California Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted President Donald Trump’s proposal to give every U.S. adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of Congress, accusing the president of trying to turn taxpayer money into an election-year incentive.
“After making you sicker and poorer with his war, Donald Trump now wants to buy your vote with $5,000 in taxpayer-funded blood money,” Newsom posted on social media Wednesday night. “The most corrupt man ever to occupy the Oval Office.”
Newsom’s comments came after Trump unveiled the proposed “dividend” at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas. Trump said he would provide $5,000 to every adult U.S. citizen if Republicans retain control of both the House and Senate in November, describing the payment as a dividend made possible by what he called the country’s economic strength.
Trump offered few specifics about how the plan would work, other than comparing the payment to a corporate dividend distributed to shareholders.
“If the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000,” Trump said from the convention at the American Airlines Center.
He also said recipients would be required to spend the money in the United States rather than overseas.
With roughly 270 million U.S. adults, the payments could cost about $1.35 trillion. That raises immediate questions about how the program would be financed and whether Congress would have to authorize the spending.
The proposal also comes as the national debt has surpassed $40 trillion and the federal government continues to run a substantial annual deficit.
There are also legal questions. Trump has explicitly tied the proposed payment to Republicans retaining control of both chambers of Congress, making the election outcome a condition of the promised benefit.
The $5,000 pledge is not the first time Trump has proposed sending the public a direct payment. He previously dangled a dividend tied to savings from the Department of Government Efficiency. He also proposed a $2,000 payment funded by money made off of tariffs. Neither proposal resulted in a nationwide payment.
Newsom, who is term-limited as governor, is expected to announce a 2028 presidential bid. He has made confronting Trump a central feature of his national political profile and has repeatedly criticized the president over his policies and rhetoric.
The two have also bickered over California’s political landscape. Newsom recently challenged Trump to campaign in the state on behalf of Republicans whose congressional districts have been redrawn under Proposition 50, the state redistricting measure approved by voters.
“I formally invite Donald Trump to campaign in California ahead of the midterms,” Newsom posted on X.
The invitation came as Newsom continues to use California — a state where Democrats hold overwhelming political advantages — as a testing ground for his broader arguments against Trump and the Republican Party.
Trump’s $5,000 proposal now gives Newsom another opening to challenge the president on both the cost of his policies and the role of federal spending in the midterm campaign.