Did Trump just try to bribe American voters?

0:00This is a global production. I don't understand much about democracy, but broadly speaking, I don't think you're allowed to bribe people. Vote for the Republicans. Get them reelected, and I'll give you five grand each. It's a bit like an old man with a sweetie covered in lint, going up to a small child and saying, would you like a sweetie? That will cost one trillion dollars. And here is my promise. 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. APPLAUSE

1:02Well, there's nothing or dinethical or wrong about that, is there? Vote for me. Get the Republicans returned, and I'll give you $5,000. It's definitely not constitutional. It's definitely not legal. But could it work anyway to help them get across the midterms? Welcome to the news agents. MUSIC The news agents. It's John. It's Mayless. And, um, well, what do you start? I mean, I think I'm right in saying, I don't understand much about democracy, but broadly speaking, I don't think you're allowed to bribe people. I'm not sure how many people heard Donald Trump say that live, because his speech went on for nearly two hours, and so you would have to have some endurance and kind of indefaticability to be able to last a whole Trump's speech at a rally or a convention, whatever it was, in Dallas last night. But in the course of which, he did say more or less in terms,

2:05vote for the Republicans, get them reelected, and I'll give you five grand each. Yeah, let us put this in context. So there is never normally a midterm convention. That isn't a thing. It doesn't exist. This time, Trump has decided that he needs to be on the ballot, even though he isn't. So he's turning up in Dallas, where there is a very fierce senatorial race going on. And he's tried to get all his Republican friends and those who are contesting the midterm elections to come along. And none of them really want to be there. So in their absence, he's basically had to go on stage and make all the speeches himself. And I think one sign of desperation came a couple of days ago when he was offering people free seats, free tickets to his convention. You know, his little text, if you get a text on your phone, you can turn up free to my convention. And the second bombshell came last night

3:05when in the middle of this one hour, 40 speech, he suddenly offered to give every adult $5,000 if he wins the midterm. So let's just pull that apart for a moment. What does it mean to win the midterms? Obviously he's not on the ballots. It's not about, you know, re-electing him as President or anything else. He's saying if the Republicans can maintain the House and the Senate, the two House of Congress, then that is a win. And he will give everyone $5,000. Who's $5,000? Like, is he giving? Emily, you're just being pedantic now. Who's $5,000? Is he giving, is that taxpayer money? Yeah. Is that more debt? Yeah. Not more than 40 trillion? Is it, do we know where this comes from? No. It's not going to happen. So we can all kind of calm down about the fact that the money is definitely not going to change hands. We know that because he's already done this before. Do you remember when he was talking about Doge,

4:06you know, clearing out all the sort of bureaucracy from government and he said, oh, I'll give everyone $5,000 as a benefit then. So it's a bit like an old man with a sweetie covered in lint going up to a small child and saying, you know, here you are, would you like us to be together in lint? It's not actually going to lead, I don't think, to the right place at all. But if people hear it and if people associate Trump with becoming richer, does it work on a subliminal level anyway? Well, that's the interesting bit. Let's deal with the actual mechanics of what he says. And the practicalities surrounding it. And take that seriously for a minute. That he is saying, I will give every American adult $5,000. And you just need to ring up the cash machine sound effect there and say, that will cost $1 trillion. That is at a time when the reason that American government borrowing is so expensive for the US government, is because investors look at the American administration

5:09and think you are too saddled with debt. So what's the answer? You saddle America with another billion dollars of debt. One with three... One with three... ...on a free giveaway. So that's what that's the first thing to say. The second thing to say is, Donald Trump, the president, the head of the executive branch, does not control the budget. Congress controls the budget. It would have to be voted on by congressional leaders, by the whole Congress, the House of Representatives, and the Senate to pass this. And there is not a catch chance in hell. They are going to pass it. Then you would have the legal challenges that would come from it. Because if it walks like a bribe and quacks like a bribe, it's a bribe. And there is no way that constitutionally this could ever pass muster. So you're absolutely right, Emily, to go kind of say, for fuck's sake, this is just not real, is it? I mean, it's not going to happen. No one's going to be $5,000 richer if the Republicans keep control of the Senate and the House.

