U.S. media on the 11th noted that claims not in line with the facts were made one after another at the Republican Party's "midterm election convention," held over two days in Dallas, Texas.
The most watched remark was U.S. President Donald Trump's pledge to pay "$5,000 per adult (about 6.7 million won)." On the first and second days of the convention, the 9th and 10th, President Trump said that if Republicans keep their majorities in both the House and Senate in the midterms, he would pay what he called the "Trump dividends."
President Trump cited federal tariff revenue as the main funding source for the dividends. To pay $5,000 per adult would require about $1.2 trillion. But tariff revenue for 2026 is about $210 billion, enough to pay U.S. adults about $857 per person at most.
In addition, the Bipartisan Policy Center analyzed that after the Supreme Court ruled reciprocal tariff measures unlawful in February, more than half of tariff revenue was refunded to corporations.
There was also pushback against President Trump's claim that paying the dividends would not need congressional approval. Constitutional law scholar Professor Zachary Price told CBS, "The Constitution provides that the Treasury may spend funds only when Congress enacts a law appropriating that expenditure, namely an appropriations act."
Last year, President Trump also said he would "pay 20% of the savings from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)" to U.S. citizens, but it ultimately fell through. His promise to distribute $2,000 per person from tariff revenue to everyone except high earners also was not kept.
President Trump also claimed that $21 trillion to $22 trillion was flowing into the United States through tariff policy. He appeared to be referring to foreign corporations' and countries' investment pledges in the United States, but CNN noted that such investment funds cannot be used as a source for dividends and that the scale itself was greatly inflated.
Even on the White House website, the size of the "major investment announcements" during President Trump's current term is $11.2 trillion. CNN said the figure presented by the White House was also exaggerated compared to reality.
Immigration-related remarks also proved to be inflated. President Trump said the Joe Biden administration allowed "25 million" people to come into the United States, and that if Democrats win the election they will give "25 million undocumented foreigners the right to vote and welfare benefits."
However, even groups that support hard-line immigration policies estimate that the total number of undocumented immigrants in the United States is far short of not only 25 million but also 20 million.
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance blamed the Biden administration for rising prices and said inflation at the time was at a "record high."
In fact, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic under the Biden administration, the inflation rate in June 2022 surged to 9.1%. It was not a record high, however, but the highest in about 40 years. It later fell to 2.9% in December 2024, the last month of the Biden administration.