Vice President JD Vance did damage control on Wednesday after Donald Trump promised every adult American citizen $5,000 if Republicans win the upcoming midterm elections, flat-out denying that it’s an open bribe by the president.“I can hear the critics’ heads exploding,” Fox News host Bret Baier told Vance.Baier continued, “They’re saying out loud, I guarantee you, ‘The president is bribing voters to vote for Republicans to take over the House, and then he’s bankrupting the country because the deficit and debt is huge and inflation would come back if this comes into play.’”Vance responded with a full-throated defense of the $5,000 promise, calling it “a dividend.”“We’re taking in an extraordinary amount of revenue because the president of the United States is actually standing up to both foreign companies, but also foreign countries who’ve been taking advantage of America’s workers for pretty much my entire life,” said Vance.He added, “What the president is just saying is, ‘If you keep it going to the American people, if you keep us in power and allow us to continue to do these things, then you’re going to share in some of the benefit of this incredible wealth that we’re creating in the United States.’”The vice president went on to argue, “I don’t think it’s a controversial idea,” despite the math not adding up. The estimated $132.5 billion in net customs revenue collected from tariffs since January 2025 can’t fund a $1.3 trillion payout, the cost of providing nearly 270 million American adults with $5,000 each.Critics immediately accused Vance of trying to “sanewash” yet another Trump scandal. Former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan was succinct, sharing a clip of the interview on X and writing: “Liar liar pants on fire.”Trump is facing disastrous approval ratings amid a nationwide affordability crisis he has repeatedly dismissed and his unpopular Iran war, but is nonetheless making the midterms a referendum on his supposed successes. He launched a two-day Republican midterm convention Wednesday in Dallas — where one of the Ls in “Dallas” was visibly missing from a sign on the lectern onstage.Meanwhile, Trump and Vance’s promised checks are far from guaranteed even if Republicans win: Trump has reportedly promised Americans a dividend, rebate or check at least 15 times before — with none ever arriving.Vance was skewered on social media for defending Trump’s offer.If you really believe that you're going to get a $5000 check from @POTUS for voting Republican this fall, he probably has an arch in Washington he wants to sell you. https://t.co/t85InS0jSo— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) September 10, 2026 The claim that federal budget is so overrun with surplus cash that Washington can afford to spend $1.3 trillion on "rebates" is so detached from reality that I refuse to waste my time walking through the math. If that makes sense to you, you are beyond help. https://t.co/IiOxtZLUiS— Jessica Riedl 🧀 🇺🇦 (@JessicaBRiedl) September 10, 2026 Outright falsehoods by @JDVance. Here’s the truth: 1. The $1.3 trillion in “dividends” promised by Trump is 5x the total collected from his unlawful tariffs. 2. The tariff revenue is a tax on families, not wealth generated. 3. As American families continue to struggle with… https://t.co/kkPnFURkcl— Joel Griffith (@joelgriffith) September 10, 2026