Trump Snaps 'You're the Worst' at Reporter Who Pressed Him on $5,000 'Reward' Dividends Amid $40 Trillion Debt

Donald Trump refused to take a follow-up question from ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott on a Dallas airport tarmac after she asked why voters need a $5,000 cheque to turn out for Republicans if his economy is working.

The exchange took place on Thursday, 10 September 2026, as the president arrived for the second night of the Republican Party's midterm convention. Scott, ABC News senior political correspondent, put the question to him a day after he had promised the payment to every adult citizen on condition that Republicans hold both chambers of Congress in November.

Trump rejected the premise, blamed Joe Biden at length, and then cut Scott off when she tried to continue.

The Question on the Dallas Tarmac

Scott's question went to the logic of the promise rather than its cost. 'If your economic policies are working, why do you need an incentive for people to turn out to vote?' she asked.

The president disputed the framing and supplied a different one. 'I didn't do it for turning out the vote, I did it as a reward for people having to put up with five years and four years of horrible, a horrible situation caused by Biden,' he said, before moving into a series of attacks on his predecessor over the economy, crime and the southern border.

When Scott attempted a follow-up, Trump cut her off, telling her, 'Not you!' and 'You're the worst' as he leaned towards her. Trump framed the payment as a 'reward' rather than an incentive to vote, a distinction that became central to the exchange.

A Reporter the President Has Singled Out Before

Scott has been on the receiving end of Trump's anger repeatedly, and the pattern is documented on camera. In May 2026, during a visit near the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, she asked why he was focusing on beautification projects against the backdrop of the war with Iran and rising petrol prices.

His answer became a story in itself. Trump called it 'such a stupid question', told her she could understand dirt better than he could, and then turned to aides and said she was 'one of the worst reporters' and 'a horror show', adding that a question like hers was a disgrace to the country. Claims later circulated online that he had also used an expletive about her, but Snopes found the evidence inconclusive.

There were others. In January, while speaking to reporters at a restaurant in Urbandale, Iowa, he called her 'ABC fake news' and said she had not asked him a good question in years. In December, he called her the most obnoxious reporter in the room and a terrible reporter after she asked about footage of strikes on Venezuelan boats.

Their first widely covered clash came at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago in July 2024, where he told her she had asked her question in a horrible manner.

The Debt Behind the Question

Scott's question landed against a fiscal backdrop that the proposed payment does little to address. The Congressional Budget Office projected a federal budget deficit of about $2.1 trillion for fiscal year 2026 in its August estimate, while the national debt has topped $40 trillion.

The proposed $5,000 payment could cost more than $1 trillion if widely distributed. Reuters estimated the cost at about $1.35 trillion based on the number of American adults, although Vice-President JD Vance later suggested that wealthier Americans could be excluded.

Trump does not have unilateral authority to issue the payments, and congressional approval would be required.

The promise drew scepticism from friendly quarters within hours. Fox News anchor Bret Baier put it to Vance that critics would call the payout bribing voters, telling the vice-president he could hear their heads exploding. Vance replied that tariffs had generated substantial revenue and argued that Americans should share in the resulting wealth.

The proposal has since been narrowed by others in the administration. Vance has suggested that wealthier Americans could be excluded, although the administration has not announced a final income threshold.

It is the latest of several cash-payment proposals Trump has floated. These include a proposed $5,000 DOGE dividend and a $2,000 tariff rebate, neither of which resulted in a nationwide payment to the public.

Trump has therefore floated several major nationwide cash-payment proposals during his presidency, while previous proposals have not produced the broad civilian payout he promised.