'USA is now QVC': Trump mocked as he floats having foreigners pay $5M for citizenship

President Donald Trump proposed what he seemed to consider a new idea on Tuesday in the Oval Office: a program to let wealthy foreigners pay $5 million for citizenship.

"We're gonna be selling a gold card," said Trump. "You have a green card, this is a gold card. We're gonna put a price on that card of about $5 million and that's going to give you green card privileges, plus. It's gonna be a route to citizenship, and wealthy people will be coming into our country."

The United States already has a program based on similar logic called EB-5 visas, which let foreign investors who create jobs in the United States apply for residency. But Trump wants to take things further, with little if any restrictions on who can pay the $5 million to get "Gold Card" citizenship. Asked whether Russian oligarchs could qualify, he said, "Yeah, possibly. Hey. I know some Russian oligarchs that are very nice people."

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Commenters on social media were aghast at the president's remarks.

"Give $5 million and become a U.S. citizen even if you’re a Russian oligarch. Banana republic vibes," wrote Oleksiy Sorokin, a reporter and editor with the Ukrainian-based Kyiv Independent.

"We are ruled by a strange consortium of rubes with Ivy League degrees and outer borough mooks with offshore accounts," wrote Michael Weiss, editor for the Russia-focused independent outlet The Insider. "It’s like an early Bellow novel on hallucinogens."

"The grift goes on. The USA is now QVC," wrote political commentator account The Tennessee Holler.

"More for the rich," wrote political strategist and VoteVets podcaster Fred Wellman.

"This made me laugh out loud," wrote University of Virginia professor T. Kenny Fountain. "Now we're going to sell citizenship to the highest bidder, like it is membership to some resort. Give me your wealthy, your faux-finished, your yacht-class high spenders."