Trump Administration

Trump and Vance's Plan To Bribe Voters With $5,000 Checks Shows MAGA Is Out of Ideas

By quickly endorsing Trump's ridiculous plan to bribe voters in the midterms, J.D. Vance reveals something about the future of Trumpism. There isn't one.

Eric Boehm | 9.10.2026 3:30 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

(Photo: Pool/ABACA/BONNIE CASH/UPI/Newscom. Illustration: Pauras Chaudhari/Dreamstime/Fatima Ruiz)

Not long after President Donald Trump offered to bribe voters to back Republicans in this year's midterm elections, Vice President J.D. Vance was asked about the idea by Fox News' Bret Baier.

Vance's response is, in many ways, more important than Trump's ridiculous pitch—that he would send $5,000 checks to every adult citizen of the U.S. if the GOP retains control of Congress in November.

Baier asked Vance the obvious question: How does the administration plan to pay for such a scheme, which would cost an estimated $1.3 trillion?

"We're taking in an extraordinary amount of revenue," said Vance. "What the president is saying is: 'If you keep it going…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 of this incredible wealth that we are creating in the United States of America.'"

As a practical matter, it is........

© Reason.com