Trump Jokes $5,000 Payment Would Cover a Burger and Small Dessert at Mar-a-Lago

President Donald Trump joked at a Texas rally on Tuesday that the $5,000 payments he has promised to American adults would buy little more than "a hamburger and maybe a small dessert" at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. The remark came one week before midterm elections in which voters' worries about affordability loom large.

Trump has pledged to give $5,000 to every adult citizen if Republicans win both the House and the Senate, and has said the money must be spent in the United States. "Go to Florida, go to any one of our great places. You can even come to Mar-a-Lago," he told the crowd. "The problem is that for $5,000, the most you'll be able to buy is a hamburger and maybe a small dessert."

He then added that he was not sure the money would even cover that. "No, don't go there," Trump said. "That's not a good place if you're price-conscious."

The cost of living has dominated the run-up to the Nov. 3 vote. In an AP-NORC poll conducted earlier this month, 84% of U.S. adults named it among the most important issues in deciding their vote, and 79% disapproved of how Trump is handling it. Polls broadly show Democrats favored in the national popular vote for the House, and competitive in several red-state Senate races that will determine control of the chamber.

Some economists have cautioned that a one-time direct payment would do little to ease pressure on household budgets and could worsen inflation at a time when many Americans already feel strained. Prices for necessities such as gasoline and groceries have been a particular source of frustration for most households.

Sending $5,000 to every adult citizen would cost roughly $1.2 trillion and would need approval from Congress.

Trump has made similar promises of cash payments before that never materialized. Less than two months before the 2020 election, he pledged that 33 million Medicare beneficiaries would receive $200 prescription-drug cards "in coming weeks," but the cards were never sent.

The president's renovation of the White House has also become a target on the campaign trail. At a rally in Ohio last week, former President Barack Obama said Trump had "got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory," adding, "there's gold everywhere."

Trump defended the redesign on Monday and blamed Obama for failing to address needed repairs. "Guys like Obama don't see it. You don't see dirt. He doesn't see filth. He doesn't see broken ornaments on a building," he said, adding that the Cheesecake Factory comparison "just shows why you were a lousy president."