At the Republican Party’s first-ever midterm convention in Dallas, President Donald Trump delivered a keynote address that blended self-congratulation, political warnings, and an unprecedented cash promise to American voters.
Trump told thousands of assembled supporters that if Republicans retain control of both the House and Senate, he will issue a direct payment to every adult citizen in the country.
“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic — tremendous economic success like in history, we’ve never had anything like what’s happening,” Trump said, announcing the payment would total $5,000 per adult.
Trump described the proposed payout as modeled on corporate practice, saying it would be “very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders,” and confirmed it would be branded as the “Trump dividend.”
The promise represents a break from anything previously offered by a sitting president seeking to influence midterm elections, and it signals the high stakes Trump has placed on November’s congressional races.
Trump opened the speech by grading his own second-term performance, telling the crowd he is “doing a great job,” before quickly turning to the historical difficulty incumbent parties face in midterm cycles.
“I say, why is it that no matter how well you’re doing, we see not a president — Democrat or Republican — almost never wins the midterms?” Trump said, urging supporters to treat November as if he himself were on the ballot.
He credited congressional Republicans with delivering what he called the largest tax cuts in American history, citing the elimination of taxes on tips, overtime pay, and Social Security benefits for senior citizens.
Fox News polling presented a more complicated picture, showing that 65 percent of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, with cost of living and inflation ranking as key concerns heading into the midterms.
Inflation has risen from 2.4 percent to 3.4 percent since the United States entered a military conflict with Iran in February, and gas prices have also climbed during that period, creating political headwinds for the administration.
Trump defended the Iran conflict directly, acknowledging criticism over rising gas prices but arguing “I’m right,” and claiming that Iran had been approximately one month away from securing a nuclear weapon when military action began.
Convention attendees interviewed at the event expressed continued confidence in the president’s direction, with one RNC attendee saying the tariffs are “bringing a lot of money back, you know, correcting the national debt.”
Jacquez Jones of Texas said he expects the full benefits of Trump’s economic agenda to become visible once the Iran conflict concludes, calling it part of “the greatness that he’s done as far as the economy.”
Trump also used the address to wade into several high-profile Senate races, explicitly calling on the crowd to support Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton against Democratic state Representative James Talarico.
He took direct aim at Democratic Senate candidates Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and former Governor Roy Cooper in North Carolina, framing them as part of what he called the most extreme group of congressional candidates ever fielded by the Democratic Party.
Trump claimed the Democratic establishment had been “overthrown and replaced by crazed lunatics and radicals,” accusing many Democratic candidates of being not merely socialists but outright communists, and pointing to Democratic Socialists of America proposals to abolish prisons, ICE, Border Patrol, the U.S. Senate, and the presidency itself.
Convention attendee Alex Stone of Kansas City, Missouri, said he wanted Trump to expose the opposition, warning that DSA-aligned figures like El-Sayed in Michigan represent a direct threat to people like himself.
On immigration, Trump boasted that zero illegal crossings have occurred through Texas in the past 16 months, calling current border conditions the strongest in American history.
He also claimed a massive foreign policy win following the arrest of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, describing what he called “the biggest oil deal” in the country’s history, claiming access to 65 billion barrels of oil representing roughly 500 years of supply.
Trump closed with a defiant message, telling supporters that despite opposition from media and political opponents, unity among Republicans would be the decisive factor in November’s elections.
