and Iran since February. Iran's retaliation, including the largely closure of the Strait of Hormuz – a route for about a fifth of global oil and LNG – has triggered oil price volatility.

Trump said on Wednesday that the war would not end until after the midterms and oil prices would not fall until then, arguing that short-term economic pain was necessary to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.