President Donald Trump joked that the $5,000 he promised American adults would buy little more than a “burger and maybe a little dessert” at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, a week before midterm elections dominated by voters’ concerns about affordability.
Trump promised $5,000 to every adult citizen if Republicans win the House and Senate, specifying that the money must be spent in the United States.
“Go to Florida, go to one of our great places. You can even come to Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said at a rally in Texas on Tuesday. “The problem is that for $5,000, the most you can buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert.”
The president also joked, “I’m not even sure you can buy that. No, don’t go there. It’s not a good place if you’re price conscious.”
The cost of living has been the dominant issue in the run-up to the Nov. 3 vote, with 84% of U.S. adults surveyed in an AP-NORC poll earlier this month citing it among the most important issues in deciding their vote, and 79% disapproving of Trump’s handling of the issue. Polls largely show Democrats favored in the national popular vote for the House and competitive in a series of red-state Senate races that will decide control of the upper chamber.
Some economists have warned that the one-time direct payment would do little to ease affordability pressures and could exacerbate inflation at a time when many Americans already feel strained. The prices of basic necessities like gasoline and groceries are a particular problem for most American households.
Sending $5,000 to every adult citizen would cost about $1.2 trillion and require congressional approval.
The president has also made similar promises in the past about providing cash payments to Americans, but those promises have not materialized. Less than two months before the 2020 election, Trump promised 33 million Medicare beneficiaries $200 prescription drug cards “in the coming weeks” — but the cards were never distributed.
The president’s renovation of the White House has also become an obstacle to the election campaign. Speaking at a rally in Ohio last week, former President Barack Obama said Trump had “made the White House look like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory,” saying “there’s gold everywhere.”
Trump on Monday defended his White House overhaul and blamed Obama for failing to make needed repairs. “Guys like Obama don’t see it. You don’t see the dirt. He doesn’t see the grime. He doesn’t see the broken ornaments on a building…And when you say it’s a Cheesecake Factory, that just shows why you’ve been a bad president.”
—CNBC’s Davis Giangiulo and Dan Mangan contributed to this article.
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