Statement from members of the Libertarian National Committee re “Trump Dividend” September 10, 2026 Last night in Dallas, President Trump opened the Republican Party’s first midterm convention with a promise that every adult citizen would receive a $5,000 “Trump Dividend”—but only if Republicans keep both houses of Congress. That is not fiscal policy. It is vote-buying, announced on a national stage by a man whose record of broken economic promises is already long. The arithmetic is not mysterious. There are roughly 270 million adults in the United States. Five thousand dollars each is more than $1.3 trillion. The federal government already runs annual deficits approaching $2 trillion and carries a national debt of tens of trillions. The President offered no offsetting cuts, no credible revenue source, and no statutory path.  This is not a new habit. Americans were previously told they would receive $2,000 “tariff dividends.” They were told a “DOGE dividend” of $5,000 was coming. Those checks never arrived. The same pattern of grand announcement followed by silence or walk-back is already visible: within hours, the Vice President began qualifying who might actually receive the money. Libertarians know that prosperity does not come from politicians auctioning other people’s money in exchange for votes. It comes from leaving people free to keep what they earn, trade without political permission, and plan their lives without waiting for the next campaign promise. A $5,000 check funded by more borrowing or more taxes is not a dividend; it is a transfer that inflates the currency, crowds out private investment, and mortgages the future of all Americans. Voters are not shareholders in a corporation called “the United States of America, Trump Division.” They are individuals who already pay for the government’s failures. Offering them a fraction of their own confiscated wealth, conditional on handing one party continued power, is the oldest trick in democratic politics, dressed up as generosity. The Libertarian Party will continue to tell voters the unfashionable truth: no party that treats the Treasury as a campaign slush fund deserves another term of control. Real dividends come from lower taxes, fewer barriers, and a government small enough that it cannot buy elections with money it does not have. Signers (as of 9/10/26 4pm ET): Susan Hogarth, LNC Region 5 Representative Travis Bost, LNC Region 5 Alternate Olivia Hayse, LNC Region 7 Representative Keith Thompson, LNC At-large Representative Alex Flores, LNC Region 9 Representative Austin Martin, LNC Region 1 Representative Alfa Shaw, LNC Region 6 Representative Richard Longstreth, LNC At-large Representative Mimi Robson, LNC Region 5 Representative Sonja Feintech, LNC Region 1 Alternate Rose Leatherman, LNC Region 8 Alternate Michelle Wigington, LNC Region 7 Alternate Kelly Nguyen, LNC At-large Representative