Trump vows $5,000 dividend for every American adult, urges vote for Republicans

US President Donald Trump said his campaign pledge to pay every American adult a $5,000 dividend will be fulfilled, urging voters to back the Republican Party in the midterm elections.

Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday (local time) that the "$5,000 Trump Dividend" for all American adults was drawing criticism from what he called "Dumocrats" — a portmanteau of "Democrats" and "Dumb" — but would happen regardless.

"When I say something, I mean it," he wrote, adding that the $5,000 dividend "will happen because it's what Americans deserve." He closed the post with a call to "vote Republican."

Trump cited as precedents the passage of his sweeping tax-cut legislation last year and a special $1,776 bonus payment — a figure referencing the year of America's founding — made to US military service members.

He first announced the pledge in a keynote address on Wednesday, the opening day of the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Texas.

Democratic politicians lashed out at the proposal. California Governor Gavin Newsom said Trump "wants to buy your vote with blood money taken from taxpayers," while Rep. Dan Goldman called it "corrupt and brazenly illegal."

US media also criticized the pledge, warning that the $1.2 trillion price tag could fuel inflation, worsen price pressures and balloon the national debt. Outlets also raised concerns that the promise — like earlier vows to return federal budget savings or tariff revenues to the public — might never materialize.