Trump promises £1,900,000,000 in ‘warrior dividend’ to all US troops before Christmas

Have you seen that meme of Oprah Winfrey – arms wide open – shouting ‘You get a car, you get a car… Everybody gets a car’?

That was the energy on display as Donald Trump rolled out what he called ‘warrior dividends’ for 1.45 million American troops.

In a televised 18-minute address to the nation on Wednesday night, the US president said that the ‘checks are already on the way’ and should arrive in time for Christmas.

‘Military service members will receive a special … warrior dividend before Christmas,’ he announced at a time when the US appears on the cusp of launching a full-scale war on Venezuela.

‘A warrior dividend in honour of our nation’s founding, we are sending every soldier $1,776. And the checks are already on the way.’

This comes as polls show that many Americans are unhappy about the cost of housing, childcare and healthcare.

It is not immediately clear where Trump is getting the legal authority to be sending out these checks, without prior approval from Congress.

Partly funded by his tariffs and partly by the GOP tax bill – also referred to as the ‘One big beautiful bill’ as hailed by the politician – this initiative totals to £1.9 billion ($2.57 billion).

But many of his sweeping tariffs could be quashed by the Supreme Court after it signaled skepticism last month about his legal justification.

Trump said: ‘We made a lot more money than anybody thought because of tariffs, and the Bill helped us along.

‘Nobody deserves it more than our military, and I say congratulations to everybody.’

The president used his 18 minutes to tout many of his key policies and to tell Americans that the price of everything – from Thanksgiving turkeys to utility bills – have declined since he took office.

Much of his speech was also spent on blaming Joe Biden and Democrats for the economic mess he inherited.

‘We are doing what nobody thought was even possible, not even remotely possible,’ he warned, angrily squinting at the teleprompter. 

‘There has never, frankly, been anything like it. One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead.

‘Our country was ready to fail. Totally failed. Now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world.’

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