With one week to go before a midterm election dominated by grocery bills, gas prices, and rent, President Donald Trump stood in front of a rally crowd in Corpus Christi, Texas, and joked about how little his own promised payment would buy at his private Florida club.
Trump has been pitching what he calls a $5,000 “dividend” for every adult citizen, a payment he says will come only if Republicans keep control of both the House and the Senate. On Tuesday night, while urging Americans to spend that money inside the United States, he invited the crowd to his Palm Beach resort.
“A hamburger and maybe a small dessert”
“Go to Florida, go to any one of our great places,” Trump said, according to USA Today and CNBC. “You could even come to Mar-a-Lago. I said it the other night. You’ll be my guest at Mar-a-Lago. The problem is that for $5,000, the most you’ll be able to buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert.”
Then he went further. “I’m not even sure you could buy that,” he said. “No, don’t go there. That’s not a good place if you’re price conscious.”
Much of the crowd laughed. Online, plenty of people did not, calling the line tone-deaf at a moment when so many families are counting every dollar at the checkout line.
The check doesn’t exist yet
It’s worth being clear about what the $5,000 actually is. It is a campaign pledge, not a payment anyone is getting. According to People and Quartz, the promise is conditional on Republicans holding both chambers of Congress, would cost more than $1 trillion (CNBC put the price tag at roughly $1.2 trillion), and would require Congress to approve it. The administration has not published any plan explaining how people would sign up for or receive the money, and Trump has not said how the government would track whether it was spent in the U.S.
Some economists have also warned that a one-time lump-sum payment would do little to ease the affordability squeeze and could even push inflation higher, CNBC reported.
Prices are what voters care about
The joke landed in the middle of a campaign where cost of living is the top issue. A CNBC All-America Economic Survey of 1,000 registered voters this month found that 55% said prices for them and their families are rising “faster than usual.” Asked to name the most important issues facing the country, 34% picked the cost of food and groceries and 23% picked the price of gas.
Trump was in Texas for back-to-back rallies in Corpus Christi and Lubbock to support Republican candidates, including Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for Senate against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.
Mar-a-Lago is a 20-acre, members-only private club. And by the president’s own account, a $5,000 check might not even cover lunch there.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.