President Donald Trump is becoming more and more desperate as the midterm elections bear down on the Republican-controlled Congress.
With recent polling reflecting shifting voter sentiment across key battlegrounds, the GOP is defending narrow majorities in the House and Senate amid Democratic gains in state-level races and special elections since Trump returned to the White House in 2025.
Public discontent deepened when Trump launched a war against Iran in February without congressional approval. In retaliation, Tehran moved to restrict shipping traffic through the critical Strait of Hormuz — triggering an immediate spike in crude oil and natural gas prices worldwide.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky recalls President Donald Trump calling him to pop off, then hanging up. (Photo credit: Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Trump has spent months saying that he would end the war soon, but that has not been the case. U.S. military operations against Iran are continuing, even as the conflict has expanded to involve other countries across the Middle East.
Against that backdrop, Trump told reporters Wednesday as he headed to Texas for the RNC’s first midterm convention in Dallas that energy prices would eventually fall — but not right away.
“Right after the election, oil prices are going to be tumbling downward,” Trump said, something he’s been saying for months now, according to CNBC.
Pressed on why energy costs have spiked and what message he has for struggling consumers, Trump downplayed voter concerns even as benchmark Brent Crude surged past $105 a barrel — its highest level in four months, according to The Associated Press.
“I think it’s very easy to explain to America,” he claimed. “All you have to do is say, ‘Will you let Iran have a nuclear weapon?’ And the answer is no.”
Critics quickly pointed to a disconnect between Trump’s rhetoric and U.S. intelligence assessments. In congressional testimony, senior U.S. intelligence officials said Iran was not actively rebuilding its nuclear enrichment capability, even as the Trump administration characterized the threat as imminent.
The administration’s rationale also faced scrutiny because of its changing descriptions of Iran’s nuclear capabilities. After the U.S. strikes in June 2025, Trump said Iran’s nuclear facilities had been “obliterated.” But by February, however, Trump was again citing the threat of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon in defending military action.
CNBC reported Trump also promised his military operations against Iran will end “immediately after the election.”
The president is working hard to convince voters not to boot Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate who opponents argue have dropped their responsibility as a separate branch of government and kowtowed to his every whim.
By the time Trump reached Dallas for his convention speech, he was grasping at straws, and his desperation got the best of him. He stunningly promised Americans a hefty chunk of change if they re-elect Republicans.
“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them,” Trump said, “I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.”
He called it a “Trump Dividend” and said the money would have to be spent in the United States, but he did not explain where the funds would come from or how he would enforce the requirement.
This isn’t the first time Trump has promised Americans extra money. In 2025, he proposed $2,000 tariff-funded “dividend” payments, though the idea never gained legislative traction. The Supreme Court later ruled that the administration had exceeded its authority by imposing the broad tariffs, directing billions in refunds back to commercial importers while leaving consumers to bear the burden of inflated prices.
He also floated a “DOGE Dividend” as part of Elon Musk’s cost-cutting efforts early in Trump’s second term, Newsweek reported, but neither proposal went anywhere.
To pay every American adult citizen $5,000 — and there are roughly 245 million of them —would cost about $1.2 trillion, according to estimates cited by news outlets. There’s no word on where Trump plans to get the money or who exactly would qualify.
But an even bigger issue might be what critics are calling Trump’s attempt at bribing Americans for their vote.
Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, a frequent Trump critic, offered a tongue-in-cheek reply.
“I don’t know about you all, but frankly I’m insulted by the notion that my vote this November could be bought for 5k,” he wrote on X. “Not to mention the inflation this would cause. All things considered, I cannot in good conscience accept a penny less than 10k!”
Social media erupted, agreeing that these are empty promises by a “conman” who has no intention of making good on such a preposterous idea.
“Of all the things that are never going to happen, this is never going to happen the most,” an X user noted.
Others agreed, suggesting, “Nothing desperate or pathetic about this at all” and “So he’s basically bribing everyone cause he knows they are f****d.”
But Sam E. Davis Jr may have said it best: “When you think he can’t go any lower? Bribing America with 5K? Sickening!!!!”
Trump: "Only I can make this promise to you: If the Republicans win the House and Senate, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000" pic.twitter.com/OOYAwaQ6HO
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