Trump is promising every adult American $5,000 if Republicans win the midterms. He calls it a “dividend.” From what? Tariff revenue the Supreme Court already gutted. The man is writing checks on a closed account and calling it generosity.
The math alone should end the conversation. Two hundred seventy million adults times five thousand dollars is $1.35 trillion. The entire federal education budget is about $80 billion. He doesn’t have the money. Congress hasn’t authorized it. There is no application and no timeline. It is a number on a Truth Social post, and that’s all it will ever be.
But here’s what kills me: it works. His approval is at 32% and sinking, so he’s buying the midterms with an IOU. Your real wages have been flat for forty years and this man is offering you a coupon. Five grand that doesn’t exist yet, contingent on an election he might lose. That’s not a dividend. That’s a campaign ad with a dollar sign on it.