“Because of tariffs, we are taking in hundreds of billions of dollars of profits,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons I can offer, if Republicans win the House and the Senate, $5,000 to every adult. And we can do it and the Democrats can’t, because the Democrats don’t have any income, and they’re gonna drive us in[to] a depression. They won’t have any money.”
Bitch you already promised us a tariff refund check.
Don’t shoot the messenger. Just paraphrasing the analysis done by Legal Eagle.
So, technically speaking, this isnt actually illegal. It is illegal to pay someone in exchange for voting a specific way. As in, if you vote for X, I’ll pay you money. But it is not illegal to suggest you will implement a policy, including rewarding cash/a cash value item to everyone, in exchange for an outcome. If he offered only to pay republican voters, he would be buying votes. But since he is offering to pay everyone, regardless of how they voted, for the election outcome he wants, that is not actually illegal. In fact it has been litigated and protected by the SCOTUS before. It is not dissimilar in legal terms from campaign promises like “if I win, I’ll cut your taxes by X%.” Or “Vote for me if you want a Universal Basic Income.” That too is a promise of monetary reward, independent of your vote, in exchange for an election outcome. And you hear stuff like that all the time.
So a reporter just needs to ask him if Democrat voters will get it too? Because I bet he’d go off on one about them not deserving it.
He has said repeatedly that every citizen would get it. He’s a lying asshole, obviously, but until he starts saying otherwise, technically legal.
Removed by mod