Overview:
Trump promised Americans $5,000 if Republicans retain Congress. Native voters should remember the history of political promises that go unfulfilled.
Opinion
Two years ago, during the third weekend of October and in the closing weeks of the 2024 presidential election, I covered the Four Directions Native Vote forum in Milwaukee. That same weekend, the Hunting Moon Powwow drew about 760 dancers to its Friday night grand entry, giving me an opportunity to interview Native voters who were in attendance.
One question I asked each person was who they would vote for in November. Most said they were voting for Kamala Harris.
One Native woman in her 20s told me she was going to cast her vote for Donald Trump. I asked her why.
“Because he sent me a check,” she said.
She was referring to the first round of economic impact checks distributed during Trump’s first term and early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump’s name appeared on the paper checks sent to Americans beginning in April 2020.
The payments were authorized by Congress through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Eligible individuals could receive up to $1,200, with additional amounts available for qualifying children.
Those who received paper checks saw “Donald J. Trump” printed in the memo section on the left-hand side of the check. It was the first time a sitting president’s name appeared on a payment from the Internal Revenue Service.
The decision to put Trump’s name on the stimulus checks was met with resistance from his political opponents, who argued that it could give the impression that Trump personally was responsible for the disbursement of the checks. The payments, however, were administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS under the CARES Act.
The critics’ concerns were justified. The young Native women I interviewed believed the money had come from Trump personally.
Trump returned to that playbook Sept. 9 at the Republican Party’s national midterm convention. He promised $5,000 to every adult U.S. citizen if Republicans retained both houses of Congress in the upcoming November midterm elections. He called the proposed payments “Trump dividends.”
What Trump did not say is that presidents do not have the authority to issue checks to Americans without congressional authorization. Congress would have to authorize the payments. House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed Sunday that congressional approval would be needed.
Republicans already control the White House and both chambers of Congress. When asked on Sept. 10 why he was waiting until after the midterm elections instead of working with Congress to authorize the checks now, Trump said:
“Because Democrats can’t do it.”
The answer made little sense. Democrats don’t control Congress.
Mark Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, wrote on his X: “This would cost about $1.2 TRILLION in just one year. That’s more than ALL THREE ROUNDS of COVID relief checks, despite no recessions.”
The $1.2 trillion estimate is based on approximately 240 million adult U.S. citizens receiving $5,000 each. Reuters and FactCheck.org both calculated the cost at roughly $1.2 trillion.
When asked about how the government would pay for the “Trump dividend” pledge, the president said tariff revenue would cover the cost. He has claimed that tariffs have brought in $21 trillion.
“We’re taking in $21 trillion. Nobody, no country’s ever taken in anywhere near that. It’s four or five times higher than the next. All because of that beautiful word that you and I love more than most others, tariffs,” Trump said in a Fox News interview.
The United States has not collected anything close to $21 trillion in tariff revenue.
FactCheck.org reported the U.S. brought in $264 billion in net tariff revenue during 2025. After accounting for refunds, net tariff revenue was about $64 billion through July 2026, according to Treasury data.
Goldwein said tariffs were generating less than $200 billion a year and that it would take more than six years of tariff revenue to fund one year of the proposed $5,000 checks.
Some critics have characterized Trump’s pledge as an attempt to influence voters with the promise of money. Election-law experts, however, have noted that the proposal is different from offering money specifically in exchange for an individual’s vote because Trump has proposed the payment for all adult citizens regardless of how, or whether, they vote.
It may or may not be legal, but I put it in the category of Trump suggesting that “DOGE dividends” be sent to Americans at the beginning of his second term when Elon Musk went overboard to gut federal government programs. Trump said at the time that his administration was considering returning 20% of DOGE savings to Americans. The proposal did not result in the promised $5,000 checks.
Of course, his Trump dividend is among many things the president has said but not accomplished. Remember his promise that he would end the war in Ukraine on the first day of his presidency? We have also heard him say numerous times during the past seven months that the Iran war would be over soon.
In history, Native Americans wary of the false promises made through treaties to steal Native land cautioned other Native leaders to beware of those who “speak with a forked tongue.”
I know not to trust the president about his promise to give every American adult $5,000 if they vote the way he wants them to. But I am concerned about those who are naive enough to believe the president, just as the woman I interviewed in Milwaukee believed Trump really sent her a CARES Act check for $1,200.
Beware of those who speak with a forked tongue.
Thayék gde nwéndëmen – We are all related.
