President Donald Trump is facing growing enthusiasm gaps among his MAGA base as he tours the country ahead of the midterms.
Protesters and hecklers are constantly disrupting his campaign rallies. And his supporters are watching an increasingly out-of-touch, unpopular president struggle to fire up smaller and smaller crowds.
Such was the case in Dalton, Georgia, in the northwest part of the state at a rally on Friday.
Trump again dangled a $5,000 bribe in front of voters there, promising to give every adult American the money if Republicans retain control of Congress.
But then he made a stunning comment that showed just how tone-deaf he really is.
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“The caveat is you have to spend it in the United States of America. So, let’s go to Miami, darling. Let’s go to Palm Beach and join the president for lunch. Let’s have lunch at Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said, pretending he was a voter who had received the money. But he only got a light round of applause.
He continued, “For $5,000 you’ll get one hamburger and a small dessert,” he said, chuckling.
“I shouldn’t say that,” he admitted as the mostly silent crowd just stared at him, his MAGA luster truly diminishing, if the crowd’s reaction was any indication.
And he probably shouldn’t have said it. Social media exploded in anger and contempt at Trump’s humorless joke as millions of Americans struggle to pay rent, gas, and put food on the table.
This commenter summed it up in two words: “TONE DEAF.” Another pointed out, “He wouldn’t let them in.”
Others piled on. “Ha ha so funny. Just a real man of the people.” This X user said simply, “He’s an imbecile.”
To put into perspective just how far out of reach a Mar-a-Lago lunch is for the average American, members of the general public can’t even enter the estate.
It’s an exclusive private club where, in 2024, a month before the presidential election, Trump raised the membership fee to $1 million, up from $700,000. That doesn’t even include thousands in annual dues and a $2,000 yearly minimum on food and drinks, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Since 2025, the cost of private meals and access events at the club have skyrocketed. Entry fees for individual seats at group dinners can exceed $1 million. Private meetings with Trump can cost businesses up to $5 million, Yahoo News reported.
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. Democrats have prevailed in state-level races and special elections since Trump returned to the White House in 2025.
Trump first rolled out the idea of paying voters, or at least promising to, at a rally in Dallas in early September, if Republicans retain control of Congress.
“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.
