Republicans rallied for unity and donations at their two-day midterm convention last week. They also armed Democrats with new political ammo less than two months from Election Day.
Moments from the televised Dallas event, which featured two marathon speeches by President Donald Trump and remarks from an array of top elected officials and candidates, offered low-hanging campaign fodder for opponents.
Trump ridiculed the appearance and demeanor of a battleground state Republican. He also pleaded for voters to preserve their GOP majorities and, in return, would reward them with a $5,000 check, an idea spurned by a growing number of Republicans. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said “it takes more than just 20 months” to improve the economy.
A leading economic theme centered on the notion that Republicans can turn the country around following former President Joe Biden, but that they need another two years.
“We’ve succeeded in so many ways, but it takes more than just 20 months to fix the total disaster that we were handed,” Johnson said.
It was a risky pitch to make, given how short voters’ political memory often is and the GOP’s trifecta in Washington.
“I don’t think people have any patience for this,” said Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist and former senior adviser to former Vice President Kamala Harris. “They didn’t have any patience before; otherwise, they would have given Biden a second term, or they would have reelected Kamala Harris.”
Trump’s unconventional appeal for Texans to elect Paxton and keep the Lone Star State red was welcomed content for his opponent and comedians.
“The fact is that some may not like the way he dresses. I don’t,” Trump told the crowd of Paxton, the Texas attorney general, on the convention’s first night. “But they may not like the way he talks. I can see that,” he added, eventually calling him “the single greatest attorney general” in the state’s history.
Paxton’s Democratic rival, state Rep. James Talarico, was all for it.
“I’m James Talarico, and I approve that message,” the candidate told Jimmy Kimmel during an appearance on his late-night show after the host played clips of Trump’s remarks.
Trump’s promise to “issue a dividend to every adult citizen” of $5,000 if Republicans retain both chambers of Congress lacked specifics, such as where the $1 trillion cost would come from amid $40 trillion in debt, and whether it would require congressional approval. But it did offer Democrats an opportunity to accuse Trump of election bribery and hypocrisy for wanting to inject money into the economy, which would likely spike inflation after he blamed the Biden administration’s $1,400 stimulus checks for COVID-era price hikes.
The pledge also hasn’t sat well with an array of Republicans across the ideological spectrum, including a key incumbent whose toss-up race could determine Senate control. Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-ME), a centrist, rejected the pledge as too costly and politicized. Collins, along with other battleground Senate candidates like Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), and former New Hampshire Sen. John E. Sununu, did not attend the convention.
“From the few details we have, it seems that the proposed $5,000 dividend would not have an income cap and would be extraordinarily costly,” Collins said in a statement. “Tax and spending decisions should be made based on the needs of the American people and the state of the economy; they should not appear to be tied to election results.”
On the more conservative end, Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) expressed “serious concerns” over the national debt and the optics of “pay-to-play politics.”
HERE’S WHAT THEY DIDN’T SAY AT THE REPUBLICAN MIDTERM CONVENTION
Trump, in the past, has teased individual rebate checks from DOGE cuts and tariff revenue of up to $2,000, neither of which came to fruition. The Pentagon did give 1.45 million U.S. troops a one-time Christmas bonus of $1,776 last year, coinciding with America’s 250th anniversary, after the White House repurposed congressionally appropriated funds for troop housing.
“How many times has Donald Trump promised to send checks to the American people and failed to do that?” said Nellis, the former Harris adviser. “I just think it’s a failed bribe.”