6:13But the politics question is an interesting one. Look, it shows Donald Trump's profound weakness right now, that he is having to offer this. Because if he thought the Republican Party had a good offering and things were looking bright for the midterm elections, he'd be saying, you know, look at what we've done. And the fact of the matter is it's just dissonance. I think the problem is, I think you're right, it might have a subliminal effect. The dissonance is, the Americans are not feeling that the economy has never been greater. The cost of living has gone up as a result of the Iran War, as a result of the tariffs, and Donald Trump is paying a heavy political price. Because of that, the cost of filling up your car with petrol has gone up massively in America. $4.15 a gallon, I think it is now, against under $3 a year ago. And so Donald Trump is really suffering as a result of this. And so I just don't think the Americans are going to listen to that and say, oh, wow. I don't know. I think when people are desperate, they hear what they want to hear.

7:14And there will be a muscle memory that takes you back to the pandemic when there were stimulus payments. Do you remember they were sort of sending out checks of, I think, $1,000, $1,200 during the pandemic? They had income caps. But I know I remember American friends of mine saying, what on earth have I just got this check for? This is ridiculous. You know, this should not be coming to me, but it was sent out. So there will be people who remember that. There will be people who remember that he gave out payments, the military of, of course, $17.76. There will be people who see that he tried to set up this, you know, this slush fund essentially for the kind of ex-convicts to fight their sort of legal battles. This is his default button. His default button is basically bribery, but it is dressed up as a bit like a sort of Saudi king. You know, they sort of hand out these decrees. I'll give you a bit of cash back in your pocket because it's more money in the UK when the software would do that.

8:17Exactly. It's what monarchs do. It's what emperors do. It's what kings do. It's what people who think that the population is beholden on them to bestow the wealth of the country. Well, it's when a monarch thinks the population is turning against them that you decide to make. And Donald Trump is clearly aware that the nation is turning against him. And look at, if he pulls on incredibly low. Yeah. If you look at his approval ratings, or maybe that should be his disapproval ratings, you know, the vast majority of Americans disapprove of what Donald Trump sure he's got a base that thinks he's fabulous. And there were people cheering in the hall there. But Scott Besson, the Treasury Secretary, is not thinking, wow, that's a great idea. He's thinking, oh my God, that's one of most ridiculous things I've ever heard. Look, it's suddenly dawned on Trump. And if you want to hear more about this particular convention, I suggest that you listen to our US episode this week, the news agent's USA, where we have Mars Taylor on the ground in Dallas, talking us through exactly what is going on there. But if you want to understand more about this, this is Trump's way, as I said at the beginning,

9:21of trying to put himself on the ballot, he fears, and he might be correct, that when the Trump name is not on the ballot, nobody goes out to vote for a public and ticket. And if nobody goes out to vote for a public and ticket, then essentially they will start losing the House of Congress. They will start losing the House of Representatives, and they will start losing the Senate. And so it is important to understand that Trump thinks his name is the thing that is going to say, that is going to seal the deal for voters. Just have a listen. So I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. Just one more time. And essentially what he's doing is he's, I think, depending on the kind of voter that frankly doesn't listen to all the politics involved, certainly doesn't tune into the podcast, doesn't really want to think about opinion polls or any of the ideology behind what is going on.

10:24If you see somebody standing up and saying, I'll give you five grand if you vote for me. Even if people think it's never going to happen, maybe they just like the idea, maybe it becomes a kind of election pledge or a bit of a promise or an attractive offering. And that's how this works. Time and again, he's kind of, he's broken us. You know, he's broken the systems of government, of democracy, of media, by doing something that no one thought would work. And yet it fucking does. Well, we shall see. I still think that this is a council of despair. I think it shows political weakness that you have to do this. I also think that, you know, the fact of the matter is that a lot of Republican candidates who are fighting closely fought congressional districts or Senate seats are staying away from this rally in Dallas because they think that Donald Trump is a liability and that they want to take his name off the ballot. And you know, Americans, when they vote in a presidential election, give this huge long ballot paper and at the top of the ballot is your vote for president.

