Climax TV
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to provide $5,000 (approximately 6.7 million Korean won) to all adult citizens if the Republican Party wins the November midterm elections, calling it a “blatant vote-buying scheme” where “voting for our party means receiving a check.”
In an editorial on the 10th, the WSJ stated, “Trump has a special talent for exposing the cynical nature of modern politics,” citing the $5,000 pledge as a typical example. Trump had previously announced at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, “If the Republican Party wins the House and Senate, every adult citizen in the U.S. will receive a $5,000 dividend.”
The WSJ emphasized, “Trump’s cynical genius lies in his unembellished exposure of political vote-buying,” highlighting the pledge’s implicit message: “Vote for us, and you’ll get a check.”
To fulfill the pledge, approximately $1.2 trillion (around 1,600 trillion Korean won) would be required to distribute $5,000 to each of the roughly 240 million adult citizens. While Trump did not specify funding sources during the announcement, he later hinted at using tariff revenue as a potential resource.
The WSJ attributed Trump’s cash pledge to voters’ strained finances amid persistent inflation and dissatisfaction with his economic policies. However, it criticized Trump’s tariffs for burdening U.S. consumers, arguing that raising prices through tariffs and redistributing the revenue as cash is contradictory. The WSJ sarcastically noted, “Revoking tariffs would provide an economic ‘dividend’ to the nation without spending a single dollar.”
