On February 18, investor/entrepreneur James Fishback posted a suggestion to X: “President Trump and @ElonMusk should announce a ‘DOGE Dividend’ — a tax refund check sent to every taxpayer, funded exclusively with a portion of the total savings delivered by DOGE.”

Musk responded: “Will check with the President.”

The following day, speaking at the FII PRIORITY Summit in Miami, the president (Donald Trump) mused about “a new concept where we give 20% of the DOGE savings to American citizens and 20% goes to paying down debt.”

It’s an easy idea to like. I mean, who DOESN’T want to receive a previously unexpected check in the mail?

And the way it’s rolling out feels rather fresh and spontaneous, doesn’t it?  X user has idea! X owner suggests it to the president! The president likes it! Boom!

I suppose Fishback might have just had a “lightbulb over head” moment and decided to throw it out there, but the Trump White House was probably planning something like this long before that tweet.

Why do I suspect that? Because the same president has done the same thing before, under similar circumstances.

When Americans’ finances took a big hit from COVID-19, Trump leapt into action with two rounds of “stimulus checks” — one for $1,200 and a second for $600 — for most Americans.

Naturally, the checks bore the signature “Donald J. Trump,” so that everyone would know who to praise and thank, and hopefully never notice that the money was borrowed in their names with principal and interest to be taken out of their hides later.

This time around, the sucker punch will come in a more diffuse form for most Americans. Trump’s tariffs and other trade war moves will cost the average household somewhere between $1,000 and $5,000 per year (estimates vary, but few other than Trump himself pretend his plans will drive your cost of living DOWN).

You’ll pay more for food. You’ll pay more for clothes.  You’ll pay more for consumer electronics. Unless you’re buying a car or a home the hurt will come in little bits — no single one especially traumatic, but the overall impact very unpleasant.

That “DOGE Dividend” check, if it comes, will just be Trump trying to buy back your love with your own money, to partially and insufficiently make up for the damage he’s doing to you.

Like an abusive husband who shows up with flowers and an ice pack the day after he works his wife over with a baseball bat, Trump desperately wants you to believe he loves you very much, that he didn’t really mean it, honey.

Cash the check, but don’t fool yourself into believing you’re getting something for nothing. Like the wife in the analogy, you’ll be seeing that bat again.

Thomas L. Knapp (X: @thomaslknapp | Bluesky: @knappster.bsky.social | Mastodon: @knappster) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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