11:30And then it's the vote for the senator and then it's the vote for the governor and then it's the vote for the House of Representatives. So Donald Trump's name literally is not on the ballot this time round. And he's saying, well, pretend I am going to be there. But you see, what Donald Trump will do is if the Americans don't vote for him, which opinion polls suggest that they're not going to in November. Then he'll say, I was because my name wasn't on the ballot. You see, you can't win unless I'm there in person. And I think there's a part of Donald Trump that wants the Republicans to do badly in the midterm elections. And I know this is kind of, you know, psycho Babel from John Soaple here. But I think that he is hoping that they do badly because then he can go round to his party and say, you see, you can't win without me. But I think there's ego and then there's reality. He'd love the idea that they do badly without him, but he wouldn't like to lose Congress because if that happens, then his next two years become miserable and the Democrats tie him in knots and probably, I don't know, in peach or more, you know, basically make life very difficult for him because they control the levers of power.

12:37They stop anything he wants to do getting through. They stop his budget getting through. They presumably stop any more funding for, you know, the Iran war getting through and and they can basically, yeah, they can make his life house. So I don't really believe that he's sitting there wanting to lose both houses. Otherwise, frankly, he wouldn't be at a convention in Dallas. But it is quite interesting that he is so dominant in this convention where many other Republicans are saying, I would do better off if I'm away from Donald Trump. The one person who has turned up, we should say, is the Pennsylvania Senator, Democratic Senator John Fetteman, who has been, let's say, raising eyebrows with his own party for quite a while because they think he's gone on to the the magazine, the dark side. And although he wasn't there in person, he was there in spirit and he sent in this video message. Republicans in Dallas, yes, I'm Senator John Fetteman, Pennsylvania. Yes, I'm a Democrat. Why am I here talking to you today? Because, well, I'm a common sense Democrat. I'm always going to stand with America. I'm always going to reject the extremes and socialism and that anti-American way of life.

13:49Dave McCormick is the kind of Senator that gets the job done and he's going to fight for Pennsylvania. I'm proud to count him as my friend. Right back over my shoulder, that's the iconic US Steel Mill. And that's exactly the kind of thing that we work together and we work with President Trump to fight and defend the steel way of life right here in the Steel Valley. Why it's important is that when he first won his election as Senator, a lot of the Democrats thought he's the future of the party. He's what Democrats have to look like. He's kind of got a tattoo and he's a bit more rough and ready and he doesn't look buttoned up and sort of part of the sort of governing liberal elite. And now they're finding out that this guy that they vote in as a Democrat is kind of more mega than half of mega is right. Just imagine that in the British contest. The LA Brampy during the Tory party conference just ahead of a general election sends in a video and says why I'm supporting the Tory candidate in this particular election.

14:56I think the local the think the chief whip of either party would have them kicked out within a second, but of course there isn't that whipping system in America. And so Fettiman is free to do what he pleases and if we'll have pissed off an awful lot of his democratic party colleagues in the process. Emily, I want to come back to something you said a moment ago about what happened with Donald Trump handing out cash during COVID. Donald Trump lost the election because of COVID until COVID struck in America. Donald Trump was riding high. The economy was doing well and he seemed an absolute shoe in to win re-election in 2020. And I think that as a result of the chaos that was brought not just by handouts and face masks and vaccines and everything. It's just that people had had enough of the noise and the chaos that comes with the Trump administration. And I think there is an element of that right now in the United States that so yeah, the $5,000 bribe sounds attractive.

