{"id":223744,"date":"2026-09-10T22:05:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T22:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-citizens-will-receive-5000-if-republicans-win-midterms-trump-claims-in-lengthy-convention-speech-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T22:05:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T22:05:25","slug":"us-citizens-will-receive-5000-if-republicans-win-midterms-trump-claims-in-lengthy-convention-speech-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-citizens-will-receive-5000-if-republicans-win-midterms-trump-claims-in-lengthy-convention-speech-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"US citizens will receive $5,000 if Republicans win midterms, Trump claims in lengthy convention speech – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

President makes offer that would cost US over $1tn and asks voters to \u2018pretend that I\u2019m on the ballot\u2019 despite being deeply unpopular among electorate
Donald Trump pledged to pay every adult citizen in the US $5,000 if Republicans retain the House and Senate in the midterm elections, during a marathon speech at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas in which the president assailed Democrats as \u201cradical\u201d and defended his unpopular war in Iran.
The outlandish proposal, which would cost over $1tn, immediately raised ethical concerns. But it laid bare the extent of the Republicans\u2019 concern about their prospects in the pivotal November elections.
\u201cIf the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000,\u201d Trump told a roaring crowd, during a nearly two-hour speech in which he also urged voters to \u201cpretend that I\u2019m on the ballot\u201d \u2013 despite his historic unpopularity causing many vulnerable Republican politicians to avoid the event.
Surrounded by supporters waving American flag placards, Trump claimed, without evidence, that his second term had been \u201cthe most successful two years, financially and every other way, in the history of the presidency\u201d, but devoted much of his speech to fearmongering about what would happen should Democrats win the House or the Senate for the final two years of his presidency.
\u201cThere is a crazy little sick cloud over our country,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe will defeat communism in America.\u201d
The president and Republicans are gambling that throwing a midterm convention \u2013 the first the GOP has ever held \u2013 can buoy the party, which is predicted to lose control of the House. Yet, Trump\u2019s deep unpopularity among Americans \u2013 his approval rating is hovering at about 38% \u2013 meant many Republican candidates running in competitive races skipped the two-day confab entirely.
Even so, Trump\u2019s speech made it clear he thinks he will be the deciding factor in November. Noting that the party which holds the White House traditionally struggles in the midterm elections, Trump said: \u201cWe\u2019ve got to change that, because we have something going that\u2019s so good.
\u201cIf we lose, you\u2019re going to lose your border, you\u2019re going to lose your tax cuts, you\u2019re going to lose your safety and security, you\u2019re going to lose your wealth. Our country is going through hell \u2013 we will be going through hell, just like we did, just two years ago,\u201d he said.
The buildup to the midterm convention had somewhat of a chaotic air. Trump was initially scheduled to speak on the second night, before the Republican National Committee announced that he would deliver the keynote on Wednesday, and instead give closing remarks on Thursday after his vice-president, JD Vance, speaks.
Trump made several references to the war in Iran, warning Tehran \u201cnot to get cute\u201d or the US \u201cwill have to hit them very hard\u201d. But he also appeared to acknowledge the economic pain caused by the soaring price of oil. Trump re-enacted the way he told his economic advisers that the US needed to start the conflict because Iran was \u201ctwo, maybe three weeks away from having a nuclear weapon\u201d. \u201cI hate to do this to you,\u201d he said he told them, noting the economy had been doing well.
At the convention center, there were signs of middling enthusiasm among the rank and file.
Compared with the four-day traditional convention in Milwaukee two years ago, the first day felt muted. There were no long queues to enter, no eternal waits for food or bathrooms. Swathes of empty seats were visible throughout Trump\u2019s speech.
Visible, except to Trump, who claimed, wrongly, that the arena was full.
\u201cNot only is this packed but you have an equal number of people standing outside,\u201d Trump declared. This was not observed by Guardian reporters.
The RNC had announced in mid-August that Americans could apply for tickets to attend the event, suggesting that applicants would enter a lottery and only a lucky few would be granted access. Yet on Wednesday, with the convention under way, applications for tickets were instantly being granted on an RNC sign-up page.
Trump himself, however, appeared energized in his call to action on the first night, cracking jokes, including at the expense of Ken Paxton, his handpicked candidate for Senate in Texas who won a primary against the incumbent John Cornyn earlier this year.
\u201cHe may not dress right. He may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best-looking guy I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d Trump said of Paxton. \u201cBut you know what he is? He\u2019s the greatest attorney general in America.\u201d
Trump spent several minutes attacking Democrats, including Paxton\u2019s opponent, James Talarico, who Trump mocked as a \u201cweird-looking dude\u201d; the former North Carolina governor Roy Cooper, who is now running for Senate; and Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan.
In a statement, Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, accused Republicans of holding a \u201cbizarre dog-and-pony show\u201d to placate the president\u2019s \u201cfragile ego\u201d.
\u201cTonight only confirmed that the president is a lame duck failure who is dragging his party toward defeat,\u201d Martin said.
The Republicans\u2019 unusual midterm convention features 12 hours of programming across two nights. On Wednesday, the speaker lineup featured Trump loyalists and candidates, but showmanship remained at the center of the agenda.
Byron Donalds, a rising star in the party who is running for governor of Florida, and Mehmet Oz and Scott Bessent, two of Trump\u2019s cabinet secretaries, were among those to take the stage, yet the president, a UFC fan, decided he would be introduced by two fighters, the middleweight Bo Nickal and Justin \u201cThe Highlight\u201d Gaethje, a lightweight.
Most speakers only got five minutes. Nickal and Gaethje, who both fought at the UFC 250 event on the White House Lawn in June, got 10.
Gaethje told the crowd he had earned his \u201cHighlight\u201d nickname when he knocked out his first opponent very quickly in 2016, before linking himself to the 80-year-old Trump.
\u201cOne mistake I\u2019ve made in my career was becoming complacent while I was on a winning streak and forgetting how unforgiving my sport would be,\u201d Gaethje said. \u201cIf we are not just as passionate about voting and winning in these midterms as we were in the last presidential election, then we risk being knocked out and losing all the momentum we have been fighting for.\u201d
Earlier, Republicans said the focus would be on \u201clowering costs, securing our border, making our communities safer, and putting American workers and families first\u201d. Yet speaker after speaker instead attacked Democrats on alleged support for transgender rights, in particular, suggesting the Republican party intends to put culture wars towards the front as November approaches.
Trump will speak again on Thursday, but said his address would be much briefer.
\u201cI gave you a lot of material,\u201d he said, capping his remarks on Wednesday, before pleading one more time with voters to \u201cplease pretend that I\u2019m running\u201d.
<\/span> This article was amended on 10 September 2026. An earlier version incorrectly described Roy Cooper as a Republican.<\/p>\n

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President makes offer that would cost US over $1tn and asks voters to \u2018pretend that I\u2019m on the ballot\u2019 despite being deeply unpopular among electorateDonald Trump pledged to pay every adult citizen in the US $5,000 if Republicans retain the House and Senate in the midterm elections, during a marathon speech at the Republican midterm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":223745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}