Trump's $1 trillion-plus 'dividend' plan meets immediate bipartisan pushback

NEW: Trump's plan to send every adult American citizen a $5,000 'dividend' if Republicans win the midterms meets immediate bipartisan pushback, with critics calling it 'vote-buying' as the payout would cost over $1 trillion.

Five thousand dollars for every adult American, but only if Republicans win in November.

That's the pitch Trump made at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas, and you can see him making it here. Call it a dividend, call it whatever you like, the math is brutal. Roughly 245 million adult citizens times five grand is over 1.2 trillion dollars, bigger than the Covid stimulus everyone now blames for inflation, and it lands a month after the national debt crossed 40 trillion.

The pushback came from his own side first. Republican donor Joe Lonsdale called it bread and circus bribes. Bob Good called it socialist vote buying. Chip Roy just wants to know who pays for it. Trump says tariffs cover it, JD Vance backed him up, though tariffs are paid by American importers, not foreigners.

Asked why the checks wait until after the election, Trump's answer was that Democrats can't do it. Which rather says the quiet part out loud.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.