In Dallas for the Republican midterm convention, President Trump unveiled a proposal to distribute $5,000 to every American adult citizen, claiming the payments could be funded by tariff revenues and private manufacturing investment without requiring an act of Congress. The offer arrives at a moment when economic populism and executive ambition are testing the boundaries of constitutional authority, raising questions that democracies have long wrestled with: who holds the power of the purse, and what does a government owe its people? Whether the proposal becomes policy or remains a campaign pr