Trump Proposes $5,000 'Dividend' for Adults if Republicans Win Midterms

President Donald Trump closed the opening day of his party's first-ever midterm convention in Dallas by floating a $5,000 "Trump dividend" for every American adult, conditional on Republicans winning November's congressional elections.

The proposal came during a primetime address that ran close to two hours and placed Trump squarely at the centre of the midterm campaign, even as opinion polls show his popularity at a low point. It was not immediately clear how the payments would be structured or whether they would be lawful. With roughly 270 million US adults, the plan would likely cost more than $1 trillion and could require congressional approval.

Vice President JD Vance is set to deliver the keynote address on Thursday night, with Trump scheduled to return for closing remarks at the two-day, television-oriented event. Because Trump is constitutionally barred from a third term, Vance's speech is being watched as an early audition for the 2028 presidential race and a signal of how he might lead a party reshaped in Trump's image.

"I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot," Trump told the audience, a remark likely to be seized on by Democratic strategists as much as by his own supporters.

Republicans received an unexpected boost when Democratic Senator John Fetterman appeared in a pretaped video to introduce his "great friend," Republican Senator Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania. Fetterman said he would always "reject the extremes in socialism," a comment likely to reinforce Republican attacks on Democrats as too left-wing. Fetterman, who has increasingly broken with his party, has dismissed speculation that he might leave it.

Some Republicans in competitive races chose to stay away, including Senators Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.

Although party officials had billed the gathering as a chance to promote Trump's policies, most speakers trained their fire on Democrats, calling them extreme on issues such as transgender women in sports and border security. Before Trump spoke, a series of speakers described Democrats as "socialists" and "communists," with Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who chairs the party's Senate campaign arm, calling them "dangerous, radical and weird."

Trump defended his decision to strike Iran, saying he acted to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and promised oil prices would fall "as soon as we win the war with Iran," which he said would be soon. More than six months after US and Israeli strikes, the conflict shows little sign of ending, and analysts say Iran's nuclear programme has not been eliminated. Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon.

Alabama state Representative Ernie Yarbrough, attending the convention, said Trump needs to give voters a clearer sense of how long the Iran war could last. "People want to feel like we're not getting stuck in an endless cycle," he said.

With the elections less than two months away, Republicans risk losing control of at least one chamber of Congress. Public polling shows Democrats more motivated to vote and Trump's approval ratings deeply underwater, making the convention's heavy focus on the president — dubbed "Trumpapalooza" by some Republicans — a calculated bet that he can still mobilise the coalition that carried him to the White House.