“I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000, very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders or like last year when I gave our great members of the military $1,776,” he said.
It was not immediately clear how the checks would be financed, but the president said it would be made possible from what he called the nation’s “tremendous economic success.”
A GOP operative, granted anonymity to discuss the idea, expressed skepticism, calling it “a desperate attempt to change the political mood.”
Also skeptical was Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas. “Well — I would like to know how they would plan to pay for … back of envelope … well over $1 trillion,” he said when asked about it.
There are approximately 240 million adult citizens in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau, meaning that the payments could cost about $1.2 trillion.
If the president followed through on such a plan, it would likely worsen inflation by further boosting consumer spending and supporting higher prices, which are already elevated due to the war in Iran. The dividend, if not paired with revenue-raising measures, would also exacerbate a rise in longer-term borrowing costs for the U.S. government, which have been rising partially on fears that the federal debt is growing unsustainably.
Offering to hand out checks is a strategy that Trump has turned to in the past to win over the American public. In 2025, Trump endorsed a proposal by Elon Musk to send Americans rebate checks representing money ostensibly saved through the DOGE initiative. In his first term, his administration distributed stimulus checks to Americans during the pandemic.