16:00Is it going to shift many votes? Is it going to shift the calculus in a lot of swing districts? I'm not convinced. I think it speaks to the fact that Donald Trump is kind of there is chaos that comes when he is in charge. Yes, but a lot of chaos as well. And I think that is what a lot of Americans are turning their back on. We'll be back in a moment talking about the curious translation from French to English of what Jordan Bardella and Nigel Farage promised at the Reform Party conference. The United Kingdom will intercept votes which have launched from French shores and entered British territorial waters and will return the persons on board to France.

17:05It was so eye catching it was the bit of the reform conference where you thought well, that's quite impressive to have this memorandum of understanding signed between Jordan Bardella who would be fri minister of France next year after the French presidential elections. And Nigel Farage who theoretically could be the next British prime minister that they have got an agreement where France will take back all the illegal immigrants who tried to cross the channel in small boats and the French will deal with them on their side of the board. And I thought well, that's a pretty impressive thing to have got done. Yeah, I mean, it was almost like the anti-Winzer framework. Was it instead of sort of macro and Rishi Sienaq trying to get things done after Brexit, it was Bardella and Farage saying right, we're both united in hating immigrants equally. The trouble was the document this memorandum of understanding as you call it were presented side by side in English and in French.

18:13And what they appeared to suggest was that if Farage and Bardella both became respective prime ministers of their respective countries, the UK would intercept votes, launch from the French coast, France would return people on board to their countries of origin. In other words, it was a handshake. This is what will happen. But, but but but. Ilya and problem. We, for those who were looking carefully, the English text carried an extra little phrase saying France will ordinarily accept these persons who would then be returned to their home country, which appeared to show that Bardella was promising to accept returned people in France, which of course contradicts this long-held position of the rest of the country. The national rally party. The national rally party. Maria Le Penz party. And which is all about being anti-mute. They don't want to start being on the receiving end of our immigrants. They don't want to sort of feel that I mean this is how the French press are commenting now. They're saying France doesn't want to be a dormat.

19:19What is a dormat in French? And Bianca, a mat of welcome for the sort of English immigrants. And so this is actually created two schisms, one between Farage and Bardella now because he doesn't know what he's sort of got himself into because there was all this kind of shenanigans with the English phrasing. And the other is between Marie Le Pen, who is basically the mentor to Bardella, Bardella's only 30 years old, and they're attempting to go in on this joint ticket, President and Prime Minister of France and the elections next year in 2027. But Marie Le Pen is furious that he's just signed this off. She doesn't know what the hell he's doing. Yeah, there's a doorstep of Marie Le Pen when she's coming out of some building and about to get into a car. And I will play it to you. I mean it's in French, but we can do the translation on the other side. We were supposed to ask you a question this afternoon. What did you think of the student student, Jordan Bardella and Edelparde?

20:19A little bit of a question on this one. I would say when I decided to do it. That's right. Not now. So the reporter says, what's your view then of the Nigel Farage Jordan Bardella agreement? She says, I'll tell you when I'm ready. I'll tell you when I'm ready. Well, what about telling us now? She says, I'm not ready now. And now if she wanted to welcome it and say it's marvelous, I want a great deal. This is being between the reform party and the Rassomblum on National. I think she'd have said it. I think that you've got the Rassomblum on National thinking, what the hell have the British done with the translation of this that puts in something that we didn't agree to? And what a mess now. Farage, I think on Friday was really pissed off that this deal wasn't getting the attention. It might have done it. Oh, yeah, because of the Channel 4 investigation. The scoop, exactly. Yeah, maybe it's now relieved that it's becoming. I mean, this is not a good day. Basically, as Thursday rolls around,

21:19he's now facing a police investigation into the whole question of money that may have been offered. And the question of the polling. As for Beethoven, Channel 4 revealed on Thursday night. So the week has been dominated by that on one side and on the other side by this idea that his bestie, Bardella, is now on the shift. And actually what has happened is that many of the other presidential candidates in France are now using this to say, oh, do you see this guy? You see the, you know, the Fondas, you know, these guys that you thought were going to be really tough on immigrants. They're not, they're just, they're going to do for Argersworth for him. So you've got Gabrielle Attal, who's the former centrist prime minister. You've got Rafael Glutman, who is another would be presidential candidate. They're all going, all right, is this, is this what you voted for? Is that what you want to happen in immigration in France? Like, sorry, we didn't realize that you were happy to take all the, or do all the, the bridge stirs you work for them. Sorry, is that what you want?

