The president has stepped up his offers of financial rewards to voters with just weeks until the midterms. On Tuesday at a rally in Alaska, he announced pardons.
Page F118From§Eachthe evening edition — 14 October 2026
THE LEDGER
The $4,910 Trump still owes is arriving as two pardons for diesel mechanics.
As it ran on the front
The first number came out of Dallas on a Wednesday in September, during the president's address to the Republican Party's midterm convention: five thousand dollars to every American adult, he said, if Republicans keep control of Congress. Nothing in the pledge specified how, when, or from which account.
By the third of October, Washington had an answer, and it was ninety dollars. The administration announced a one-time ninety-dollar payment to twenty million Medicare beneficiaries, drawn, by one outlet's reporting, from the Medicare Improvement Fund. The remaining four thousand nine hundred ten dollars of the September pledge was given no date.…
…(cont) Three days later, in Nebraska, the president signed an executive order onstage at another rally. It waived the off-road requirement for red-dyed diesel, fuel that is already tax-exempt when used in farming and construction, framed as relief from diesel costs ahead of the midterms. No dollar figure came with the order; the fuel in question had not been paying the tax in question.
This week, in Alaska, at a rally backing Senator Dan Sullivan and other Republicans on the ballot, the diesel thread came back from the other direction. The president signed pardons onstage for Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming, co-owners of an Anchorage repair shop who had pleaded guilty in 2022 to conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act by tampering with the devices that monitor diesel emissions. He called them wrongly charged. The New York Times, writing the same day, named the pardons for what they were on the ledger: another giveaway, added to a midterm pitch that already ran to checks and a diesel order.
Reconciling the column: in five weeks, the pledge has produced one payment that has been announced, not shown delivered; one tax exemption extended to fuel that was already exempt; and two Clean Air Act convictions voided by signature. The $4,910 balance from September carries no due date in any receipt filed since. What the documents show moving, line by line, is forgiveness — of a tax position already in place, and of a federal pollution conviction — and forgiveness requires no appropriation, no check, and no entry in the Treasury's ledger. The $5,000 would.
“They promised five grand and mailed ninety bucks; the next two signatures at that podium went to a couple of mechanics, not to you. Forgiving a federal conviction costs the government nothing — writing a check costs real money — so guess which one they keep handing out for free. The other $4,910 isn't delayed, it's priced to arrive exactly nowhere before the votes are counted.”
“These are hardworking small-business owners who got hit with regulatory overreach, and pardoning them isn't a campaign gift, it's correcting an injustice — did I just call tampering with emissions monitors an injustice? Strike that. And the $90 check is real money in real mailboxes, which proves the president keeps his word, except for the $4,910 part, which isn't broken, it's just — pending.”
Earlier in this story
- Trump priced democracy at $5,000 a head, delivered $90, drew an ethics alarm over the unpaid $4,910. By Ruth · the morning edition, 11 October 2026
- Trump priced a Republican Congress at $5,000 an adult in September, sent the first $90 out of a Medicare fund in October, and has set no date for the other $4,910. By Mitch · the evening edition, 11 October 2026
The receipts
During his rally in Alaska, President Trump pardoned Zachary Czuback and Patrick Fleming, co-owners of a vehicle repair shop in Anchorage. Both pleaded guilty in 2022 to violating the Clean Air Act by tampering with federally mandated and monitored devices that tracked vehicles’ diesel emissions.
President Donald Trump pardoned two truckers Tuesday night during a campaign rally backing Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and other down-ballot Republicans in Alaska. According to the president, the two truckers in question had been “wrongly charged”
Trump signed the pardons for Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming, who both pleaded guilty in 2022 to one count of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act, midway through his midterm election rally.
The 2025 reconciliation law cut SNAP by $187 billion, the largest cut in the program's history — it feeds one in five American children Congressional Budget Office estimate, via CBPP SNAP tracker
'Trump dividend': Can promising voters a check help win an election?Donald Trump is promising $5,000 to every adult US citizen if both chambers remain Republican after the midterm elections on November 3. In his column, Le Monde's Pascal Riché recalls that Silvio Berlusconi and Emmanuel Macron also used financial incentives during their campaigns.
