As we trudge toward yet another election season, President Donald Trump has returned to the campaign trail to announce his latest plan to help the Republican Party emerge victorious in November.
“If the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000,” Trump declared during the Republican National Committee convention in Dallas. “It will be called the Trump dividend.”
Vice President JD Vance immediately rushed to partly walk back this promise, claiming that it wouldn’t apply to wealthy Americans and that U.S. tariff revenues would cover the bill.
When it comes to this “Trump dividend,” there’s almost too much to criticize.
First off, tariffs are a tax on American consumers, and so any payments from that “revenue” would amount to nothing more than what used to be the dreaded redistribution of wealth.
Second, the total cost of the Trump dividend would be well over a trillion dollars, while tariffs have raised only a few hundred billion dollars. That means that while the tariff portion of the dividend would be paid for by taxpayers, the remaining portion would either be paid for by taxpayers or would be added to the ever-expanding national debt.
And guess who will eventually foot the bill for our national debt? Taxpayers.
Third, this won’t happen, in the same way that any number of Trump’s headline-grabbing economic proclamations — including the idea that tariffs would eradicate the need for income tax — never materialized.
But at the core of this proposal, there’s a deeper concern for Americans who don’t want the Democratic Party to dominate Congress for the final two years of Trump’s second term in office.
That deeper concern is that Americans don’t like losers.
Trump won in 2016 and 2024 on a platform of success in the economy, immigration, and foreign policy. His votes came from those who looked at the losing era of the Obama administration in 2016 and the ultra-losing era of the Biden administration in 2024 and wanted something different. They wanted a winner.
By trying to bribe Americans into supporting the Republican Party, it makes our entire movement seem like a bunch of desperate losers.
Don’t get me wrong: this is going to be a tough battle. Not only are elections in the middle of presidential terms notoriously difficult for the party in control of the White House, but the country is also facing the (largely predictable) consequences of policies that are tied to Trump and Trump alone.
In 2024, he could get away with blaming Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for our economic problems. But at this point, Biden and Harris cannot be blamed for the Trump administration’s embrace of spending, its fueling of inflation, or its impact on fuel prices, thanks to the stuttering war with Iran.
My advice to Trump, his administration, and the entire Republican Party — all of whom I want to succeed in November — is simple: stop promising and start delivering.
IN FOCUS: THE VERY REAL SCENARIO WHERE THE GOP EXPANDS ITS SENATE MAJORITY
Yes, celebrate wins — most notably the drastically successful immigration policies — but also address failures. Rather than trying to buy Americans for $5,000 each, treat them with the respect they deserve and approach their concerns with focus, clarity, and honesty.
Because that’s what American voters want, and that’s what they’ll respect. And ultimately, that’s what they’ll demand.
Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) is a syndicated columnist. Find his work on Substack.