Up next in 10
Trump just offered to pay every American $5,000 if he wins the midterms.
With approximately 270 million US adults, the idea would cost around $1.35 trillion.
But it was not clear whether his campaign-style speech would appeal to the critical swing voters who opinion polls show have drifted away from Trump's party, amid growing dissatisfaction with the cost of living and the war on Iran.
"We hand America's future to the radical left Democrats, and our nation will spend the next decade just getting back on its feet," he said.
"Vote Republicans and we will leave the world in our dust for generations to come."
00:00 | Andrew Marr: 'This is blatant and offensive'
03:52 | John Bolton, Trump's former adviser reacts
08:26 | Inside the Dallas convention with Freddie Hayward
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
#andrewmarr #johnbolton #donaldtrump #uspolitics #dallas #republicans #usnews #midterms #lbc
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0:00
There has been nothing remotely like this in the modern history of Western Democratic elections
0:08
Overnight, Donald Trump promised that if the Republicans win November's elections for the Senate and the House of Representatives
0:17
he will give every adult American $5,000. Come on, Andrew Marr, you're exaggerating
0:26
Oh, no, I'm not. So if the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump dividend. We'll call it the Trump dividend
0:38
In ordinary language, you'd call that a bribe, a bung, payola, grease money, a wee divvy
0:50
And in ordinary times, I guess, you'd assume it would be illegal
0:56
Certainly not something a leading politician would proclaim in public. But these aren't ordinary times
1:03
And by the way, it might work. Whatever, this extraordinary moment deserves to be unpicked
1:11
The President's argument was that the US economy under him was doing so well
1:15
that every American deserved a slice of the pie. He likened his offer to a corporate dividend
1:23
The truth is, a wonder of innovation and energy, although it undoubtedly is
1:29
the American economy isn't booming. It's growing at around 2.4% this year, much better than us, but hardly historic
1:39
At the same time, the pie is being divided in a grossly unequal way
1:45
The top 1% of American households have almost as much wealth as the entire bottom 90%
1:53
But that's the point. If you're an ordinary American voter, you're perfectly well able to see that Trump is trying to buy your vote
2:02
And perhaps you're offended or outraged. But then perhaps you think, on the other hand, times is hard and five grand is five grand and I could really do with that
2:16
As I say, it might work. If you're not bothered about voting, it's quite an inducement to do so
2:23
Perhaps in the end this will be ruled illegal, and no perhaps about this, it is an act of desperation
2:32
Because of the economic impact of the Iran war and of his trade war with Canada, Trump isn't Captain Popular right now
2:41
His ratings have fallen dramatically, and if he loses control of both the House of Representatives, likely, and the Senate, a bit less likely
2:50
he has said himself he could be impeached. And for sure, his plans to enrich himself and his family even further
2:59
during the last part of his presidency would be heavily curbed. So you can see why he might want to bribe voters still unsure about which way to go
3:09
in places like Texas and Alaska and Michigan. One other thing we should consider
3:15
Isn't promising voters a better standard of living, or tax cuts or many of the other things that politicians promise in elections as much of a bribe as this Is it just the blatant bare openly transactional nature of this offer like something out of a Hogarth satire that is so offensive
3:37
Whatever your answer to that, Donald Trump has just driven a tank over one of the universally
3:43
agreed red lines in modern democracy, and we know that what begins in American politics
3:49
does tend to come here sooner or later. So how is this going to go down in the Republican Party
3:55
and across American politics more generally? Let's hear now from Ambassador John Bolton
4:01
one-time ally, now opponent of President Trump, but himself, a lifelong conservative Republican
4:07
Ambassador, great to have you on the show. Can I start by asking, so far as you're aware
4:12
is this actually illegal under American electoral law? Well, I would think it would be
4:18
Normally, when you say, hey, if you vote for me, I'll give you $5,000, that sounds a lot
4:22
like a bribe. Now, Trump's an equal opportunity briber, so as long as he gets a majority in the House
4:28
according to what he said, he'll give $5,000 to everybody. With a rough math calculation, that's a little bit over a trillion dollars
4:37
