President Donald Trump is re-upping his controversial promise to send a $5,000 dividend check to all U.S. citizens if Republicans maintain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
“I’m going to give all adult citizens of the United States of America $5,000,” Trump said in an ad he posted on X. “Democrat policies won’t allow this to happen. In fact, the opposite. They’re going to raise your taxes. If the Democrats win, you will have an economic depression. If the Republicans win, you will each have $5,000 in your pocket, and economic success for our country like we have never ever seen before.”
The president first teased the dividends during the Republican National Committee midterm convention in Dallas on Sept. 9, and was soon met with criticism within his own party.
Republicans faced the challenging decision of whether to support the president’s plan. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) opposed the plan, saying that “dependency is evil & soul-sucking in all its forms.”
Trump has claimed Democrats wouldn’t be able to fulfill the same promise.
A former senior Trump White House official told the Washington Examiner that the president did something similar in 2020 when Congress approved payments to offset rising costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We all remember how that turned out,” the official said. “Didn’t help our team at all, and it set the stage for [President Joe] Biden to do it again — and plunged us straight into inflation hell.”
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The promise also sparked concerns about worsening the national debt and increasing inflation.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), a Freedom Caucus member, said in September that he had “serious concerns” over the national debt and “pay-to-play politics.”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
