33 comments

  • Jamesbeam 14 minutes ago

    That’s one way to get enough money to buy automatic weapons and a pretty stash of ammo to all the capitol loving patrioters, after they blew up his slush fund.

    Glad the law doesn’t count for the King, otherwise he would be in trouble.

    The president’s Autopen though is going into overdrive signing all the pardons for every American who actually took the 5k.

    Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate; and

    Whoever solicits, accepts, or receives any such expenditure in consideration of his vote or the withholding of his vote—

    Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was wilful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

    - https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/597

  • euroderf 7 hours ago

    "The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money." -Alexis De Tocqueville

    But turns out it's a fun game for another branch of government too.

  • SomeHacker44 7 hours ago

    Good way to spend $1.3T that this party of fiscal responsibility doesn't have.

    • MisterMower 7 hours ago

      [flagged]

      • ryan_lane 6 hours ago

        > Democrats have historically been the party of “vote for me for more free stuff,"

        Democrats are more fiscally responsible than Republicans, consistently, for decades. You're perpetuating a myth, pushed by conservatives, that liberals are "tax and spend".

        > these vote buying schemes from both parties

        Where do you see vote buying schemes from the Democrat side? The only examples I've seen so far of this in reality are this current scheme, and Elon Musk's scheme last election.

        "Both sides" are not equal. Republicans have given up on the rule of law and are actively aiming to eliminate democracy.

  • anonym00se1 7 hours ago

    An incredible stain on the history of the US.

    • mathisfun123 7 hours ago

      just one question: is it a deeper or shallower stain than slavery, trail of tears, lynchings, nuking japan, vietnam, 1 million dead in the second gulf war, etc etc etc?

      lol

      • anon7000 5 hours ago

        It’s a stain precisely because it proves Americans don’t learn from those past stains

      • bigyabai 7 hours ago

        It's too early to say, it depends on how the Iran conundrum wraps up.

  • ivell 30 minutes ago

    It is a quite popular reverse bribe in India. All parties offer something like this, but to particular demographics.

    However Trump's promises mean nothing nowadays.

  • rzzzwilson 7 hours ago

    The sooner this guy is impeached the better. That's better than letting his term just run out as it offers more of a warning to other fruitcakes out there: the system _eventually_ works.

    • asdfasvea 6 hours ago

      Been impeached twice. What do you envision a third doing?

      • cmurf 5 hours ago

        Conviction. Removal from office.

        Third time’s the charm?

        By all means let Senators defend and protect him. Maybe they don't care about their historical reputation

  • theGeatZhopa 6 hours ago

    I try use my brain to logically approach it:

    - 5k are promised in case of x to u.s. adults

    Risk: too much adults to divide 5k equally amongst.

  • k310 7 hours ago

    Confederate dollars.

  • pogue 7 hours ago

    Since becoming president again, Trump has promised: -$5000 stimulus checks via "DOGE dividend" -$2000 stimulus checks via "tariff dividend" -$1000+ checks via "savings" from expiring ACA subsidies -$5000 "dividend" if Rs win midterms No checks have been issued https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-magically-disappearing-st...

    Catherine Rampell / The Bulwark via Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/crampell.bsky.social/post/3mv4z7az4...

  • BoggleOhYeah 7 hours ago

    This guy loves inflation.

    • cmurf 5 hours ago

      It wouldn’t just monetize the national debt. By inflating away his own debts he might actually become a billionaire.

  • bmitc 8 hours ago

    I would ask how this is legal, but then again, we wouldn't even be here if something being legal or not mattered.

    • wmf 8 hours ago

      It's no different than promises to increase welfare or cut taxes that politicians routinely make.

      • bmitc 6 hours ago

        This is much different than that. It's basically a direct bribe.

      • Arodex 3 hours ago

        Yes it is different: he conditioned it on voting for him. And he is not claiming to improve any governmental system to finance this, like other politicians do when they promise welfare or tax cuts: he is saying the money is there, he is the only one who can use it, and whether you get it or not depends on giving him your vote.

      • nichos 7 hours ago

        Or pay off student loan debt, it's all crooked, both sides.

        • alyeska2 7 hours ago

          "Both sides" is such an absurd claim these days.

          It's like saying that a murderer and a jaywalker are both criminals, so they're basically the same.

          • mathisfun123 7 hours ago

            Lol I see you've never met a stallman type (ie your average hn disposition)

          • MisterMower 7 hours ago

            You’re right, the “both sides” claim really doesn’t work here.

            Biden’s student loan forgiveness would have amounted to a gift of potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars to his most ardent supporters: young, college educated, poor people.

            Trump’s proposal is a fraction of that, and all Americans would be eligible. If he’s trying to buy votes, he’s going to need to try a lot harder. This proposal is nothing like Biden’s vote buying scheme.

            • Arodex 3 hours ago

              Funny that you wake up and rise only now. Where was you righteous indignation when Republicans promises tax cuts? Can you point me to your contemporary reaction to "no tax on tips"? What made you react only now?

            • bmitc 6 hours ago

              Have you missed where Trump himself and many of the wealthiest people in the U.S. have had integer multiples of their wealth over just the past couple of years?

              > young, college educated, poor people

              Oh yea, you're correct, who needs those? Let's feed the 0.01%.

        • ggm 7 hours ago

          Please beware the false moral equivalence. Both sides is a position which advantages the incumbency.

          What is your intent, beyond cynicism?

  • exabrial 7 hours ago

    Everyone wants to know why groceries are so damn expensive, here's your answer. Along with fighting wars that aren't ours.

    I really wish Libertarians would actually win.

    • Synthetic7346 5 hours ago

      Libertarians are just conservatives who like weed

  • HDBaseT 8 hours ago

    "The only caveat I have is that the dividend that we're making must be spent in the United States of America."