· Trump, Who Calls Medicare for All Too Expensive, Vows $5,000 to Every US Adult—If GOP Wins Midterms from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump signs order waiving off-road rule for red-dyed diesel at Nebraska rally from the morgue, 6 Oct 2026
· Trump’s promised $5,000 ‘dividend’ checks: What to know from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Sends Out Nearly 21 Million Medicare Improvement Fund Payments from the morgue, 8 Oct 2026
· Trump to Send $90 Medicare Checks, Says Americans Can ‘Rest Assured’ $5,000 Will Follow After Midterms from the morgue, 3 Oct 2026
· Trump says US to send one-time $90 payment to 20m seniors enrolled in Medicare from the morgue, 3 Oct 2026
· Trump announces US will send $90 checks to 20 million seniors enrolled in Medicare from the morgue, 3 Oct 2026
· Trump to give $90 one-time payment to 20 million Medicare beneficiaries from the morgue, 3 Oct 2026
· U.S.-Russia Talks on Ukraine Now Involve an Oil Deal Tied to Trump Allies from the morgue, 4 Oct 2026
· Trump says Ukraine and Russia have agreed to energy target ceasefire from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Witkoff touts 'substantive progress' after peace talks with Ukraine, Russia from the morgue, 7 Sep 2026
· Trump envoys hail ‘encouraging’ talks in Kyiv to end Russia-Ukraine war from the morgue, 6 Sep 2026
· Witkoff, Kushner to visit Moscow and Kyiv in renewed push to end Russia-Ukraine war from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Analysis Finds Up to 10 Million People Have Lost Healthcare Coverage During Trump's Second Term from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
· Treasury confirms plan to auto-enroll millions of children in Trump accounts from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026
· The Big Beautiful Bill Is Starting to Bite Before the Election from the morgue, 23 Sep 2026
· 'Sickening and Unacceptable': Anger Mounts as Trump and Vance Gleefully Rip Healthcare From 750,000 from the morgue, 23 Sep 2026
· Many Americans are relying on multiple forms of credit to cover expenses. When is it a warning sign? from the morgue, 23 Sep 2026
· Trump gave ‘the red meat,’ Vance was playing for independents: Bob Cusack from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Fox News’s Baier presses Vance on Trump’s $5K dividend promise from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Pritzker: Vance is Trump's 'chief bootlicker' from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· Bessent Defends Faltering Bond Market Intervention from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Bessent says Treasury is ‘examining’ ability to cut $5,000 checks without Congress from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Bessent’s move to tamp down rising rates backfires as bond yields jump, stocks tumble from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· The bond market is revolting — and your mortgage is the first casualty from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Fiscal hawks skeptical of Bessent’s claim that US can ‘grow our way out’ of $40 trillion debt from the morgue, 27 Aug 2026
· Bessent blasts Warren’s ‘sciolistic’ letter about yen policy from the morgue, 29 Aug 2026
· Soros-funded Philadelphia district attorney insinuates Trump is a ‘35-time felon,’ calling $5,000 dividend a bribe from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Soros-funded Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Thursday from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026
· Voters have a blunt message for Trump about his idea to dole out $5,000 checks from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Why Donald Trump has a Joe Biden problem from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Does Trump have a 'Biden problem' on the economy? from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Trump’s $5,000 dividend falls flat with GOP senators from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Trump sees backlash over $5K dividend pledge from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump plan to raise debt limit on shaky ground from the morgue, 26 Aug 2026
· 5 things to know about Trump's $5K dividend pledge from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Vance strikes back at concern $5,000 Trump dividend will stoke debt: ‘Wealth will go back to the people’ from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Marshall backtracks on support for $5,000 Trump dividend in Kansas Senate debate from the morgue, 12 Sep 2026
· Vance and MAGA Inc. work to defend Roger Marshall in redder Kansas from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Roger Marshall Sued 700 Patients for Debts; 81 Were Arrested. Now He’s a Senator. from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Conservatives would scream ‘bloody murder’ if Democratic president offered dividend to maintain power: Guy Benson from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Will Trump's payout promises boost Republican appeal to white women? from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Republicans need a Reagan-style vision to win the battle over America's future from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Trump’s Reckless $5,000 ‘Dividend’ from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Republicans bet the House on Trump from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Axelrod dismisses the idea of the proposed $5000 ‘Trump dividend’ from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump pledges $5K 'Trump dividend' if Republicans hold onto Congress from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump says $5K dividend checks to Americans will 'happen 100 percent' from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Lawler deflects on supporting Trump's $5K dividend pledge: 'How do you pay for it?' from the morgue, 13 Sep 2026
· GOP rep says priority 'needs to be the military,' not $5K checks from the morgue, 13 Sep 2026
· Susan Collins calls Trump’s $5,000 dividend proposal with no cap ‘extraordinarily costly’ from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Bret Baier presses Paxton on Trump $5K dividend payment support from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Gavin Newsom calls Trump’s $5K voter payout ‘bulls—’ and a ‘desperate’ power grab from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Trump pitches $5,000 checks, but only if GOP wins House and Senate from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump's $5,000 payments would reignite inflation, economists say from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Why Trump's promised $5,000 payments to Americans are unlikely to happen from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Bond yields rise modestly after Trump's dividend pledge from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· GOP leaders blindsided by Trump’s promise of $5K checks from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump promises Obamacare rebates to people in swing states from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Steve Scalise says details of $5,000 dividends would "obviously have to be worked out by Congress" from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump’s $5,000 dividend pledge divides Republicans over spending from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Many Republicans skeptical about Trump plan to tie $5,000 dividends to GOP wins from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Anger Grows Over 'Pathological Liar-in-Chief' Donald Trump's $5,000 Midterm Bribes from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Spiking Bond Yields Pay the Rich and Squeeze Everyone Else from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Trump-aligned group releases first midterm ads — and they’re all about him from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· The Memo: Bond market turmoil heightens midterm risks for Trump and GOP from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Trump’s Plan To Cut $5,000 Checks For Americans Not Landing With Many Midterm Convention Attendees from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Texas Democrat Gina Hinojosa backs Trump’s $5,000 dividend but rejects conditional payout from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Voters may accept Trump’s bribes, but the bond markets aren’t biting from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· In Trump's Second Term, Average US Family Forced to Spend $3,800 More on Essentials from the morgue, 27 Aug 2026
· Why not to bank on Trump's $5,000 dividend checks happening from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump shares details on $5,000 dividend with CBS News Texas from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Some Republicans Balk at Trump’s $5,000 ‘Dividend’ Offer from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· The political risk behind Trump’s $5,000 pledge: From the Politics Desk from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Bob Cusack raises concerns over Trump’s $5,000 check proposal: ‘Deficits matter, debt matters’ from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Global sell-off in government bonds intensifies from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Trump vs. the Bond Market from the morgue, 28 Aug 2026
· The United States House of Representatives passes the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 by 227 votes to 203. After being sent to the United States Senate for a vote, the Senate's parliamentarian found tha from the morgue, 19 Dec 2017
· The attorney general of New York announces she is suing the Donald J. Trump Foundation and its directors, President Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump. (CNBC) from the morgue, 14 Jun 2018
· Trump gambles big on midterm elections with convention spotlight from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Vulnerable Republicans divided over wisdom of Trump’s midterm convention from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.