STORY: President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (September 9) he would pay every American adult a $5,000 "Trump dividend" if Republicans retain control of Congress in November's midterm election, an extraordinary attempt to persuade voters to back his party.

Trump made the proposal at his Republican Party's first-ever midterm convention, but it was not immediately clear how the payments would work or whether they would be legal. With approximately 270 million U.S. adults, the idea would cost around $1.35 trillion.

The focus on Trump amounts to a risky bet that he can mobilize the voters who carried him to the presidency two years ago, despite public polls showing his approval ratings have hit an all-time low. The president vowed to pay multiple visits to battleground states and districts in the eight weeks until Election Day.

"I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot," Trump said, a line that may have pleased Democratic campaign strategists just as much as MAGA voters.

The convention presented a tough choice in particular for Republicans facing difficult elections who may need to distance themselves from the president to broaden their appeal but cannot afford to alienate Trump's most committed supporters.

On Iran, Trump said the United States may hit Iran's Pickaxe Mountain, urging Tehran to be cautious.

"We notice there's a little activity at Pickaxe. I would advise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit them very hard," Trump said in a speech at the midterm Republican convention.

Pickaxe Mountain, located near Iran's heavily damaged Natanz uranium enrichment facility, is a fortified site that hosts two deeply buried tunnel complexes.

Trump has been threatening strikes on Pickaxe Mountain since at least mid-July.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: SOUNDBITES FROM U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: DALLAS, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 9, 2026) (RNC HANDOUT - Music not cleared for use, please check with the applicable collecting society or relevant rights holders in your territory regarding clearance of any sound recordings. No further use of third-party edited packages presented during live program allowed)

1. U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, WALKING ON STAGE

2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"Your vote will decide whether our country stumbles at the starting gate of the next 250 years, or surges forward and never, ever looks back."

3. TRUMP ON STAGE DURING SPEECH

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"Vote Republican and we will leave the world in our dust for generations to come. They'll be nothing like it."

5. TRUMP ON STAGE DURING SPEECH

6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"When I'm on the ticket. Republicans always do very well. We won the presidency three times and we won. By the way, now you notice numerous people on the other side are actually admitting it. How about that?"

7. TRUMP ON STAGE DURING SPEECH

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"So I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. Just one more time. Because if we lose, you're going to lose your border. You're going to lose your tax cuts. You're going to lose your safety and security. You're going to lose your wealth. Our country is going through hell. You will be going through hell just like you did just two years ago. We went through hell."

9. VARIOUS OF CONVENTION ATTENDEES

10 . (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"And here is my promise. If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our economic, tremendous economic success, like in history, we've never had anything like what's happening. But because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for 5,000 dollars. Very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders."

11. CABINET MEMBERS APPLAUDING

12 . (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"The only caveat I have is that the dividend that we're making must be spent in the United States of America.''

13. TRUMP ON STAGE DURING SPEECH

14. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"So if the Republicans win, you win with us and you get 5,000 dollars. It will be called the Trump dividend."

15. AUDIENCE AT CONVENTION

16. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"So please, I ask you this as maybe more important even than the Trump dividend. Please pretend that I'm running and get out and vote on November 3rd or sooner."

17. AUDIENCE AT CONVENTION

18. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"So I'm going to go to every one of them. About 35 (campaign events). In a couple of cases, I'll go twice and I'll do I'll do tele-town halls and I'll be coming back to Texas because we have to elect Ken Paxton (Republican nominee in the U.S. Senate). We have to."

17. TRUMP ON STAGE DURING SPEECH

18. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"There is a crazy little sick cloud over our country. I really believe it's not going anywhere, but we have to make sure because we will defeat communism in America and vote for American freedom. We will just vote very simply for American freedom."

19. TRUMP ON STAGE DURING SPEECH

20. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

"But we notice there's a little activity at Pickaxe. I would advise Iran not to get cute because we will have to hit the very hard. We have no choice, right? We have no choice."

21. AUDIENCE CHANTING "CHARLIE" IN REFERENCE TO KILLED CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST, CHARLIE KIRK

22. KIRK'S WIFE, ERIKA, DURING CHANTS

23. AUDIENCE CHANTING "CHARLIE"

24. VARIOUS OF TRUMP ON STAGE AT THE END OF SPEECH