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DALLAS — President Donald Trump delivered the keynote speech on day one of the GOP’s inaugural midterm convention, alternating between touting his successes in office and rallying thousands of supporters for Republican candidates ahead of November’s general election before making a promise to American voters.
In a stunning move, Trump made a promise unheard of in the history of American politics — offering a cash prize should Republicans keep control of Congress.
“I can make this promise to you, and here is my promise,” he said. “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. Very much like a successful company will do a cash distribution to its shareholders.”
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President Donald Trump speaks on stage on the first day of the 2026 Republican National Convention at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, on Sept. 9, 2026. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“It will be called the ‘Trump dividend,'” he added.
Trump opened the speech by grading his own performance since taking office for a second time in January 2025, saying he’s “doing a great job.” He quickly shifted to addressing the historical challenge that incumbent parties rarely retain control of Congress in midterm elections.
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“But I say, why is it that no matter how well you’re doing, we see not a president — Democrat or Republican — almost never wins the midterms?’ said Trump. “We’ve got to change that because we have something going that’s so good we can’t let that string be broken. So I’m asking you to pretend that I’m on the ballot. I’m on the ballot, just one more time.”
During his effort to rally GOP voters to help Republicans hang onto the House and Senate, Trump made sure to give credit to Republicans on Capitol Hill for their work in passing his agenda.
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“Our Republican Congress puts thousands of dollars into the pockets of working families with the largest tax cuts in the history of our country,” he said. “So we had the largest in history. We gave you no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and no tax on Social Security for our great seniors.”
He said his administration’s efforts on critical issues will be crushed if the GOP loses majorities in either or both chambers of Congress.
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“Because if we lose, you’re going to lose your border,” he said. “You’re going to lose your tax cuts. You’re going to lose your safety and security. You’re going to lose your wealth.”
President Donald Trump greets attendees as he walks on stage on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, on Sept. 9, 2026. Trump headlined the Republican National Committee’s first-ever midterm convention as he aimed to highlight his administration’s achievements and rally support for GOP candidates ahead of the November elections. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Fox News polling shows Trump is underwater with voters on the economy, cost of living and inflation. Sixty-five percent of voters disapprove of his handling of the economy. The president also defended the military conflict in Iran, saying he has received criticism over rising gas prices tied to the conflict but arguing that “I’m right,” because Iran was one month away from securing a nuclear weapon. Inflation has risen from 2.4% to 3.4% since the war began in February, while gas prices have also increased.
Republicans who spoke to Fox News Digital on day one of the convention weren’t concerned with Trump’s economic policies.
“I believe that Trump is doing the right thing,” one RNC attendee told Fox News Digital. “The tariffs are bringing a lot of money back, you know, correcting the national debt. And that’s gonna improve everything across the board.”
“I feel like as soon as we bring this conflict in Iran to a close, we’ll start seeing the full effects of President Trump and the greatness that he’s done as far as the economy, the great thing of tariffs, and some of the products of the Trump economy in the golden age,” said Jacquez Jones of Texas.
Later, Trump shifted his sights to Texas’ high profile U.S. Senate race between Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democrat state Rep. James Talarico.
“We have to elect Ken Paxton,” he said, segueing into border security, a top issue under both Trump administrations. “Together, we’re going to continue to have — we have the strongest borders now in the history of our country.”
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HOUSTON, TEXAS – JUNE 12: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is shown during the Texas GOP convention in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston Friday, June 12, 2026. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images) ((Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images))
“We have the lowest level of illegal immigration ever recorded in our country,” he said, adding that zero illegal immigrants have entered the country through Texas in 16 months.
“And therefore zero have been admitted into Texas where they used to be running around, running rampant, killing people, destroying many houses and farms, and ruining property values and creating havoc all over the state of Texas,” he said.
During the speech, he also took aim at Democratic Senate candidates Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and former Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina.
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He also touted what he described as foreign policy wins. After the arrest of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Trump boasted about “the biggest oil deal” ever, which he said might be “the biggest deal in the history of our country.”
“65 billion barrels are ours,” Trump said. “And you know what they say it is lifetime 500 years.”
Later, Trump transitioned to slamming the GOP’s far-left opponents.
“In this election, the Democrats have nominated the most extreme and dangerous group of candidates for the House and Senate ever to seek office,” he said. “These people are radical left communists. Many of them. Not all of them, but many of them in state after state. The Democrat establishment has been overthrown and replaced by crazed lunatics and radicals. They call themselves Democrat socialists. But actually they’re communists. They’re not socialists. They’re long beyond socialists.”
Members of the Democratic Socialists of America gather outside a Trump-owned building on May Day, May 1, 2019, in New York City. (Getty Images)
He noted the DSA has proposed abolishing prisons, ICE, Border Patrol, the U.S. Senate and the presidency.
That message was one Alex Stone of Kansas City, Missouri, hoped for earlier in the day.
“Tell the truth about who they are, what they believe and what they plan on doing,” he told Fox News Digital when asked what Trump’s message to Americans should be. “Democratic Socialists of America with El-Sayed in Michigan, in particular, these people want to destroy people like myself. They want to destory people like President Trump and many of the other people here. If they get into power, what is going to happen to us?”
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The president said he’s prepared for stiff opposition from those opponents.
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“The pundits, the fake news media and the radical left communists will say anything they can to try and stop us. But in this election, all that matters is that we are united, we are together, and what we say counts.”