Vice President JD Vance spent Thursday morning declining to repeat a number the President put up Wednesday night. Donald Trump told the Republican midterm convention in Dallas: "If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000." The election is Tuesday, 3 November — 54 days out. "It will be called the 'Trump dividend,'" he said, "very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders." He would pay for it "because of our tremendous strength and success economically."
Within the hour Vance faced Bret Baier on Fox News. Baier put the bill at roughly $1.3 trillion and said critics were shouting "the president is bribing voters." Vance never said $5,000. He never said a trillion. He called it "fundamentally a dividend for American workers," said tariffs would pay, and set the terms: "If you keep us in power and allow us to continue to do these things, then you're going to share in some of the benefit." By 6:41 a.m. ET the Guardian's live blog led on the walk-back, not the promise.
Baier rounded on live television. Nobody on that stage did the sum, and it takes one line.