We have a $40 trillion deficit or national debt already, a $2 trillion deficit this year
4:43
another trillion here or there. What could it matter? But it really is revealing about Trump. And I think it's important for
4:51
everybody to understand this. He has no philosophy. Everything is transactional. And this is just as
4:57
plainly transactional as it gets. You vote me a majority, $5,000, straight up
5:03
Was I right, do you think, in saying this is also a sign of desperation, however
5:08
that if he loses both houses, he's genuinely worried about what happens to the second half
5:12
of this presidency? Well, I think it is being read as a sign of desperation among commentators
5:19
in the United States. I think he knows he's in trouble. He knows that if the Democrats take
5:23
control of even one House of Congress, and they almost certainly will win the House of Representatives
5:28
he's going to have a miserable last two years in office. And I'll just say as a footnote
5:33
one thing he also said in this hour and 45-minute speech last night was for his supporters to vote
5:41
as if his name is on the ballot, to bring them out to vote for congressional candidates they
5:46
might not otherwise care about. And he said, do it one last time, which is a small tip
5:52
That's a very interesting point. He might well not stand again, despite everything you've been
5:56
saying. As I said, you have been a lifelong conservative Republican of a more mainstream
6:01
time. What do you think this kind of thing goes down in the Republican Party? How are people
6:05
reacting? Well, they should react negatively to it. Look, Republicans and conservatives for 50
6:12
years, really longer than that, since the end of the Roosevelt administration, have attacked
6:18
Democrats and their policies, as in the words the Democrats themselves used, tax, tax, tax
6:25
spend, spend, spend, elect, elect, elect. You know, I'll give you more welfare programs. I'll
6:31
raise the minimum wage. I'll create Medicare. I'll create Medicaid. You know, it's not quite
6:36
as blatant bribery, but it's the Roman problem of bread and circuses. Trump has dispensed with
6:42
all this formality about humanitarian concerns and all of that stuff. He's just making a straight
6:48
out quid pro quo pitch But a lot of that is a problem of leadership in a democratic society that if people think they can get stuff for free they take it
6:59
I mentioned that he said himself that if he lost both houses, he might be impeached. I think that
7:04
was way back in January. Very strange to hear him say so in public. Do you think he's got a point
7:09
Do you think he could be impeached? Well, I think it's guaranteed if
7:13
Democrats take the House, he will be impeached on something. The only question is how many times
7:18
and for what offenses. Now, even if the Democrats gain a majority in the Senate
7:23
the Constitution requires two-thirds of the Senate to convict an impeachment sent over from the House
7:29
I don't see that there, but I do think Senate control by Democrats would lead to a very different
7:35
kind of impeachment trial in the Senate than he had twice before, not two- or three-day trials
7:40
but two- or three-week trials. Miserable stuff for him. And just going back to what you picked
7:45
up that little slip of the tongue, perhaps, about this being his last hurrah
7:50
Do you think he has now finally decided not to try somehow or other to stand again
7:56
I think not finally, because no decision, as we used to say, no decision with Trump is
8:01
final until it's final, and then sometimes it's still not final. But I think deep inside, he knows he can't do it
8:08
And the thing that will keep him from trying, ultimately, is fear of failure and fear of
8:13
ending his time in politics as a loser. So I think he would rather not have that happen
8:18
That's ultimately why he won't go for it. Ambassador Bolton, thank you very, very much for talking to LBC tonight
8:26
And now let's go to a journalist who's at the Dallas Republican Convention
8:30
where President Trump made that offer. Freddie Hayward of The New Statesman
8:34
Freddie, great to have you back on the show. You were there, and this offer came after lots of speeches
8:39
is describing the Democrats as communists, subversive, dangerous to America. Was there an air of desperation about it, do you think
8:48
I think there's an air of desperation in the entire conference. People are looking at the polls and they're realising that the races that they're facing
8:57
in their districts and their states are not going to look very well
9:01
Trump says, imagine that I'm on the ballot. I think most of the candidates across the country, the Republican candidates
9:06
