Donald Trump’s Dividend Gamble

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by WILL FOLKS

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What has become one of the most famous quotes in modern political history doesn’t have a known author. Decades ago, a guest columnist for The Daily Oklahoman famously misattributed the quote to eighteenth century Scottish philosopher Alexander Fraser Tytler – although there’s no evidence he ever said it.

But what the quote lacks in provenance, it makes up for in accuracy.

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government,” the quote reads. “It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result being the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing.”

To say the United States of America has engaged in “loose fiscal policy” would certainly qualify as a multi-trillion dollar understatement. Last month, our nation’s debt crossed the $40 trillion threshold – while interest payments on all that red ink are projected to eclipse $1.2 trillion by the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2026.

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RELATED | AMERICA’S FISCAL IMPLOSION CONTINUES

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The looseness of American fiscal policy was on full display Wednesday evening (September 9, 2026) at the American Airlines Arena in downtown Dallas Texas. There, U.S. president Donald Trump – who is hosting a midterm convention for his beleaguered Republican party – made a promise that many believe reeked of desperation.

During his address to the gathered GOP faithful, Trump – who has presided over record deficit spending – vowed that if the GOP retained control of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, he would issue a ‘Trump Dividend’ of $5,000 to every adult citizen.

“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic, tremendous economic success — in history we’ve never had anything like what’s happening — but because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000,” Trump said.

“So if the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000,” Trump added. “It will be called the Trump Dividend. We’ll call it the Trump Dividend. Congratulations. Now all we have to do is win.”

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.@POTUS announces the TRUMP DIVIDEND: If Republicans win both the House and the Senate, because of our tremendous economic success, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States for $5,000 pic.twitter.com/s4orJJGx9d

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 10, 2026

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The estimated total cost of providing $5,000 to 270 million American adults? Approximately $1.35 trillion – a figure conservatives argue would “explode” deficits and send inflation soaring even higher.

“This proposal is fiscally dangerous, economically backwards, and fundamentally unserious,” Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement. “It’s hard to understand how anyone could look at our current fiscal and economic situation and think we need to borrow another $1.2 trillion to send everyone cash.”

“While pandering is all too tempting to politicians, the reality is that the more goodies politicians promise, the more ordinary Americans will pay the price at the grocery store, on their mortgage statements, or in the burden they leave their children,” MacGuineas added, calling Trump’s proposal a “half-baked political scheme (that) would make this all worse – exploding the deficit, ginning up inflation, and further driving up the cost of borrowing throughout the economy.”

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This isn’t the first time Trump has promised dividend checks to Americans – but it would be the first time he delivered on such a pledge. Previously, Trump vowed to give taxpayers a dividend of $5,000 from to the cost-cutting efforts of Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – but never created a fund to distribute the dividends from and later effectively disbanded DOGE altogether.

More recently, Trump vowed to send $2,000 rebate checks to low- and middle-income families tied to revenues from tariffs – but none of those rebates were ever issued, either.

Trump indicated this week approximately one million Americans were in line to receive $500 Obamacare rebate checks, but said the money was still “several weeks” away from being sent.

More broadly, Trump vowed to target tax relief to middle class Americans during his first term in office – only to come up well short on that front. And as this media outlet noted last summer, his ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ ended up as yet another costly fiscal betrayal.

The consequences of Trump’s profligacy – and its lack of harmony with his campaign promises – are coming into clearer focus for voters.

According to aggregate polling data compiled by RealClearPolling, only 39.3% of Americans currently approve of the job Trump is doing as president – compared to 57.3% who disapprove. That 18% spread is close to Trump’s record disapproval gap of 19.6% – set on August 4 of this year.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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