Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his controversial pledge to give US adults a $5,000 “dividend” if his Republican ⁠party keeps control of Congress after November’s midterm elections.

The plan has been greeted with expressions of incredulity across the US political spectrum as well as outraged accusations of seeing to bribe voters. The plan – which would cost more than a trillion dollars – also comes amid huge concern over the US national debt, which topped $40tn for the first time in August.

“I don’t ‌know but ‌it’s easy if the ‌Republicans win. $5,000 to all adults in the country and we can easily handle that because we’re taking in ‌so much money,” Trump told reporters in Ireland where he is on a visit to a golf course.

Trump had been asked if ​Congress would need to approve the $5,000 pledge and continued: “The Democrats can’t make that pledge ⁠because it would all go to ​hell ​right away, ​we’d go into a ​depression … ‌I made ​that pledge, ​I always keep my pledge.”

The US has roughly 240 million adult citizens, suggesting a cost of $1.2tn. The federal government spent about $7tn in fiscal year 2025, with about $2tn taken on as debt.

When the plan was first touted by Trump last week at a rally in Texas, Marc Goldwein of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget wrote on X that “the result would be a huge spike in the deficit, and almost certainly in the inflation rate.”

Democratic political leaders also reacted with a mix of outrage, disbelief and condemnation to the remarkable suggestion which comes at a time when Trump is struggling with low poll numbers and a disastrous conflict in Iran, which is having an impact on the health of the US economy.

“After making you sicker and poorer with his war, Donald Trump now wants to buy your vote with $5,000 in taxpayer-funded blood money,” said California governor, Gavin Newsom. “The most corrupt man ever to occupy the Oval Office.”

But some Republicans have backed the idea.

“I will get a bill ready so that we can get the Trump Dividend passed immediately after the November 3rd election,” said US senator Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, in a social media post on X.

• Reuters contributed to this article