AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTYou have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.Political MemoTrump’s Dubious Midterm Pitch: Keep Us in Power and Everyone Gets CashIn his convention speech, the president floated a $5,000 “Trump Dividend” for every adult American if Republicans keep control of Congress. The idea, like many others, may not come to pass.Listen · 5:12 min President Trump has repeatedly dangled sizable payments to Americans that have not materialized. Credit...Haiyun Jiang/The New York TimesBy Katie RogersKatie Rogers is a White House correspondent and reported from the Republican convention in Dallas.Sept. 10, 2026, 1:34 a.m. ETPresident Trump took the stage at his convention on Wednesday and spoke for nearly two hours about the need for midterm voters to imagine that it was him, not other Republicans, up for election this fall.“Pretend I’m on the ballot,” he urged. “I’m on the ballot. Just one more time.”Facing dwindling weeks until the midterms, deepening unpopularity and darkening political prospects for his party, Mr. Trump interrupted his usual fare by tossing out a new idea: a $5,000 check for every American adult if Republicans keep control of Congress in November.“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them,” Mr. Trump said, “I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.”It is not unheard-of for politicians to tie the possibility of an economic stimulus to an election’s outcome. In 2020, Democrats in Georgia pointed to $2,000 coronavirus relief checks if their party took control of the Senate.But few have been as brazen as Mr. Trump, who often dangles the possibility of free money if it means achieving his political goals, even as he seeks to undermine public trust in elections. In the same speech, Mr. Trump insisted that he won the presidential election three times (he didn’t) and accused Democrats of trying to cheat in elections.In several cases, the money Mr. Trump has promised in the past has not materialized. He has proposed $2,000 checks based on tariff revenues (in an interview with The New York Times in January, he said that money could arrive by the end of this year). He has also floated $5,000 payments from money saved by eliminating thousands of federal jobs, and assorted payments to Americans from government health care subsidies.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT