Politics chat: Trump's $5,000 promise to voters, Vance invokes Charlie Kirk

Following the midterm convention in Dallas, President Trump's $5,000 campaign promise has generated attention, but not belief. And, Vice President JD Vance characterizes Democrats as extremists.

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: On his way to Ireland Friday night, President Trump talked to reporters about his two-day Republican midterm convention in Dallas. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would call it the convention, although you could call it midterm. But whether it was midterm or not - it was certainly midterm. But it was a tremendous success. It was packed. RASCOE: Fact check - it was not packed. There were a lot of empty seats. Joining me now is NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Good morning, Mara. MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning. RASCOE: Crowd size is always a fixation for this president. But for the people that did attend the convention, they were - or seemed - enthusiastic about what Trump had to say. So did this event accomplish what he hoped it would - to motivate voters? LIASSON: Right. The purpose was to boost enthusiasm among core Republican voters, the MAGA base, who polls show are less enthusiastic about turning out in this election than Democrats are. So we're going to watch the polls to see if they start changing after this convention in House and Senate races, in Trump's overall approval ratings, which are pretty low. Quinnipiac has them last week at 33%. But Donald Trump, on some level, understands this challenge. You heard it in the way he talked at the convention. He said it was packed, but then he looked up and saw the empty seats in the arena, and he said this. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) TRUMP: I got to do a little bit better in the back, right there. (LAUGHTER) TRUMP: I don't like that little skin that's showing. I'm not happy with it. (LAUGHTER) TRUMP: That's not good. I shouldn't have looked up there. RASCOE: Trump has been repeating his promise from the convention to give each American adult $5,000 if Republicans win in November. He calls it a dividend. What's been the reaction to this? LIASSON: The reaction has been surprisingly tepid, even among Republicans. Some are worried that even if Congress would approve such a payout - because the president can't give away this money himself - it would cost more than $1 trillion, adding to the already historically high national debt unless it was paid for by raising other taxes or more budget cuts. And then there's the element of whether this promise has any credibility with voters. Trump has a long list of unfulfilled promises. He was supposed to give Americans a $5,000 DOGE dividend, a $2,000 tariff rebate. And of course, he promised no more foreign wars and that inflation and high prices would come down immediately, and none of that has happened. RASCOE: For some reason, they scheduled the convention the same day of the Charlie Kirk memorial. Vice President JD Vance did talk about Kirk during his speech, saying he was a dear friend. But he spent more time casting Republicans as the party of common sense, and Democrats as the party of - well, you know, let's take a listen. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) JD VANCE: The Democrats are the party of hatred. They're the party that despises America and the people who built it. They're the party that can find sympathy for the terrorists who perpetrated 9/11. LIASSON: Yep. Well, Vance's speech was of great interest to Republicans on two different levels. Many of them are watching to see - as he lays the groundwork for his own run for the White House in 2028 - can he become the inheritor of the Trump mantle? Can he come anywhere close to that deep emotional bond with the MAGA base that Trump has? Some people have called it a cult of personality. And also, on another level, he was delivering the 2026 message. You heard it there - very negative, focused on the failings of Democrats. Vance did tick through a list of what the Trump administration has done - closing the border, rolling back taxes on tips, a drop in violent crime. But he didn't name the $5,000 promise, the check promise. And he also didn't name the one big elephant in the room, which is the war in Iran. And that's a war that's very unpopular, even among Republicans. The closest thing he got to that was when Vance invoked Charlie Kirk's hatred of war in general and then made this appeal. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) VANCE: What I'm asking you to do is do what Charlie did. Do not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Don't... (APPLAUSE) VANCE: Don't give the country over to a bunch of crazy people because you happen to disagree with us on a policy issue here or there. LIASSON: But Americans are seeing at least one big policy issue - the war in Iran - as a choice by Trump that's causing them to pay high gas prices and now record-high diesel prices. Even Trump himself has said those prices will stay high until after the midterms. And Republicans are hoping that they have some structural advantages that will help them overcome the enthusiasm that Democrats have, the higher turnout that Democrats have shown. They have more money, they have gerrymandering, and they have perhaps a drop in the use of mail-in voting. And they think that all of those things will help them avert a political disaster in the fall. RASCOE: That's NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Thank you, Mara. LIASSON: You're welcome. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: On his way to Ireland Friday night, President Trump talked to reporters about his two-day Republican midterm convention in Dallas. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would call it the convention, although you could call it midterm. But whether it was midterm or not - it was certainly midterm. But it was a tremendous success. It was packed. RASCOE: Fact check - it was not packed. There were a lot of empty seats. Joining me now is NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Good morning, Mara. MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning. RASCOE: Crowd size is always a fixation for this president. But for the people that did attend the convention, they were - or seemed - enthusiastic about what Trump had to say. So did this event accomplish what he hoped it would - to motivate voters? LIASSON: Right. The purpose was to boost enthusiasm among core Republican voters, the MAGA base, who polls show are less enthusiastic about turning out in this election than Democrats are. So we're going to watch the polls to see if they start changing after this convention in House and Senate races, in Trump's overall approval ratings, which are pretty low. Quinnipiac has them last week at 33%. But Donald Trump, on some level, understands this challenge. You heard it in the way he talked at the convention. He said it was packed, but then he looked up and saw the empty seats in the arena, and he said this. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) TRUMP: I got to do a little bit better in the back, right there. (LAUGHTER) TRUMP: I don't like that little skin that's showing. I'm not happy with it. (LAUGHTER) TRUMP: That's not good. I shouldn't have looked up there. RASCOE: Trump has been repeating his promise from the convention to give each American adult $5,000 if Republicans win in November. He calls it a dividend. What's been the reaction to this? LIASSON: The reaction has been surprisingly tepid, even among Republicans. Some are worried that even if Congress would approve such a payout - because the president can't give away this money himself - it would cost more than $1 trillion, adding to the already historically high national debt unless it was paid for by raising other taxes or more budget cuts. And then there's the element of whether this promise has any credibility with voters. Trump has a long list of unfulfilled promises. He was supposed to give Americans a $5,000 DOGE dividend, a $2,000 tariff rebate. And of course, he promised no more foreign wars and that inflation and high prices would come down immediately, and none of that has happened. RASCOE: For some reason, they scheduled the convention the same day of the Charlie Kirk memorial. Vice President JD Vance did talk about Kirk during his speech, saying he was a dear friend. But he spent more time casting Republicans as the party of common sense, and Democrats as the party of - well, you know, let's take a listen. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) JD VANCE: The Democrats are the party of hatred. They're the party that despises America and the people who built it. They're the party that can find sympathy for the terrorists who perpetrated 9/11. LIASSON: Yep. Well, Vance's speech was of great interest to Republicans on two different levels. Many of them are watching to see - as he lays the groundwork for his own run for the White House in 2028 - can he become the inheritor of the Trump mantle? Can he come anywhere close to that deep emotional bond with the MAGA base that Trump has? Some people have called it a cult of personality. And also, on another level, he was delivering the 2026 message. You heard it there - very negative, focused on the failings of Democrats. Vance did tick through a list of what the Trump administration has done - closing the border, rolling back taxes on tips, a drop in violent crime. But he didn't name the $5,000 promise, the check promise. And he also didn't name the one big elephant in the room, which is the war in Iran. And that's a war that's very unpopular, even among Republicans. The closest thing he got to that was when Vance invoked Charlie Kirk's hatred of war in general and then made this appeal. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) VANCE: What I'm asking you to do is do what Charlie did. Do not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Don't... (APPLAUSE) VANCE: Don't give the country over to a bunch of crazy people because you happen to disagree with us on a policy issue here or there. LIASSON: But Americans are seeing at least one big policy issue - the war in Iran - as a choice by Trump that's causing them to pay high gas prices and now record-high diesel prices. Even Trump himself has said those prices will stay high until after the midterms. And Republicans are hoping that they have some structural advantages that will help them overcome the enthusiasm that Democrats have, the higher turnout that Democrats have shown. They have more money, they have gerrymandering, and they have perhaps a drop in the use of mail-in voting. And they think that all of those things will help them avert a political disaster in the fall. RASCOE: That's NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Thank you, Mara. LIASSON: You're welcome. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

