For months, President Donald Trump has said affordability concerns are a hoax and his economy is roaring.
Americans aren't convinced, polls show. So facing waning popularity and depleted enthusiasm, the president offered voters a quid pro quo: elect Republicans and get a $5,000 payout.
Making the announcement during a speech Wednesday at the GOP's midterm convention in Dallas, Trump offered no details and with a price tag well over $1 trillion, the proposal is unlikely to become law.
Fellow Republicans have already rejected his previous call to pay dividends from tariff revenue, and Congress would need to approve a cash payment program with a price tag well over $1 trillion.
"It will be called the Trump dividend," the president said. "Now all we have to do is win."
U.S. public debt, which surpassed
The spectacle, which was paired with similarly farfetched pledges to make his tax cuts permanent and eliminate credit card swipe fees, shows the desperation creeping into Trump's rhetoric as he faces midterm losses that would hurtle him into lame duck status and launch a flood of congressional investigations into the actions of his administration and family.
Trump's pitch likely skirts actual vote buying — paying people to vote for a certain person or issue — which is illegal in most places, by being directed at all U.S. adult citizens. The Supreme Court has ruled politicians are allowed to make broad policy promises, and the president's remarks are roughly akin to promising a tax break.
"Independents and swing voters will see this as a ploy and not a solution to their affordability problems. That's why this will backfire," said Steven Okun, CEO of APAC Advisors, who previously served in the Clinton administration. And with U.S. debt at record levels "every Republican running in a close race will have to take a position on this."
Already, Trump's allies were looking to modify his plan. Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said he expected lawmakers to discuss the deficit impact and suggested it would be better structured as a tax refund with work requirements.
"It's something that underscores the stakes of the election," Cruz said.
"The general reaction from markets is very muted precisely as everyone sees almost zero chance of this happening," said Mark Cudmore, Bloomberg Markets Live executive editor. "The U.S. economy is strong and already at risk of running too hot, so pumping in so much extra fiscal stimulus when under funding pressure will exacerbate all the dynamics we're already focused on in markets: weaker Treasuries, a depreciating dollar and a rush to commodities and real assets."
In a prime-time address that lasted more than 100 minutes, the president begged voters to pretend that he was on the ballot in the upcoming election, hoping to motivate independent and low-propensity voters critical to his two presidential victories.
"Your vote will decide whether our country stumbles at the starting gate of our next 250 years or surges forward and never ever looks back," Trump said from the stage at the American Airlines Center.
But the electorate is broadly angry with Trump's leadership on the economy and the war in Iran. Many Republicans running in tough races skipped the two-day gathering in Texas. Empty seats were visible as Trump gave his prime-time address, which aired against the National Football League's kickoff game.
"The biggest liability in American politics right now is Donald Trump — and he just proved it," Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement. "Republicans now have to spin his disastrous, rambling speech when it's clear that this bizarre dog-and-pony show is being held to placate Trump's fragile ego. Tonight was a desperate attempt by Republicans to ignore the reality that all of their vulnerable candidates are poised to lose in November."
In his speech, Trump insulted Democrats as proto-communists — but also mocked the wardrobe and speech patterns of Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate candidate from Texas who the president's political operation is spending millions of dollars to support. He touted his administration's immigration crackdowns and tax cuts, but also offered familiar digressions on the construction of the White House ballroom and his ability to draw a crowd.
"I don't think anybody's ever had two years like we have," he declared. "But what I say is, no matter how well you're doing, a president, Democrat or Republican, almost never wins the midterms."
He added: "So I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. I'm on just one more time."
If Trump was hoping to dispel a sense of foreboding, his trip to Texas on Wednesday got off to a rocky start. Before boarding Air Force One to depart the Washington area, an emergency inflatable slide
The president also conceded to reporters that efforts to push down gasoline prices might not bear fruit until after the midterms, a theme he returned to in his speech as he asked voters to keep faith in — and help bolster — his agenda.
"I want you to remember me in four or five years when this country is rocking — remember, I'm the one that got it started," Trump said.
During the speech, Trump highlighted his accomplishments: securing an overhaul of the tax code, brokering prescription drug price cut deals, and increasing energy production. It amounted to an attempt to rally his base to turn out in November, albeit with a message that may not be as well received by voters worried about the cost of living and the war.
But he also rambled through a wide variety of topics, including baseball legend Babe Ruth, the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, Venezuelan oil, the stock market and Iran. He falsely stated that there was a huge overflow crowd outside. With his speech stretching well past an hour, he declared that nobody had left the arena — as people trickled out.
The president has promised to travel extensively in the weeks before the election to help Republican candidates in tight races, and on Wednesday said he expected to make some 35 trips to support the GOP in key races. But he also signaled some of his campaigning might be virtual, and past promises to hit the trail have not always materialized.
Trump is also directing his political action committee to invest some of the hundreds of millions of dollars it has raised to boost candidates in crucial races, including $10 million for Paxton, who is running against a much better-funded opponent, Democratic candidate James Talarico.
Trump used the speech to target prominent Democratic candidates for elected office, painting the party as "radical" and offering personal, political, and at times profane criticism.
It was the latest effort in a push by the president to exploit divisions in the Democratic Party between moderates and progressives, portraying wins by candidates aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America as a sign the party is embracing socialism and communism.
Trump's remarks included attacks on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed's association with leftist streamer Hasan Piker, North Carolina Senate candidate Roy Cooper's immigration policies, and Talarico's comments about transgender Americans.
But Trump will need to elevate those issues in the mind of voters above concerns about the cost of living.
Those have been exacerbated by recent trade moves that inflamed tensions within his party, with plans to ease tariff-rate quotas on imported beef angering rural-state Republicans and an escalating trade war with Canada frustrating those from northern border states. Trump said he believed Canada wanted to broker a deal without providing evidence.
Trump has dismissed concerns about affordability as a Democratic "hoax" and the White House has stood by its immigration crackdown.
Democrats, meanwhile, have criticized Trump's record and promised to provide relief to Americans if they win majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
