Not every Republican is on board with President Donald Trump’s eye-popping midterm promise. Palantir co-founder and major GOP donor Joe Lonsdale publicly broke with the president Wednesday night, blasting the proposed $5,000 payout as a cynical vote-buying scheme dressed up as economic policy.
The controversy erupted after Trump, speaking at the RNC’s midterm convention in Dallas, vowed that his administration would send a $5,000 “dividend” to every American adult if Republicans held onto control of both chambers of Congress. Vice President JD Vance later tried to frame the payout as simply a return of tariff revenue to the public.
Lonsdale, who is a Trump donor and had thrown a lavish party in Dallas that same night alongside Donald Trump Jr., wasn’t buying the spin. He posted that while he strongly supports winning the midterms and admires much of what the administration has accomplished, he is firmly opposed to what he called “bread and circus bribes.”
The pushback didn’t stop there. When one social media user shot back that Americans are entitled to the money because it’s theirs to begin with, Lonsdale doubled down with biting sarcasm, suggesting the government should just print $5 million for every citizen if that logic holds, quipping that there’s no reason the average person shouldn’t get to be rich if money can simply be conjured from nothing.
The exchange highlights a growing rift among Trump’s own allies over the wisdom of the payout, even as critics elsewhere have accused the president of dangling cash to sway voters ahead of a pivotal midterm election. Trump and his team have so far stood by the plan, framing it as a reward for economic gains rather than a political inducement.
Lonsdale’s blunt criticism adds a notable voice of dissent from within the GOP’s own donor class, even as the party rallies behind Trump’s broader midterm push in Dallas this week.
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