The Republican "midterm convention" that President Donald Trump demanded has been described as a celebration of his second-term accomplishments and a sales pitch for keeping his party in control of Congress.

Instead, Trump's rambling 104-minute speech on the first night of the convention in Dallas this week was a stark illustration of just how out of ideas the old showman is these days.

Which brings us to Trump's promise during his Sept. 9 speech to send every American adult a $5,000 "Trump dividend" check if Republicans retain control of the U.S. House and Senate after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

"If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them … I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000," Trump told the half-full arena, citing the $5,000 amount four more times in his speech.

Trump keeps promising to bribe Americans. He can't do that.

That's because Trump spent the first year of his second term floating promises to send Americans checks for $2,000 or $5,000 as "dividends" for his disastrous Department of Government Efficiency purges and for his trade war tariffs........

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