Fox & Friends respond to Trump's 5,000 midterm promise

Fox News

Research/Study Research/Study

Why are some right-wing media figures pouring cold water on Trump's sudden call to send Americans $5,000?

While some call it “bold,” others in right-wing media are saying that Trump's $5,000 midterm idea is “flagrant bribery” that “would simply be inflationary”

Written by Sage Hodil, Hanne MacDonald & Reed McMaster

Published

Updated

Update (9/11/26): This article has been updated with additional details and examples.

Right-wing figures are divided on President Donald Trump’s claim during his September 9 speech at the GOP midterm convention that the government will send $5,000 to every American adult if Republicans maintain control of Congress, with some arguing “we can’t afford” the “inflationary” payments and equating them to “flagrant bribery,” while others claimed Trump's plan is “creative” and “a bet on the future.”

Jump to section

  • Trump’s dubious midterm pledge follows similar payment proposals that “never panned out”

    • On September 9, Trump promised to give every American adult $5,000 — costing more than $1 trillion — if Republicans keep the House and Senate in the upcoming midterm elections. In a speech at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, the president claimed, “If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000." However, The Associated Press pointed out, “The dubious promise would most 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.” [The Associated Press, 9/10/26]
    • Throughout his second term, Trump has repeatedly failed to deliver on multiple promised payments, including checks related to cuts made to the federal budget and a “tariff refund.” As The New York Times wrote, “First, at the start of his second term, President Trump promised a DOGE dividend, a pledge to take the money that Elon Musk’s team would cut from the federal budget and send it to the American people. Then Mr. Trump moved on to a ‘tariff refund,’ a plan to use the money the government was collecting in import taxes to fund payments for the public. Those ideas never panned out.” [The New York Times, 9/10/26]

  • Right-wing media figures said the dubious promise is “flagrant bribery” and warned it would “simply be inflationary”

    • Newsmax host Rob Schmitt said, “There is no doubt that if you send $5,000 to every American adult, that is going to be a tremendously inflationary nightmare.” Schmitt continued, “I feel like there's got to be a better way to reward the American people for the tariffs, whether it's some kind of a tax cut, something like that, that won't be as inflationary. There must be a better way to do this.” [Newsmax, Rob Schmitt Tonight, 9/10/26]
    • National Review senior editor Charles C.W. Cooke referred to the dividend as “bribery,” called it “preposterous,” and equated it to socialism. Cooke also wrote that the dividend, coupled with tariffs and Trump’s calls for interest-rate cuts, is a “deliberate stoking of inflation” and “adding another $1.3 trillion in stimulus would without doubt make the status quo worse.” [National Review, 9/10/26]
    • New York Post columnist Isaac Schorr characterized the proposed $5,000 payments as “a thinly-disguised bribe.” [New York Post, 9/10/26]
    • Fox News contributor Liz Peek called the dividend “a nutso idea” that will “never happen.” Former Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore also stated, “I don’t like the $5,000 checks being sent out either.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 9/10/26]
    • Discussing the proposed payments, Blaze Media co-founder and conservative talk radio host Glenn Beck said, “I don't like it when we start to get into socialist kind of things.” Beck suggested, “If we're making all this money that he says we're making, you know, on, you know, tariffs and everything else, put it towards the debt. Please, put it towards the debt. And while you're at it, tell him to stop spending money! Stop spending. We're at a point of no return. This has got to stop." [Blaze Media, The Glenn Beck Program, 9/10/26]
    • Podcaster Steven Crowder described the proposed payments as “not in line with mainstream conservatism at all.” [Rumble, Louder with Crowder, 9/10/26]
    • Podcaster Harrison Smith called Trump's proposal “pathetic” and a “violation of what his party's supposed to represent.” [Rumble, War Room Live, 9/10/26]
    • Fox Business host Brian Brenberg said the $5,000 “dividend kind of feels a little like socialism to a lot of people.” [Fox Business, The Bottom Line, 9/10/26]
    • Fox Business anchor Dagen McDowell: “You don't fix” inflation “by giving people more money. It exacerbates the problem.” McDowell also stated, “Giving people money, sending them checks … was the trigger for this inflation that started during COVID.” McDowell continued, “It’s unthinkable to borrow $1.2, $1.3 trillion which is 60% more of the deficit that we’re currently running this fiscal year.” [Fox Business, The Big Money Show, 9/10/26]
    • Discussing Trump’s promised payment on Fox Business, former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said: “It would simply be inflationary. … All it’s going to do is increase inflation.” Mulvaney went on to say, “The good news is I don’t think anyone really believes it. … We’ve heard about these Trump dividend checks since he came in office in the second term and I'm not sure what the administration is doing, I'm not sure what the campaign is doing. In fairness, I think it shows weakness that they don't have issues to talk about.” [Fox Business, Varney & Co, 9/10/26]
    • Daily Wire host Matt Walsh suggested the payments would make “inflation worse,” equated the plan to “welfare,” and called it “idiotic” and “flagrant bribery.” Walsh posted: “Spending over a trillion dollars to randomly send everyone in the country a check for five grand, including people who are not even net taxpayers -- which makes this, yes, welfare -- is idiotic. Sorry. We did that during covid and it didn't help anything. Only made inflation worse. This is flagrant bribery. Which I could maybe stomach if the plan itself was at least sensible and coherent, but it isn't.” [Instagram, 9/10/26]
    • Podcaster Nick Fuentes suggested we are in “the death of the republic if the president is trying to bribe the voters.” He said, “I didn't even believe it. I thought that that was an exaggeration or maybe they're misrepresenting what he really said. Nope. It's real. Trump said that if Republicans win the election, he's just going to give everybody $5,000. How are you going to do that? How does that even make any sense? You're going to give everybody $5,000? With what money? We're spending a trillion dollars a year on interest. … That's just the opposite of what it is to have a democracy, isn't it?” Fuentes concluded, “Is this not now just the death of the republic if the president is trying to bribe the voters?” [Rumble, America First, 9/9/26]
    • Podcaster Tim Pool said Trump's plan “is in no way different from a Democrat or democratic socialist offering free healthcare.” Pool added, “Many moderates, libertarians, people on the left, people on the right” are saying “there's no way Trump is going to be able to give everyone $5,000.” [YouTube, Timcast, 9/10/26]
    • Asked about Trump’s promise on Fox Business, guest and finance CEO Mark Tepper said, “We can't afford that.” Tepper explained, “You’ve got to show me the math — where is that money going to come from? If we're just going to borrow and essentially jeopardize our kids and grandkids to give adults a $5,000 check today, I'm out. I've got to call balls and strikes on that. I'm not a big fan." [Fox Business, Mornings with Fox Business, 9/10/26]
    • Newsmax co-host E.D. Hill was skeptical of the cost of Trump’s promise, saying, “If you just take the adults in America, that’s over $1.3 trillion, and we are already paying $22 billion every week just for the interest on the debt we already have.” Hill continued, “I love the idea for everybody getting money, but that to me just rings of giving away free stuff. Nothing’s free.” [Newsmax, National Report, 9/10/26]
    • Fox News anchor Bret Baier: “I raised my eyebrows — $5,000 for each adult American citizen. If you do the math … 245 million citizens, that’s $1.25 trillion.” Fox News host Sean Hannity then mentioned that “Sen. [Ted] Cruz has it at 1.3” trillion dollars. [Fox News, Hannity, 9/9/26]

