Lidia Dewald
Staff Writer
Donald Trump has a big job to do. And I don’t mean running a whole country, but I mean all the other nonsense side quests he sends himself on. Last week at the Republican National Convention, Trump promised $5,000 to every American citizen if Republicans win the House and Senate elections this fall. This would cause a federal deficit of roughly $1.23 trillion. This bribe especially sounds suspicious when you note that the U.S. national debt is currently racking up to about $40 trillion. This is not the first time in U.S. history that we have accepted explicit bribery in exchange for votes. It started at the founding of our country and has continued to persist term after term. Although modern bribes no longer consist of offering copious amounts of alcoholic beverages to voters, the bribe of $5,000 is indicative of another issue in this country.
With the rate of inflation and the cost of living climbing higher in the United States, I feel prone to point out how blatant Trump’s manipulation is. Families who work hard in minimum-wage jobs cannot afford to live comfortably anymore. These working-class people want to see change come about in the economy, but what will giving out $5,000 really accomplish in such a fragile economy? Will it leave a bruise on the debts of America for the next president to fix in his (or hopefully her) term? What kind of twaddle is a $5,000 promise in exchange for a vote?
Well, it is hard to make a genuine list for the potential benefits of this federal action. Although the nature of this bribe is rooted in electing more republicans to office, it seems to have had the opposite effect. Many Republicans are weary of the so-called “Trump Dividend.” Some say it is reflective of socialist ideals, which Republicans generally oppose. All of this goes to show that there is a common pattern in Trump’s tactics, one that I would like to point out as hypocritical. We all know based on Trump’s presidency that dividend checks hardly make it past the talking stage. In a few years I am sure when someone brings this up, knowing we never saw any of this money we will be asking ourselves; What $5,000?
