Donald Trump pledged Wednesday to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections, an extraordinary gambit to reverse his party’s sagging fortunes in November.

The dubious promise would likely cost more than $1 trillion and require congressional approval, and would further exacerbate the country’s nearly $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit and concerns about inflation.

  • Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    Sorry, I’m apparently unfamiliar with how democracy works. You are allowed to pay people to vote for you?

    • Sylvartas@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      I guess technically he’s just running on a “give every American adult 5k” platform ? Of course I wouldn’t put it past him to try to only give them to GOP voters

    • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      Yep. This is how Doug Ford is Premiere of Ontario. He literally went into low income housing and gave out $20 bills.

    • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Short answer : no.

      Long answer : legal doesn’t really matter when Congress and the SC are in your pocket and refuse to hold you accountable for explicitly breaking the rules over and over again.

    • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      You are allowed to pay people to vote for you?

      No, and this is a violation. Either paying $5k dividend is a good or bad idea. Congress will vote on it. You can’t say that it is only a good idea if Nazis keep control of congress.

    • Snowies@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      If you convince enough wealthy people apparently “democracy” means you can just do whatever you feel like.

    • InputZero@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Yes, but it depends on how you do it. For the USA, if it were following its own laws, which it’s not, Trump can not give every person $5000 if the Republican party holds a majority in the House and Senate. That’s because following the laws the House would need to appropriate the funds first, pass that, send it through the Senate, have it pass there, then be signed by the president. In a normal America, the President can say they will pressure Congress to appropriate the funds and pass it but it can’t be a unilateral decision.