President Trump came to battleground North Carolina doubling down on a tantalizing and implausible midterm promise. “If we win,” he said, “we’re going to get you $5,000. So that’s it. Very simple.”
The Republican candidates who spoke at the rally had nothing to say about it.
Their silence reflects a broader pattern. About a week after the president unveiled his “Trump dividend” pledge at the party’s unusual midterm convention in Dallas, there is little evidence that Republicans in competitive races have incorporated it into their campaigns.
The pledge hasn’t been a staple of television advertising, whether from Trump’s own political operation or his party’s candidates. It usually only comes up when reporters ask about it, prompting most Republicans to sidestep the idea.
The Republican National Committee considers the proposed payments part of Trump’s broader economic vision and says candidates should get behind it.
“Of course we encourage all Republican candidates to run on his agenda, and that includes efforts to put more money in the pockets of the American people,” spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre said.
There are some exceptions. Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who is seeking reelection in a battleground Wisconsin district, has praised the proposal.
The idea comes as the economy confronts rising interest rates, continuing inflation and climbing fuel costs. Republicans are fighting to keep their majorities in the House and Senate.
Trump previously promised to use savings from his White House advisory team, which he calls the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and revenue from tariffs on imports to distribute payments of $2,000 or more, but none of that came to pass. The president has said he did not think congressional approval would be needed for the idea, which could cost more than $1 trillion, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) indicated the promise would require lawmakers to act.
Democrats point to those previous suggestions for a payout to raise skepticism about the $5,000 pledge.
“This idea is nothing more than a recycled broken promise that voters know Republicans will never deliver,” said Viet Shelton, a spokesperson for the House Democratic campaign arm.
Republican campaign advertising has largely focused on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including provisions that temporarily cut taxes on tips and overtime. Other candidates are concentrating on local issues or attacks against their opponents.
Doug Heye, a Republican strategist and former Republican National Committee communications director, said there is little mystery about why candidates have been reluctant to embrace the pledge.
“It’s a dumb idea,” Heye said. “There’s no way to pay for it and it would spike inflation.”
In Deja Vu’s next episode, Pankaj Mishra traces today’s political anger to the Enlightenment and empire.
Why does anger seem to rule the world today? Pankaj Mishra traces our age of anger to the collision of Enlightenment promises of liberty and equality with empire, nationalism and capitalism. He asks what happens when those promises are broken – and when the Global South turns Western ideals back on the West itself.
In this episode:
Pankaj Mishra, Author, Age of Anger
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Mohamed Hassan, Marcos Bartolomé and Sonia Bhagat. It was edited by Alexandra Locke. Our engagement producer is Adam Abou-Gad. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan.
City clung on to a nervy victory against the Sky Blues to maintain their 100% winning start to the season, but managed to get the job done courtesy of a string of saves from goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Haaland continued his fine start to the season by converting his third goal in as many games from Antoine Semenyo’s deep cross, which came after Fernandez played through a slide-rule pass to the Ghanaian.
Playing in the number eight role, Argentina international Fernandez was given licence to roam and make late bursts into the box – he touched the ball six times in the opposition area, with only Haaland managing more with 11.
Fernandez could have had a dream debut but saw two shots blocked, before being replaced after 76 minutes by fellow summer signing Ayyoub Bouaddi.
The 18-year-old Morocco international was part of City’s midfield rebuild and highlights the options available to Maresca despite the departures of Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Tijjani Reijnders and Nico Gonzalez.
Ndiaye, meanwhile, became the first Senegalese player to represent City and is bound to give opposition defenders with his trickery and pace. No player attempted more dribbles in the match than his eight.
Maresca said: “Enzo and Iliman [played their] first game with us and then Ayyoub and Ryan [McAidoo] their first game in front of our fans.
“That is why I said there are many reasons I am happy about our win. I think they were all good.
“Ili just had two sessions with us. He needs to understand how to move. Most of the time he was moving in the wrong way, wrong position, but he needs to learn and for sure he is going to learn.”
Asked to elaborate on Ndiaye’s performance, Maresca said: “When Marc Guehi has the ball and he was dropping a lot and we don’t need that.
“We need him in the last third so he can be a little bit more higher. That space was more for Josko Gvardiol.
“It is the same thing in this [other] side. But it is normal and with time they will learn the way we want them to play.”
SAN DIEGO — José E. Feliciano, the new controlling owner of the San Diego Padres, lives in Los Angeles. You know, that place at the end of the Padres’ incessant “Beat L.A.” chants.
No worries, Padres fans. Feliciano is — make that was — a longtime New York Yankees fan.
“The good thing is,” he told me after an introductory news conference Monday, “rooting against the Dodgers comes naturally to me.”
It was only 18 months ago that Padres fans wondered whether the good times might come to an end, with the widow of beloved owner Peter Seidler suing his brothers for control of the team. For their part, the brothers said they had “no plans to sell the Padres.”
That sounds a lot like what Dodgers president Stan Kasten said Friday, amid a federal investigation into alleged financial improprieties among insurance companies controlled by Dodgers owner Mark Walter.
