Every US citizen to get $5,000 if Republicans win: Trump likely seeking votes for cash

US President Donald Trump, whose popularity has declined over the war in Iran and his unconditional support for Israel in its aggression against Palestinians, sounded like he was seeking votes for cash when he said every adult citizen in the US would be paid a dividend of $5,000 if Republicans retain the House and Senate in the midterm elections, while at the same time instilling fear in voters by warning them of what would happen if Democrats come to power.

“If the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000,” Trump told the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Wednesday, though the statement is likely to face ethical and political scrutiny, as he claimed that the payment could be possible because of the “tremendous strength and success economically”, The Guardian reported.

The promise came during a nearly two-hour speech in which Trump also urged Americans to “pretend that I’m on the ballot”, making it clear that he sees himself as the deciding factor in the November elections despite his deep unpopularity, which has reportedly led several vulnerable Republican candidates to avoid the convention.

Trump claimed, without providing evidence, that his second term had been “the most successful two years, financially and every other way, in the history of the presidency”, but much of his speech was devoted to fearmongering about the consequences of a Democratic victory.

“There is a crazy little sick cloud over our country,” Trump said, before declaring that Republicans would “defeat communism in America”.

The president warned that if Democrats win the House or Senate, Americans would lose their border, tax cuts, safety, security, and wealth, saying that the country would once again be “going through hell”, as it had done, in his telling, two years earlier.

The Republican Party is gambling that its first-ever midterm convention can energise its supporters and prevent the party from losing control of the House, but Trump’s approval rating, hovering at around 38 per cent, appears to have made many Republican candidates in closely contested races reluctant to associate themselves too closely with him.

The atmosphere at the Dallas convention was markedly different from the traditional four-day Republican gathering in Milwaukee two years ago, with muted crowds, empty seats, and little of the enthusiasm normally associated with a major party convention.

Yet Trump, seemingly oblivious to the sparse attendance, claimed that the arena was packed and that an equal number of people were standing outside, something that Guardian reporters said they did not observe.