Trump’s long speech at the Republican convention in Dallas, Texas, touched at the core of the conflict – the impact on the Americans’ standard of living and his pledge to increase their spending power drew raucous applause in the hall.
“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them,” Trump said, “I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.”
“We don’t want you going to Canada to spend the money,” he said.
“We don’t want you going to China, to Germany. You got to spend the money in the United States of America.” It is not clear how the spending would be monitored.
It is not the first time that Trump promised such payouts – he has previously proposed $2,000 cheques to be funded by tariff revenues.
Other US politicians in the past have also promised economic rewards in return for electoral success.
For instance, Democrats in Georgia promised $2,000 relief payments if their party took control of the Senate at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the US, Congress authorises spending and, in his speech in Dallas, the president did not say on whether he planned to ask for such approval for the payments – which he dubbed “Trump Dividends”.
However, in addition to the overall cost to the US treasury, the latest offer from the US president may raise legal questions.
Federal laws prohibit payments that are intended to influence voting.
However, some experts say Trump’s promise may be seen as a pledge to cut taxes, which is legal.
An election law expert who spoke to the New York Times said Trump’s promise would also be covered by the free-speech protection guaranteed under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