What is true today might not be true tomorrow. What is true today, as potential bidders for the Dodgers lurk and coalesce amid L.A.’s turn at uncertainty, is that the Padres have an energetic and effervescent couple as their new principal owners.
Feliciano, a founder of Clearlake Capital in Santa Monica, took the mound at Petco Park on Monday afternoon, working out of a stretch and looking toward an invisible runner at second base before delivering a pitch. In spring training, he said, he stepped into the batting cage to try to hit simulated pitches from Padres All-Star closer Mason Miller.
His wife Kwanza Jones, an artist and entrepreneur, led her husband into the news conference amid the sounds of a song she co-wrote, she said, inspired in part by a catch made by Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr.
“My only musical talent is my name,” Feliciano said. “I humbly ask you to please add my middle initial so I never get confused with the singer.”
As the couple looks for a home in San Diego, Jones appealed to fans to share what they love about their neighborhoods. Later, the couple took selfies along the first-base line.
New San Diego owners Kwanza Jones, center, and José E. Feliciano, right, speak at a news conference with Padres Chief Executive Erik Greupner at Petco Park on Monday.
(Greg Beacham / Associated Press)
Their enthusiasm bubbled forth as the news conference proceeded, as their sense of whether the Padres might finally win a World Series got more and more optimistic.
Feliciano, three minutes into the news conference: “We cannot promise we are going to win.”
Jones, two minutes later, riffing off her lyrics, her voice rising: “We gonna win! We gonna win! We gonna win — win it all!” And then a pause, to lower her voice: “We hope it’s sooner rather than later.”
Feliciano, two minutes later: “We need to win a World Series. It’s that simple. That’s what we’re going to do.”
Jones, one minute later: “Multiples.”
Feliciano, one minute later: “The impossible becomes possible when somebody does it. So let’s do it.”
This is not Feliciano’s first foray into professional sports. Clearlake Capital is the majority owner of Chelsea, the storied soccer club.
“I’m missing the first game of the Premier League right now,” Feliciano said.
He said he could not comment on reports Walter is looking to sell his stake in Chelsea. Two weeks ago, Walter announced an agreement to sell controlling interest in the Lakers at a $12.5-billion valuation, the cash from which could help repay loans under scrutiny. The Dodgers could command a similar valuation, industry sources not authorized to discuss the issue publicly told The Times, should Walter decide to sell.
As part of a search for cash, Puck reported last week, Walter had talked with Charter Communications about whether the company would be interested in paying a lump sum now to get out of its SportsNet LA contract — a money-losing deal for Charter, but the primary source of the Dodgers’ financial advantage over the other 29 teams in the major leagues.
The talks “went nowhere,” Puck reported. Kasten declined to address the matter, as did a Charter spokesman.
In 2011, with the Dodgers headed toward bankruptcy, former owner Frank McCourt found what he believed would be his financial lifeline in a television rights deal with Fox Sports.
In a withering letter to McCourt, then-commissioner Bud Selig rejected the deal, criticizing McCourt for proposing a financial structure that would have foreclosed the Dodgers from pursuing more lucrative options “because of your desperate need for immediate cash.”
That precedent could inform how Rob Manfred, the current commissioner, would evaluate any proposed restructuring of the Dodgers’ television deal. Under the owners’ current collective bargaining proposal, to which Walter agreed, the Dodgers’ annual television riches — more than $500 million per year by the end of the deal in 2038 — would be fully contributed toward revenue sharing among all 30 teams.
I asked Feliciano whether the Dodgers’ uncertainty might make this a particularly opportune time to buy the Padres.
“You’ve got to look at these things on a generational, multi-decade basis, honestly,” he told me. “It’s like trying to time a great investment in the market. You can’t.
“What I can tell you is that this is the good time — the best time — for us. I think it also coincides with Peter’s legacy: The team is in a great place, the city is in a great place.”
The Dodgers’ revenue advantage remains significant, not just because of their SportsNet LA deal but because they fill the largest stadium in the majors almost every night and employ Shohei Ohtani.
In San Diego, however, where ticket sales represent the largest source of team revenue, the Padres sell more tickets than any major league team besides the Dodgers. Petco Park already is a year-round concert venue and event center, and the Padres could rekindle plans to develop a large parking lot near the ballpark.
And, if owners emerge from collective bargaining with a salary cap or other restraint on the Dodgers’ spending, that would be a win for San Diego.
On the field, the Padres entered play Monday with 21 victories in their past 28 games. The Padres acquired Robbie Ray and Casey Mize at the trade deadline to bolster a patchwork rotation, and they retained Miller and Adrian Morejon rather than break up a mighty bullpen. Tatis leads the National League with 12 home runs since the All-Star break; outfielder Jackson Merrill has 11.
“As we have seen the last few weeks, we are very competitive. I feel we are one of those teams — us and the Phillies, probably — that nobody wants to play,” Feliciano said.
“We want to keep it that way.”
The Phillies entered play Monday on a nine-game winning streak, in position for one of the National League wild cards. The Padres also are in position for an NL wild card, keeping alive the possibility that the Dodgers and Padres could meet in the NL Championship Series.
If that happens, it won’t matter how many games the Dodgers finished ahead of the Padres during the regular season.
