Journal poll last month found 64% called $5,000 checks a bad idea
At a Tuesday-evening midterm rally in Greenville, North Carolina, President Trump said he would push to fast-track claims brought by veterans against the United States over contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base in the state. Trump made the action conditional on Republicans keeping their majorities and referred to the claims as remaining legitimate claims.
“If we win the House and the Senate, I am directing the Department of Justice to settle all remaining legitimate claims as soon as possible, and get it off the books, and get it finished,” Trump said.
Beyond Camp Lejeune, Trump’s announcements were part of a broader Republican strategy intended to salvage seats in the midterms. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was relying on an array of financial benefits for Americans, some of which he said would be delivered only if the GOP retained control of Congress. The Journal described Republicans as facing one of the toughest midterm environments of any party in years. It said the announcements served as an effort to motivate voters and a tacit acknowledgment that people were hurting financially. Democrats have accused Trump of trying to buy votes.
Trump began the cash campaign at Republicans’ midterm convention in September, announcing a $1 trillion proposal to send $5,000 to each adult citizen if the GOP held its congressional majority. The Journal’s accompanying graphic also listed a proposal for payments to most Americans from tariff revenue; some benefits were marked “PROMISED ONLY IF REPUBLICANS KEEP CONTROL OF CONGRESS.”
The $5,000 proposal is expected to face hurdles, Democrats and some Republicans have expressed skepticism, and the Journal previously reported that payments to every American adult would likely cost well over $1 trillion. The critics’ concerns were that the proposal would balloon budget deficits and fuel inflation. Democrats say Trump’s proposals will not move the needle in the 2026 midterms, where affordability is a top concern among voters. A Wall Street Journal poll conducted last month found that 64% of respondents called the proposed checks a bad idea.
“Nobody’s buying it, people don’t even believe he’s going to come through on it. The problem with breaking your promises repeatedly is that nobody believes a damn thing you say,” Democratic campaign consultant Jared Leopold said.
Two payment programs had already reached people. The $500 Affordable Care Act refund checks went out on Oct. 1 to nearly one million people for fees the administration called excessive, alongside a letter touting Trump’s record on cutting healthcare costs. The $90 payments to Medicare recipients were deposited in bank accounts or sent out on Oct. 8 to offset premiums.
On Monday, Trump said he would send $8 billion in direct payments to U.S. farmers. At a rally in Kansas, he told supporters that the Agriculture Department would launch a “Harvest Fuel Relief program” to help offset rising diesel costs as farmers harvested their crops.
“And when the Republicans win, we will pass even more funding for our farmers,” Trump said at the rally.
The Journal reported that some farmers had soured on Trump amid his tariffs and as prices for diesel, gasoline and fertilizer rose following his war with Iran. Those prices were separate from the diesel costs the Harvest Fuel Relief program was intended to offset.
On Tuesday, Trump announced a program that would provide up to $30,000 to Americans if they reported a tip about government fraud and provided the U.S. government with a successful tip.
Separately, the White House was discussing rolling out executive orders in the remaining days before the midterms aimed at addressing high prices, including one focused on reducing housing costs, according to people familiar with the matter.
At the Kansas rally, Trump said he would sign legislation permitting the year-round sale of gasoline blended with 15% ethanol, a policy long sought by U.S. corn growers. Congress had to pass the legislation first, and the measure faced an uphill climb. Trump said he would only agree to the policy if Republican Sen. Roger Marshall won in Kansas against Democratic opponent Adam Hamilton.
“With Roger Marshall in the Senate, we will make year-round E-15 permanent,” Trump said. “But if Adam Hamilton is in, I’m not doing it.”
Other announcements concerned new projects intended to benefit states whose voters could help determine which party controls Congress. Last week, Trump wrote on social media that Taiwan had committed to buy natural gas from a proposed export terminal in Alaska. He also highlighted a Minnesota company’s plan to build a $15 billion steel mill in Iowa.
The pledges drew cheers at rallies where Trump supporters wore red hats and waited in long lines for prime spots. The Journal said it was unclear whether the pledges would bring the voters Republicans need, including conservative voters who tend to stay home during elections when Trump is not on the ballot.
Davis Ingle, a White House spokesman, described Trump as the “unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party,” and said that “the choice has never been clearer: doubling down on President Trump’s winning, common-sense agenda or the Democrats’ extreme liberal policies and obstruction.”
The federal government has made direct payments to Americans during past election years. In 2020, as Trump ran for re-election and the Covid-19 pandemic raged, the government sent $1,200 checks to tens of millions of Americans. The checks arrived signed by Trump with letters from the White House taking credit for a bipartisan deal passed by Congress.
In 2022, then-President Joe Biden said he would forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans. Conservatives dismissed the move as an attempt to win over young voters before that year’s midterms. Democrats subsequently lost nine seats in the House and gained one seat in the Senate.
Trump has previously made similar cash promises that did not materialize. Early in his term, he said he wanted to give 20% of savings from Elon Musk’s cost-cutting initiative. As he imposed tariffs on several nations and escalated a trade war, he also said several times that he wanted to send a $1,000 or $2,000 tariff dividend to most Americans.
In a social-media post on Tuesday, Trump said he would spend more than $400 million to help Republicans in the midterms but did not specify where the money would come from. MAGA Inc., a super PAC aligned with Trump, had nearly $416 million in cash on hand at the end of August.
“It is my Great Honor to do so on behalf of the Republican Party, which has done so much to bring our Country back from the Edge of Oblivion,” Trump wrote.
Taken together, the announcements combine payments already delivered with new farm relief, fraud-reporting rewards and other financial benefits, some of which are tied to continued Republican control. The Journal said it remained unclear whether the benefits would bring enough voters to help Republicans, even as Democrats and some Republicans questioned the budget-deficit and inflation risks of the $5,000 proposal.