'Only I can make you this promise': Trump re-ups pledge to send Americans $5,000 if GOP wins

First, it was a "DOGE dividend." Then it was a promise of tariff checks. Then government healthcare refunds were on the way. Now, President Trump is doubling down on a pledge to send Americans another payout if Republicans win in the coming midterm elections.

"Only I can make you this promise: If Republicans win the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2026 Midterm Elections, I'm going to give all Adult Citizens in the United States of America, $5,000. Thank you for your attention to this matter, and I look forward to signing those checks!" Trump said in a video Saturday posted to Truth Social and X.

It revives a promise he first made in early September, pledging a $5,000 "Trump dividend" if Republicans keep majorities in Congress.

In Saturday's video, he said the dividend would cost approximately $1 trillion, but be offset by the "record-setting $21 trillion that's being invested in our country in just the last 15 months. So it's actually a very easy thing to do for me." The investment figure is one that Trump often cites but the White House has never substantiated while the US national debt has grown by about $3 trillion over the last 15 months.

Given his record of unfulfilled promises to send money to individual Americans, this one also drew skepticism.

Erica York of the Tax Foundation posted on X last month that Trump's proposal would appear to spend the projected tariff revenue over the entire coming decade in one fell swoop.

"There has been no paying down of the debt with tariff revenue, and there certainly won't be if you spend it all before you even collect it," she wrote.

Henrietta Treyz of Veda Partners told Yahoo Finance when the proposal was first announced that investors should dismiss it, as it's unlikely to ever happen.

"This, to me, is just panic," she said last month, adding that the GOP is "looking at a wipeout" at the polls this fall.

Those dynamics are still true a month out from Election Day. Trump has cratering approval ratings, especially on economic issues , and a weak September jobs report makes it even harder to sell voters on his economic record .

A month after taking the oath of office in January 2025, Trump discussed plans for a "DOGE dividend," with a similar $5,000 figure bandied about as Elon Musk made promises about finding trillions of dollars in government savings.

Musk, of course, never found anywhere near that level of government savings, and the US annual deficit is projected to hit a record $2.1 trillion this fall. Musk left government after only a few months in Washington, and the DOGE dividend idea was quietly scrapped.