On his way to Ireland Friday night, President Trump talked to reporters about his two-day Republican midterm convention in Dallas. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I would call it the convention, although you could call it midterm. But whether it was midterm or not - it was certainly midterm. But it was a tremendous success. It was packed. RASCOE: Fact check - it was not packed. There were a lot of empty seats. Joining me now is NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Good morning, Mara. MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Good morning. RASCOE: Crowd size is always a fixation for this president. But for the people that did attend the convention, they were - or seemed - enthusiastic about what Trump had to say. So did this event accomplish what he hoped it would - to motivate voters? LIASSON: Right. The purpose was to boost enthusiasm among core Republican voters, the MAGA base, who polls show are less enthusiastic about turning out in this election than Democrats are. So we're going to watch the polls to see if they start changing after this convention in House and Senate races, in Trump's overall approval ratings, which are pretty low. Quinnipiac has them last week at 33%. But Donald Trump, on some level, understands this challenge. You heard it in the way he talked at the convention. He said it was packed, but then he looked up and saw the empty seats in the arena, and he said this. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) TRUMP: I got to do a little bit better in the back, right there. (LAUGHTER) TRUMP: I don't like that little skin that's showing. I'm not happy with it. (LAUGHTER) TRUMP: That's not good. I shouldn't have looked up there. RASCOE: Trump has been repeating his promise from the convention to give each American adult $5,000 if Republicans win in November. He calls it a dividend. What's been the reaction to this? LIASSON: The reaction has been surprisingly tepid, even among Republicans. Some are worried that even if Congress would approve such a payout - because the president can't give away this money himself - it would cost more than $1 trillion, adding to the already historically high national debt unless it was paid for by raising other taxes or more budget cuts. And then there's the element of whether this promise has any credibility with voters. Trump has a long list of unfulfilled promises. He was supposed to give Americans a $5,000 DOGE dividend, a $2,000 tariff rebate. And of course, he promised no more foreign wars and that inflation and high prices would come down immediately, and none of that has happened. RASCOE: For some reason, they scheduled the convention the same day of the Charlie Kirk memorial. Vice President JD Vance did talk about Kirk during his speech, saying he was a dear friend. But he spent more time casting Republicans as the party of common sense, and Democrats as the party of - well, you know, let's take a listen. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) JD VANCE: The Democrats are the party of hatred. They're the party that despises America and the people who built it. They're the party that can find sympathy for the terrorists who perpetrated 9/11. LIASSON: Yep. Well, Vance's speech was of great interest to Republicans on two different levels. Many of them are watching to see - as he lays the groundwork for his own run for the White House in 2028 - can he become the inheritor of the Trump mantle? Can he come anywhere close to that deep emotional bond with th