22:19Let's pull this down simply. Nigel Farage is now and his party is now under police investigation. That has been confirmed by the Metropolitan Police. There is also an electoral commission inquiry going on into the reform party over the channel for film. At the same time, you have got the flagship policy that comes out of the reform conference last week, coming apart in his hands. And the Rassomblem on National now wanting to put as much distance as they can between this blooming Memorandum of understanding, even though Farage thought it was the best thing since sliced bread last week. Yeah, I mean, technically he could have lost not just the UK election on this, but the French election for the far right too. It's quite a week to work that. Well done. You've had a very, very good week. We'll be back in just a moment.

23:24I'm not asking politely for the mayor not to come to 9-11 to that ceremony. I am asking, I am demanding that he not show his face at that sacred ground. He does not belong there. That is a New York City Councilwoman, Vicki Paladino, a Republican, saying that tomorrow, when it is the 25th anniversary of 9-11, the mayor, Zora Mamdani, should not be allowed to attend. Why? Well, because he's a Muslim. Yeah, she's not the only one. You'll remember the former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, the man who was mayor when the attacks happened, has said it offends him. It offends him that Zora Mamdani will be attending the commemoration ceremony. And I think it is worth looking into what is going on here, because the attack that was perpetrated by Islamists,

24:30by terrorists, by suicide bombers into those towers, into America, was seen at the time as the darkest thing that had ever happened on home soil to America. And what we knew came afterwards was a sense that Islamism was vilified, was loathed, but Islam, but Muslims were not. And yet 25 years on, you have got somebody who was this key figure, this absolute key figure in New York's history, saying we don't want Mamdani there because he's Muslim. And isn't it a sign of the progress that has been made? And look, there was a huge amount of suspicion about not just Islamism, but about Islam as well in the wake of 9-11. And it was striking that George W. Bush immediately after the attacks went to a mosque.

25:30As if to say, our argument is not with the religion, our argument is with the terrorists who perpetrated this particular attack. And so to have Zora Mamdani as the mayor of New York, newly elected by New Yorkers, some Muslim, mostly not, is a sign that this is a country that has made peace with what happened 25 years ago. And this was Zora Mamdani's reaction to these calls. I'm proud to be the mayor of the city. I love this city, I love this country. And what I want this week to be a focus on is on the families whose loved ones were stolen from them 25 years ago in the horrific act of terror of September 11th. And a focus also on the first responders. We get everything they put to this city and to the people who came together to try and help their fellow New Yorkers. And so in the days to come my focus will be on attending events that memorializes that incredible courage. And I will be there on Friday at the memorial just as I was last year.

26:31Did you see Giuliani's comments and did you have any thoughts? I don't have much more to add. And it's clear listening to that that Zora Mamdani rightly doesn't want to turn this into a political rower where he attacks Giuliani and Giuliani attacks him. And you get the pantomime politics taking place. On what will be an undoubtedly solemn day for America 25 years on from 9 11 and the just the desire for certain politicians to go to the barricades immediately on want to fight. You know 25 years ago after 9 11 it was a nation that came together and Zora Mamdani the duly elected mayor of New York is obviously wanting to be a center you know at the center of those commemorations as he just said there. In that clip we played and tomorrow we are going to take you through the events of 9 11 as we remember them on the day 25 years ago we're going to be talking to Mars Taylor as well who was part of the Bush administration and part of the Trump administration in the first time round.

27:37And we're going to be looking at what has happened to the world since those attacks on the world trade center and whether 9 11 is still in the muscle memory of the way we see the world today. We'll see you tomorrow bye bye. Bye for now. This has been a global production.