# Trump's $5,000 vote

> A trillion-dollar cash promise, tied to one election result, and nobody can say who pays for it.
- Title: Trump's $5,000 vote · the Guardian | Shortify
- Summary: A trillion-dollar cash promise, tied to one election result, and nobody can say who pays for it. A $5,000 cheque for every adult would cost about $1.2tn, and…
- Keywords: trump, midterms, us politics, national debt, fiscal policy, news, world, Trump's, 000, vote, the Guardian
- Source: the Guardian — https://theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/13/trump-5000-dividend-pledge
- Author: Guardian staff
- Published: 2026-09-13T15:07:23+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: trump, midterms, us politics, national debt, fiscal policy, news, world
## The pledge, repeated
Trump said again on Sunday that every US adult gets a $5,000 dividend if Republicans hold Congress in November. He made the promise from a golf course in Ireland.

> $5,000 to all adults in the country and we can easily handle that because we're taking in so much money
## The maths is brutal
Roughly 240 million adult citizens times $5,000 is about $1.2tn. Washington spent around $7tn in fiscal 2025 and borrowed $2tn of it.
## Debt just crossed $40tn
The national debt passed $40tn for the first time in August. Budget analyst Marc Goldwein said the payout would blow out the deficit and push inflation up with it.

> The result would be a huge spike in the deficit, and almost certainly in the inflation rate.
## Bribery, say critics
Gavin Newsom called it buying votes with taxpayer money. Hakeem Jeffries told ABC it is not a serious proposal.

> Donald Trump now wants to buy your vote with $5,000 in taxpayer-funded blood money
## Republicans split on it
Senator Bernie Moreno says he will have a bill ready the moment the election is done. House speaker Mike Johnson was far more cautious on CNN.

> Of course, the devil's in the details. We have to figure all that out.
## Congress still decides
No president can post cheques by pledge alone. Any payment needs a vote on Capitol Hill, which is exactly what Trump was dodging when reporters asked.

> I made that pledge, I always keep my pledge.
## Key takeaway

A $5,000 cheque for every adult would cost about $1.2tn, and Trump has offered it as a reward for a Republican win rather than as a costed policy.