martha maccallum
Trump made the pledge during his speech at the GOP's midterm convention after discussing it with only a small circle of close political advisers, including Jason Miller and James Blair, a Trump political adviser told CNN. That left most officials across the administration unprepared to manage the fallout of a $1 trillion proposal that has already faced widespread blowback over its price tag and feasibility.
Several Republican lawmakers immediately panned the idea as a misguided ploy ahead of November's midterm elections that would be nearly impossible to pass through Congress - not to mention one that would violate many of the party's core economic principles. Even on the convention floor, some attendees were skeptical.
"I'm not into free stuff," Arlington small business owner Wilma May told CNN in Dallas. "I would prefer him to give $5,000 towards paying down the deficit."
The vow also alarmed GOP economists and some close Trump allies, some of whom dismissed it as a poor attempt to effectively bribe voters to keep Republicans in power.
"It's a mystery that everybody's trying to get to the bottom of, whose idea this was," said Stephen Moore, an outside economic adviser to Trump, who opposes the idea. "The problem with sending people checks is it actually has a negative economic consequence."
Trump offered few details about the proposal during his speech on Wednesday night, suggesting only that it might draw on revenue collected as a result of tariffs on foreign goods. Trump has previously floated a series of other "dividends" for all Americans funded by tariff revenue or other savings, but has yet to deliver on them.
On Thursday, White House officials spent the morning racing to sort out the logistics required to make good on this latest unprecedented promise, one official said.
But a subsequent fact sheet released by the White House indicated that those efforts remained a work in progress; it provided no details on how the government envisioned funding the payments or where the money would come from.
"The same leadership that shattered the old limits of what Washington thought possible is now prepared to put $5,000 directly into Americans' pockets," the White House said, without providing specifics.
A White House official disputed the notion that Trump had caught his aides off guard, telling CNN that he had "discussed this idea with his senior staff in the lead up to the speech. There was no surprise."
In a statement, White House spokesman Davis Ingle did not directly address the prospect of paying all American adults $5,000 if Republicans keep the House and Senate.
"The doomers and naysayers have consistently doubted President Trump," he said. "With the continued support of the American people, President Trump will keep delivering real results."
Trump's surprise pledge comes as he struggles to combat rising voter frustration over the cost of living and his economic policies. For months, polling has shown Americans deeply dissatisfied with the president's handling of inflation.
The ongoing war with Iran has only worsened the broader economic environment facing Republicans, sending gas and diesel prices soaring once again in recent weeks, with no clear end in sight. As the GOP gathered in Dallas this week, both the global and US benchmark prices for oil rose above the $100-per-barrel mark, and diesel hit a record $5.98 a gallon, on average, on Thursday.
Trump has repeatedly downplayed the affordability concerns, dismissing the term on Wednesday night as an issue ginned up by Democrats to damage him politically and insisting that that US is in the midst of a "the most successful two years financially and every other way."
Reporting synthesized and verified under Nexvoro.tech editorial guidelines. Full primary records referenced via CNN.
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