Trump promises $5,000 payouts if GOP wins midterms: Can the US afford it?
Trump's $1.3 trillion promise would heavily increase national debt, already at a historic $40 trillion.
United States President Donald Trump has promised a $5,000 payout for every adult US citizen if the Republican Party holds onto its narrow control of both houses of Congress at the upcoming midterm elections in November.
Trump headlined a large Republican convention in Dallas, Texas, this week, in a bid to energise Republican supporters amid poor polling that indicates there could be a surge of support for the Democratic Party across the country.
But at a time of rising energy prices, inflation, an ongoing and deeply unpopular war with Iran and rising national debt, the move has prompted questions about whether the world’s biggest economy can actually afford to pay what has been dubbed the “Trump dividend” to 270 million adult Americans – and whether it would even be legal to do so.
This means the money Trump is promising to the American people would add to the massive mountain of debt the state has borrowed from domestic and foreign investors alike. That extra borrowing drives up the total interest payments the government has to make. That bill will ultimately have to be paid back by the American people.