We'll be hoping that voters recognize that he isn't on the ballot because actually he's a massive liability for many of them
9:14
He is this anchor that is weighing down the Republican Party and it's trying to figure a way of separating itself from the president
9:22
This is phenomenal because it's new and novel and Trump used to have such a grip on the minds of voters
9:29
He used to be someone that was able to swing primaries to decide who will get elected
9:35
Now he is this rock that's dragging many of them down. They're trying to speak about him
9:41
Do you think it is possible, as I was suggesting earlier on, however, that this bribe might work
9:48
I mean, potentially. It was a very small part of the speech, actually
9:53
I mean, this was an extremely long, almost two-hour diatribe of all the greatest hits
9:58
It felt last night that Trump is on his final rock star tour
10:04
We've been listening to this for 10 years now. It felt delusional
10:08
There was one point where he devoted it must have been five, 10 minutes to the fact that the stadium was full
10:14
Bearing in mind he was stood there opposite a bunch of empty seats thousands of empty seats We were all sat there looking around as Trump was saying it was full And he was trying to ask us to share in this collective delusion I mean it remarkable
10:27
that that's the state of where Republican politics is right now. At one level, I'm afraid it's very
10:32
funny. Mildly, mildly cult-like, much more so than it has done at some of the previous rallies I've
10:38
been to. And Freddie, I've been told that because the Canadians decided to launch their tariffs
10:46
ahead of the midterms, apparently something Trump wasn't necessarily expecting, and the effect of
10:51
that trade war on those northern states in particular. The Republicans have a strong
10:56
chance of losing a lot of those states that they were banking on. Yeah, I mean, there's some really
11:02
interesting tight races. The key one is in Michigan between Abdullah al-Sayed and Mike Rogers. That's
11:07
the one to watch because that will determine the momentum coming into January when the new
11:12
Congress convenes. But again, Trump is, he's not an asset here. And whether it's the trade war with
11:20
Canada or the war being fought in the Persian Gulf that even he doesn't seem that interested in
11:25
he is taking the Republicans down a route that many of them don't want to be in. Now
11:30
tonight, Andrew, we have J.D. Vance speaking. He's the keynote speaker. And Trump said that
11:35
he's going to come on stage afterwards to give a farewell or goodbye. It'd be interesting to see
11:41
how Trump reacts having listened to J.D. Vance, because this could be a key moment in a story
11:47
about who's going to succeed Trump himself and where the MAGA party goes in the next two years
11:53
And, Freddie, is it your instinct that it's going to be J.D. Vance rather than Marco Rubio
11:58
I think so. I mean, that's some of the reporting we've heard coming out in the past few weeks
12:03
It seems that the emphasis is with him. I don't think Rubio is actually at this convention. He's
12:07
down in Latin America right now. But yeah, the emphasis is around J.D. Vance. He's been doing a
12:13
lot of fundraising here in Dallas. He seems to have the momentum. The big question always for J.D
12:19
is how he's able to separate himself from a very popular administration and whether he can actually
12:26
win in 28. You know, never mind getting the nomination, but can he be whoever the Democrats
12:31
Sure, sure. Just while I've got you here, Freddie, everybody here obviously has been waiting to see the reaction to Ed Miliband's announcement on the West Bank settlements, some kind of nuclear explosion rhetorically from the White House
12:48
It hasn't come. What's been the reaction overall in the States to this
12:52
pretty muted i think i've been speaking to lots of british diplomats in dc this week and i think
12:59
they're quite elated actually at uh the fact that the minute the trump administration hasn't come
13:03
out and criticized the british government as some expected the key here is that trump and netanyahu
13:09
don't seem to be getting on as well as uh they have in the past there does seem to be uh some
13:15
skepticism in that relationship and also the broader context here is that israel is an extremely
13:21
unpopular country in the Republican Party as it is in the Democratic Party. So actually, I think
13:27
that Miliband is building on this scepticism. And we haven't seen that explosion, as you say
13:35
as some expected. So, I mean, it's a good thing for the British government and the British
13:41
diplomatic corps are claiming it as a success. Freddie, thank you very, very much for that
13:45
Interesting, more than interesting, as ever. Thanks so much
#news