President Donald Trump was widely mocked Thursday after delivering his second promise within 24 hours to send money to Americans ahead of the midterms.
Speaking at the RNC midterm convention in Texas Wednesday night, Trump pledged to send every American citizen a $5,000 dividend check should Republicans maintain their congressional majority, a promise that some critics argued ran afoul of federal law. Thursday morning, Trump made a second promise to send Americans money, albeit a $500 rebate check to nearly 1 million Americans who he claimed had been “overcharged” under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
“Our administration is doing the right thing and giving the money back to the people who were wrongly ripped off,” Trump said in a video statement released by the White House. “Nearly 1 million hard-working Americans in 30 states will soon be getting refunds of $500 each with a check sent to their home address.”
The announcement was immediately met with ridicule by countless critics, including Jared Sears, an independent political writer and U.S. Navy veteran.
“So you allowed $31 billion in ACA subsidies to expire, causing millions of Americans to lose their health insurance entirely, and now you think you make everything better by sending a few people $500 checks?” Sears wrote Thursday in a social media post on X to his nearly 24,000 followers.
“That is even more pathetic than when the [One Big Beautiful Bill Act] cut $150 billion in funding that would have gone to rural hospitals that are shutting down, so Republicans rushed in a $50 billion fund to replace it. Keep thinking you can buy midterm votes, though.”
Others, such as political columnist John Stoehr, insisted Trump wouldn’t make good on his promise, much as he hadn’t when floating $5,000 checks related to supposed savings identified by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), or $2,000 tariff rebate checks.
“This is… not going to happen,” Stoehr wrote in a social media post on X to his nearly 70,000 followers.
Climate scientist and meteorologist Chris Gloninger also doubted that Trump would follow through on his promise, flagging Trump’s previously unfulfilled promises to Americans.
“I'll spend it the same way I spent my $2,000 tariff dividend, my $5,000 DOGE dividend, and the $5,000 he promised last night if Republicans hold Congress,” Gloninger wrote. “Entirely in my imagination.”
This is ... not going to happen. https://t.co/zpTZvFlt4Y
— The Editorial Board (@johnastoehr) September 10, 2026