I think I finally understand why Fox News pays Jesse Watters the big bucks. The network star, famous for hot takes like men shouldn’t “eat soup in public”, has an incredible talent for inserting misogyny into absolutely any news story.

Take, for example, Donald Trump’s ludicrous announcement on Wednesday night that he will give every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the US Congress in November’s midterm election. That’s a story about apparent bribery, right? A story about fiscal recklessness and empty promises. A story about how the president, whose popularity is plummeting, is so out of ideas that he’s resorted (yet again) to dangling cash in front of voters.

Actually, says Watters, it’s none of the above; it’s just Trump behaving like a woman.

“That $5,000 check, Dana, that’s not a bribe,” Watters told Fox anchor Dana Perino on Thursday. “We’re calling it an enticement … It’s like a woman. Sometimes a woman can entice you, OK? Maybe – it doesn’t mean you’re going home with her, but it keeps you interested. It keeps you intrigued and wanting more. That’s what this is about.”

Perhaps the Fox News host isn’t completely wrong. After all, I am a woman and I am about to entice you to look up the story about how Watters courted his much younger second wife. It’s very intriguing.

But back to this definitely-not-a-bribe $5,000 payment which the president calls a Trump “dividend”. I wouldn’t start spending it now, if I were you. The president, like his right-hand man Elon Musk, has a habit of making grandiose promises he doesn’t keep. Remember the Doge dividends floated last February? Those haven’t materialized. Nor have the tariff dividends that Trump made so much noise about. “People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS!” Trump said in a Truth Social post last year. “We are taking in Trillions of Dollars and … A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.” Almost a year after that........

© The Guardian