Trump promised every American adult $5,000 on Sunday, “100 percent,” on one condition: Republicans keep the House and the Senate in November. Hours later, the Speaker who would have to pass the money declined to promise it.
“The $5,000 is going to happen 100 percent,” Trump told reporters outside Air Force One on Sunday, September 13. “We can easily handle that because we’re taking in so much money.”
Then he said the part that matters. “I don’t want to do it now, because if the Democrats get it, our country will be in shambles and they won’t be able to do it,” Trump said, The Hill reported. “If we get in, we’re taking in tremendous amounts of money.” The check arrives after the vote, and only if the vote goes his way.
Mike Johnson would not sign on. Asked on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday whether he would commit to carrying out the promise, the Speaker said: “I commit that Congress will work through it and find consensus on that.” “I’ll work with the president hand in hand,” Johnson said, pointing to his slim majorities. “I never go out and give big commitments on the front end.” NBC’s headline put it plainly: no guarantees.
Johnson says Congress must approve the money. Trump, asked the same question by CBS, said “We think not.” The arithmetic underneath the promise is where the footnote lives.
