September 10, 2026 — 2:44pmDallas: US President Donald Trump made an extraordinary pledge to pay every American adult $US5000 ($7000) if the Republican Party retains the House of Representatives and the Senate at November’s midterm elections, in a move immediately dismissed by Democrats as “another empty promise”.Speaking in Dallas at a special Republican National Convention ahead of the midterms, Trump said the only condition on the “dividend” was that it would have to be spent in America, not on foreign goods.President Donald Trump speaks at the Republican convention in Dallas.AP“It’s $US5000 to every adult [citizen],” he said. “If the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $US5000. It will be called the ‘Trump Dividend’.“The only caveat I have is the dividend that we’re making must be spent in the United States of America. We don’t want you going to Canada to spend the money. We don’t want you going to China, to Germany.”The policy could cost up to $US1.3 trillion if it were honoured and the roughly 268 million voting-age Americans took up the offer. Last month, US gross government debt passed $US40 trillion, with an interest bill exceeding $US3 billion a day.Trump, while criticising proposals by some Democrats to pay reparations to the victims of slavery and other historical injustices, claimed the US could afford his election inducement.“They want to steal your money for reparations,” he said. “Our country doesn’t have that kind of money. They have the money for [the] $US5000 [payment], but they don’t have that kind of money.”Peter Schiff, a well-known stockbroker and broadcaster who once ran for the Senate, called the policy a bribe that would result in massive inflation.The legal implications of Trump’s announcement were not immediately clear. The United States Code prohibits vote buying or selling, punishing anyone who “makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate”.However, Trump’s commitment was not directed at people who voted Republican, and would be available to people who voted Democratic or did not vote, as long as the Republicans won both chambers.The pledge was cheered by the several-thousand-strong crowd at the American Airlines Centre in Dallas. But Democrats dismissed the idea as an election stunt that Trump would not honour.They compared it to Trump’s proposal last year to distribute $US5000 cheques from the savings made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. That did not come to fruition, and Musk’s team did not achieve the budget savings it initially envisaged.Trump also entertained the idea of paying Americans $US2000 each from the revenue collected through his tariffs, which were ultimately found to be unlawful by the Supreme Court.Democratic National Committee spokesman Kendall Witmer said Trump and the Republicans were once again offering empty promises to American voters.“The only people reaping the benefits of Trump’s economy are himself, his family, and his ultrarich elite donors,” he said. “Meanwhile, working families get nothing except sky-high receipts at the grocery store and the pump, unaffordable healthcare premiums, and wages that aren’t keeping up with inflation.”The midterms take place on November 3. The Democrats need a net gain of three seats in the House to take control of that chamber, which is regarded as likely, and a net gain of four Senate seats to win there, which is viewed as difficult but not impossible.Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.From our partners