“I really don’t care,” Jamie Alvarez, who recently attended one of Trump’s rallies, told the Associated Press. ”I don’t feel like your vote should be bought. I feel like you should vote for who you feel is going to do the best job.”
Amy Frederiksen, who was the first female majority leader in the Minnesota State Senate, believes Trump has lost the trust of the American people, including many of his fans.
“The trust on this is already gone for most people,” Frederiksen told the Associated Press. “I just don’t see the energy around that line. Most people know that’s a blatant over-the-top promise like several he’s made in the last couple of years, and they’re not buying it.”
Trump has reportedly acknowledged that the cost of issuing $5,000 checks to every American adult would exceed $1 trillion, but whether or not the White House has seriously considered the ramifications of such spending is not entirely clear.
What is clear, however — at least to economist Peter Schiff — is that such spending will almost certainly increase inflation and would have a massive impact on the American economy.
Schiff denounced Trump’s $5,000 ‘bribe’
Schiff, who serves as the chief economist and global strategist at Europac.com, warned that Trump’s $5,000 promise could be a catalyst that results in inflation unlike anything Americans have seen in a long time.
“Trump tried to buy the midterms by offering all voters a $5,000 bribe in exchange for their votes, provided they spend the cash in the U.S.,” he wrote on X in early September. “Since the Fed will have to print the money, the result would be massive inflation, well in excess of anything experienced under Biden.”
This isn’t the first time Schiff has criticized Trump’s plans to give away federal money. Schiff was an opponent to the Trump Accounts for kids, saying they were “nothing to celebrate” and those children would ultimately repay the seed money with interest. He has also spoken out against Trump’s tariffs and the current state of the Republican party, so his opposition to Trump’s $5,000 pledge that’s tied to election results isn’t surprising.
While Schiff also criticized Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for clapping at Trump’s $5,000 promise, other government officials have quietly downplayed the move. Vice President J.D. Vance told the Associated Press the payments would not go to the wealthy and suggested they could be paid for by tariff revenues.
