Fox News pointed out a wrinkle with Donald Trump’s big promise to shower every American adult with a $5,000 dividend if Republicans keep control of the House and Senate in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.

The president told the GOP midterm convention on Wednesday:

“Because we’ve done so well and because our country is making so much money that, only I can make this promise to you, and here is my promise. If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic, tremendous economic success, like, in history we’ve never had anything like what’s happening. But because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.”

Watch here:

.@POTUS announces the TRUMP DIVIDEND: If Republicans win both the House and the Senate, because of our tremendous economic success, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States for $5,000 pic.twitter.com/s4orJJGx9d

The only condition of the money, Trump said, would be that it has to be spent in the U.S.

But as Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich noted during coverage of the “surprise announcement” at the convention, Trump has made similar promises about money for voters before without ultimately delivering.

“We should note, though, it is not the first time he has promised a cash payment like this,” said Heinrich. “He promised Americans $2,000 rebates during his tariff policy, when that was enacted, but after court challenges to the tariffs themselves, those $2,000 checks, so far, have not materialized.”

Watch here:

Critics on social media also noted that Trump had previously embraced the idea of returning some of the alleged savings claimed by the Elon Musk-run, so-called Department of Government Efficiency in the early days of his second term, via $5,000 checks.

Those payments never saw the light of day either.

Others accused Trump of effectively trying to bribe American voters with his latest vow:

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

You have to be a special kind of stupid to believe that Trump will give every American a $5,000 dividend if Republicans win the midterms.

lol. trump openly bribing people to vote for republicans. $5k per person if republicans hold the house and the senate?

There are something like 269 million American adults. Sending all of them a check for $5000, as the President just proposed, would cost the US government $1.35 trillion dollars... I've asked the White House where they think that money would come from.

My daddy used to call this “vote buying”. https://t.co/sDShPwpBr6

Trump attempts to bribe people to vote for Republicans in the midterms pic.twitter.com/gSPTDBWyqu

Like the DOGE cheques? Or the Tariff cheques? Will Americans ever wise up to this conman? https://t.co/YV4bAzaWKl

If you believe this, you’re a fucking idiot. https://t.co/5dlieRFC9N

Yes, let's just bribe the Electorate with no pretense of dignity... https://t.co/7LdNtquZcB

Right after you get your DOGE dividend and your tariff rebate checks and your gold from Fort Knox https://t.co/moPYsRof3C

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