President Donald Trump used a nearly two-hour keynote Wednesday night at the Republican Party’s first midterm convention in Dallas to pledge a return trip for Attorney General Ken Paxton, promise $5,000 payments if Republicans hold Congress, and take a swipe at the Mavericks’ Luka Dončić trade.
Speaking at American Airlines Center, Trump told the crowd he would come back to Texas to campaign for Paxton in the U.S. Senate race against state Rep. James Talarico. “I’ll be coming back to Texas, because we have to elect Ken Paxton,” he said, according to The Texas Tribune. He added he would return “twice or three times” if needed, CNN reported.
Trump joked about Paxton’s clothes, voice and looks, then called him “maybe the top attorney general in the whole United States” and said he “deserves to be your next senator,” according to CNN and the Associated Press.
The president also floated what he called a “Trump dividend.” Fox News quoted him saying that if Republicans win the House and Senate, “I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.” He compared it to a company paying shareholders and said the money would have to be spent in the United States. He offered no funding plan. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported the idea would cost about $1.35 trillion.
Trump asked voters to “pretend that I’m on the ballot,” warning that a Democratic win would cost the border, tax cuts and security, The Hill reported. The winding speech also touched the economy, immigration, voter ID, healthcare, Venezuelan oil and the war in Iran, according to The Dallas Morning News and the AP.
Inside the Mavericks’ arena, he said he did not understand Dallas trading Dončić to the Lakers. “It might go down as the worst trade in the history of sports,” he said, before noting Babe Ruth’s sale still ranks worse, The Dallas Morning News reported.
The Dallas Morning News said Trump wrapped about 9:56 p.m. as the crowd chanted along to “YMCA.” Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to headline Thursday, with Trump returning for closing remarks.
Democrats held events across town. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called the gathering “bizarre” and said it could not paper over Republicans’ record, Spectrum News reported. Talarico ran a food drive and contrasted it with what he called a donor celebration.
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