Is Trump’s $5,000 pledge a sign of panic?

We all know that Donald Trump does not feel the need to adhere to the normal rules of political campaigning. Even by his own unconventional standards, his extravagant promise to pay every American citizen $5,000 (£3,700) if the Republicans win the midterm elections was bizarre. This enormous cash pledge was not the headline of his keynote address at the first night of his midterms Republican convention on Wednesday. He slipped in the mention about an hour into his lengthy speech – just when the audience’s attention was starting to waver. The president offered no details on how this more than one-trillion-dollar pledge will be paid for or how the payments would be distributed.

Asked for more information, the White House said in a statement that “the announcement is the latest proof that President Trump does what the so-called ‘experts’ say cannot be done: he delivers for the American people”, but gave no more specifics about how it would be implemented. The announcement itself was met with enthusiastic applause from supporters inside the Republican convention arena in Dallas, Texas. But Republicans in tight races in November’s election – who need to win over sceptical swing voters, including moderate Republicans and independents – largely stayed away from the event. And many of Trump’s fellow Republicans were clearly taken by surprise. Some welcomed the announcement, but Republicans that are more critical of Trump were quick to denounce it. Conservatives who have clashed with Trump before, especially over how the federal debt has continued to balloon under his presidency, were scathing in their response. Thomas Massie, the Republican representative from Kentucky who lost his primary over Trump criticisms earlier this year, posted on X: “I don’t know about you all, but…