The New York Times described last week how foreign investors and allies are getting cold feet about the U.S. economy. Every other day, Trump imposes another nonsensical tariff, threatens the rule of law, lies about Iran, and remains clueless about how these actions affect the economy.
The Trumpapalooza midterm convention in Dallas, staged to spin the disastrous results of Trump 2.0 into ‘The Great American Comeback,’ confirmed Trump’s economic ineptitude. Speaker after speaker praised him so lavishly that the convention looked like his made-for-TV Cabinet meetings, as Trump used his podium time to strut his ignorance.
Almost on cue, the Fed followed the Times by announcing a rate hike, largely driven by Trump’s continuing fiscal missteps. Trump responded by attacking the board, “demanding a rate cut,” and separately threatening to punish Europe with more tariffs — a fiscal non sequitur confirming that Trump really has no idea how trade, tariffs, and interest rates work.
“Bread and circus bribes”
During the Republicans’ midterm convention, Trump spun high fuel and energy costs, an intractable war of choice, and serial divorce papers served on us by our allies as accomplishments. Such is the power of spin when truth no longer holds currency.
By now, it’s clear that the convention was just an emotional support rally for Trump, even though he is not running for office. What he is running for is his continued escape from legal accountability. If Democrats retake the House and Senate, the words ‘impeach,’ ‘corruption,’ and ‘Emoluments Clause’ will dominate headlines as they reacquaint federal governance with the rule of law.
Trump’s two widely panned, rambling convention speeches made false and familiar claims building up to the crescendo where he offered to pay every American adult $5,000 if Republicans win the midterms. He explained that the payments would be “very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders, or like last year when I gave our great members of the military $1,776.”
Both claims were sophomoric. Corporations don’t give bonus distributions when earnings are down and the company is $40 trillion in debt, and he didn’t “give” service members $1,776 because Congress had already funded a $2.9 billion military housing allowance in July 2025 from which those funds were taken.
A fan of renaming things, Trump simply renamed it a “Warrior Dividend,” and claimed it was his gift.
Trump still doesn’t understand how appropriations work
While most analysts assailed Trump’s $5,000 promise as an election-year sweetener at best and an illegal bribe at worst, the devastating takeaway should have been that Trump, after nearly six years on the job, still doesn’t understand how federal legislation works. Trump didn’t say he’d work with the Republican majority to authorize the payout, or help pass the law to drive it. A perennial mob boss, he said hewould issue the checks, but only if he likes what he sees in the midterms.
After his repeated promises to issue checks that never materialize, Trump still hasn’t learned that massive direct-payment plans require either fast-track legislation or formal congressional approval. Even though Republicans now control the presidency, the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court, Trump has been promising checks that never were for two years:
Trump’s convention speech demonstrated his continuing economic illiteracy
If Trump gave $5,000 to every adult U.S. citizen, it would cost $1.2 to $1.7 trillion, exploding the already astronomical federal deficit, which would in turn cause interest rates to skyrocket. For perspective, the entire 2025 annual U.S. budget was $7 trillion; Trump would add another 20% just to keep his unchecked power. Just as he doesn’t understand who pays tariffs, he either doesn’t understand the basic relationship between national debt and interest rates, or he doesn’t care.
Trump also demonstrated ignorance about how a free market works, telling his fawning audience that, “The only caveat I have is that the dividend that we’re making must be spent in the United States of America...” This is more delusional thinking. In a capitalist economy, currency cannot be stopped from moving freely; there is no way to track how or where cash is spent unless he intends to mark denominations ‘legal tender, but only inside the U.S.,’ then build a system to track it.
Given his apparent belief that he can simply print more money, wait for Trump to mint $5,000 Trump coins restricted to purchasing Trump.com products. Small wonder he is desperate for Republicans to stay in power.
During his convention speech, Trump led a Nuremburg Rally and demanded that attendees swear loyalty to him and promise to cheat in the midterms if necessary, urging voters to “pretend that he is on the ballot.”
Democrats should repeat, “Trump is on the ballot,” run his absurd loyalty pledge as a chyron at the bottom of every commercial, and display a running tally of gas, food, and home energy prices in the background of every midterm ad between now and November 3.
Sabrina Haake is a political analyst and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.