Desantis Rebukes Trump’s $5k Checks: ‘more Debt And More Inflation’

MIAMI — Gov. Ron DeSantis denounced President Donald Trump’s proposal to deliver $5,000 checks to Americans if Republicans hold their ground in the midterm elections, fearing the infusion of cash will only stir more inflation.

The Republican governor, a longtime federal budget hawk, on Thursday suggested the president or Congress should consider slashing taxes to provide financial relief instead of unleashing the so-called “Trump dividends” that could cost the country upwards of $1 trillion.

“If you are getting surplus revenue, you should cut people's tax and return it to the people,”
DeSantis said when asked about the checks during a press conference in Miami. “What I don't think you want to do is borrow another $1.5 trillion, and then just try to flood that into the economy, because that will lead to more inflation. That will lead to more debt and more inflation.”

DeSantis, who often brags about the austerity of Florida’s budget and how he uses his line-item veto power, has been traveling the country urging states to pass resolutions calling for a constitutional convention to consider a balanced-budget amendment — an effort he brought up as part of his comments about the promised checks.

Many of DeSantis’ advisers have said they expect the governor, who will be term-limited in January, will continue pushing the cause when he’s out of office.

“The way it works now in Congress, their incentives are to add debt for short-term political benefit,” DeSantis said. “They never have to make tough decisions.”

The governor had a rocky relationship in 2024 after DeSantis unsuccessfully challenged Trump for the GOP presidential nomination. The two Florida men have since mended the relationship, and the two golf occasionally. Since the presidential election, DeSantis has extended olive branches to the president, including helping to facilitate the transfer of downtown land in Miami for the president’s future library.

But the governor has also broken with Trump in key areas, including by initially refusing to back his preferred candidate for governor, GOP Rep. Byron Donalds, until after the primary, and publicly expressing skepticism over Trump’s more hands-off approach to artificial intelligence regulation. The governor very pointedly rejected the White House’s plan to block states from regulating AI, calling it “amnesty for Big Tech,” and “bad policy and even worse politics.”

White House officials did not immediately reply when asked to respond to the Florida governor’s position.

DeSantis said Republicans considering policies to improve economic circumstances should instead follow Florida’s lead. He pointed to the state's proposed property tax cut, which, if backed by voters, would eliminate the bulk of those taxes for most homeowners, as proof his state is attempting to reduce costs for residents.

“The lesson of Florida is by creating a good economic environment, by having low taxes and no income tax, that has expanded our economic base,” he said. “And so, even though you're cutting taxes, you're taking in more revenue because you have more economic activity. So it's a virtuous cycle.”

On Thursday, DeSantis suggested that efforts to hand out checks were similar to government programs usually pushed by Democrats, citing examples like federal intervention in the housing market, health insurance subsidies, the 2008 financial-sector bailout signed by President George W. Bush and stimulus spending during the Covid pandemic.

He said such spending “is ultimately the cause of people’s lack of affordability” going back two decades and argued Republicans shouldn’t look to do a conservative version of “federal activism in social engineering” but should limit government instead.

“Ultimately, I don't think our federal government has proven the ability to do these interventions in a way that ultimately benefit the people that they're purporting to help,” DeSantis said. “I think it oftentimes causes unintended consequences.”