Updated September 10, 2026 at 6:58 PM PDT
At the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, President Trump made a stunning and implausible pledge: to send every American adult a $5,000 cash dividend. But only if his party maintains control of the House and the Senate in November's midterms.
"If the Republicans win, you win with us," Trump said to applause. "And it will be called the 'Trump dividend'. Congratulations. Now all we have to do is win."
That's a big "if." Republicans are facing significant political headwinds.
"We might not win," Trump admitted.
Quick math puts the bill for this proposed "dividend" at more than $1 trillion. Plus, it's illegal to pay or be paid to influence voting.
"I kind of think they should take it and put it into the debt," said Meredith Smith, a convention attendee from Austin, Texas. "A lot of people are going to like [the payment]. But it also smacks of the other side."
Smith said she has mixed feelings.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida also denounced the president's promise of $5,000 to each adult American. At a press conference in Miami on Thursday, DeSantis said this amount of money would only cause more debt and inflation.
House Democrats in Dallas Thursday to counter program the convention quickly attacked the announcement.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., called the president a "known liar."
"The dividend is not happening," Garcia added. "[Trump] promised a dividend on tariffs. That didn't happen. He promised a dividend on DOGE. That didn't happen. He promised some strange, new dividend from Air Force One, what six months ago? That never happened."
"There's no one in the country that thinks somehow this new dividend is actually going to happen," he said.
Trump's address last night was a wide ranging, rally-style speech where he did everything from defend the Iran war to criticize the fashion sense of one Republican Senate candidate. He attacked Democrats as communist and extremists and begged Republicans to vote in November as if he were on the ballot.
"Please pretend that I'm running," he said. "If we don't have the majorities, so much can be lost."
Much of the messaging from convention speakers Thursday echoed the idea of the Republican Party being on the side of common sense, and positioning Democrats as too extreme.
"Republicans stand for common sense," said House Speaker Mike Johnson. "The Democrat party has been taken over by crazy, far-left radicals."
Some of that messaging focused on the rise of left-aligned candidates, but Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas took it further and may have been one of the first speakers at the convention to conflate communism and Islamism.
"Communist and Islamists coming together and sweeping over the Democrat Party," said Cruz. "They are united because they share the same enemies."
Cruz said those enemies include Christians, Jews, capitalism, the Constitution and America.
"Shariah law has no place in America," said Cruz to massive applause in Dallas. "Shariah law is fundamentally inconsistent with the constitution, and we need to stand together and stop it now."
Throughout the evening there was a recurrent mention of Hasan Piker, a left-wing political commentator who has campaigned with Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El Sayed.
"Together they attack America. They excuse extremism," Michigan's Republican Senate nominee, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers said about El-Sayed and Piker. "They treat our country like it's the villain."
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was one of a handful of Republicans who used their speech to talk about being former Democrats.
He noted the "irony" of a Kennedy at a Republican convention and said his father and uncle would not recognize the Democratic Party today.
"The party of Me Too. Remember that we were all supposed to listen to women and believe women?" Kennedy Jr. said. "They cruelly silenced the voices of tens of thousands of mothers who believed that their children had suffered vaccine injuries."
Tonight, Trump will share the convention's final hour with Vice President Vance. By the time Republicans hold their next convention in 2028, Trump will no longer be the center of the party's attention. There will be a new nominee and de facto party leader charting a course for Republicans.
The program tonight will include a tribute to the late republican activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated one year ago, and an observance of the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, which is Friday.
MAGA celebrities and cabinet members will also grace the stage tonight. Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is set to speak, along with Donald Trump Jr. and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running to represent the state in the US Senate made those points, but also used his speech to ask for money.
"I need your prayers, your vote and your support," Paxton said. "If we lose Texas, we lose the common sense revolution. If we lose the common sense revolution, we lose America."
His Democratic opponent, state Rep. James Talarico has a campaign cash advantage but Trump's Super PAC, MAGA Inc. just committed to spend $10 million, propping up Paxton and hitting Talarico. A Republican shouldn't be in a tight race in Texas, but Paxton has been plagued by scandal and weak fundraising.
Trump, in his remarks, urged Texans to vote for Paxton despite what the president considers to be his flaws.
"Some may not like the way he dresses. I don't," Trump said as part of a lengthy and lighthearted critique of the man he endorsed.
NPR's Stephen Fowler contributed reporting.
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