  • Others in right-wing media praised Trump’s dubious promise as “bold,” “creative,” and “outside the box” thinking

    • Fox News host Sean Hannity called concerns that the United States would incur over $1 trillion in additional debt from the proposed payments an “intellectually lazy argument.” [Premiere Radio Network, The Sean Hannity Show, 9/10/26]
    • Fox News host Greg Gutfeld defended against allegations that the proposed payments are a “bribe,” saying, “You can't bribe people with their money.” Gutfeld argued that with Democrats, “It's always other people's money. That’s where it’s socialism. They promise the people who aren't paying taxes that they’re going to get more money. That's socialism. … We're giving you money back because you're a really good taxpayer.” [Fox News, The Five, 9/10/26]
    • Fox News host Jesse Watters called the proposed payments an “enticement,” not a “bribe.” Watters explained, “What happens if the Republicans take the House and they balk and don't write the checks? It's not Trump's fault. He just blames Congress.” [Fox News, The Five, 9/10/26]
    • Co-host of the Ruthless podcast Comfortably Smug (real name Shashank Tripathi) called Trump's proposal a “tremendous idea” that makes the idea of electing Republicans “very tangible.” He suggested explaining it to voters as an opportunity to “be part of the success story. Let's continue on the path to prosperity, and here's your share of it.” [Fox News, The Will Cain Show, 9/10/26; Fox News, 7/15/25]
    • White House Government Transparency Task Force chairman and right-wing media personality John Solomon claimed that “lower interest rates” and “fraud being rooted out of the system … gets you about a trillion dollars, which could pay this for the president.” [Real America's Voice, American Sunrise, 9/10/26; The Washington Post, 8/23/26]
    • Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy said the midterm payment plan “shows just how creative and rule-breaking and out of the box President Trump is,” adding, “I'm surprised no one has thought of this before.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/10/26]
    • On Newsmax, former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) said Trump is “thinking outside the box and coming up with new and bold ideas.” [Newsmax, Wake Up America Early, 9/10/26]
    • On Fox, former Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus called Trump's pledge “a bet on the future.” Priebus said, “Obviously they're going to have to make sure that they've got congressional support but I think what it is is a bet on the future. … I think everyone's hoping that the issues in Iran come to an end, and oil goes down, and the economy will tick up like a rocket ship. But in the meantime, you know, that is the one thing that is slowing down the economy. I think the president is going to take care of that. I think he gets it completely, and he’s just making a bet on the future.” [Fox News, America's Newsroom, 9/10/26]
    • On Newsmax, podcaster Alec Lace said the payments “would be a blessing” and “help hard-working American families.” Lace stated, “This is going to help hard-working American families that can use the money right now, because we've all had a tough year with the Iran war going on and stuff. We’ve all suffered at the gas pump, we’ve suffered in the purse a little bit. A little rebate would be a blessing for President Donald Trump. We’d love to see it.” [Newsmax, National Report, 9/10/26]
    • On Fox, former California GOP Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson said Trump’s promise is “pretty exciting.” Patterson went on to say that Trump “understands what excites people, he understands what turns people out, and this is something that he is doing for the American people. Let me help you get ahead.” [Fox News, Fox News @ Night, 9/9/26]