Trump is dangling the idea of government checks to get people to donate to his campaign

President Donald Trump is fundraising off of checks from the government that he’s unlikely to send.

In recent months, Trump’s political operation has sent several fundraising emails that mention either the “DOGE Dividend” or tariff rebate checks, both of which theoretically involve sending checks to some Americans worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

In the case of DOGE checks, tax-paying Americans would receive checks of up to $5,000 based on purported savings from DOGE. With tariff rebate checks, some of the revenue from tariffs would be sent primarily to lower-income Americans.

While Trump has said publicly that he’s considering pursuing both ideas, he has neither committed to nor made any concerted public push for either.

And even if he did, Trump would have to seek approval from Congress, where Republicans are overwhelmingly against both ideas.

That hasn’t stopped the president’s campaign from using both concepts — sometimes simultaneously — to solicit donations.

A fundraising email sent by his leadership PAC on Thursday included the subject line, “Do you want a DOGE check?”

But the body of the email included a “Rebate Check Poll.”

“Should bonus revenue from tariffs go back to the American People VIA CHECK SIGNED BY TRUMP?” asks the email. “My team tells me that gathering ONE MILLION RESPONSES TODAY is the best way to send these so-called “representatives” a message they won’t be able to ignore.”

Two large buttons in the body of the email — labeled “QUESTION #1” and “RESPOND TO TRUMP” — send recipients to a donation page.

Trump’s political operation has sent at least two other emails about tariff rebate checks this month. One email sent on August 3 asks recipients: “SHOULD BONUS REVENUE FROM MY HISTORIC TRUMP TARIFFS GO BACK TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE VIA REBATE CHECK SIGNED BY TRUMP?”

Before Thursday, Trump had most recently mentioned DOGE dividends in an early June email, with the subject line: “I’ve got a $5,000 question for you.”

“Would you take a DOGE dividend check signed by yours truly?,” asks the email. “RESPOND IMMEDIATELY.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump has not floated the DOGE checks idea since February, and DOGE has so far resulted in a much smaller cut to government spending than initially predicted.

Meanwhile, the president said on Wednesday that while there’s a “concept” of tariff rebate checks, he “primarily” wants to put additional revenue from tariffs toward paying down the debt.

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