This story was updated on December 17 at 9:39 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump’s prime-time address tonight included an Oprah-style You get a car! And you get a car! reveal for members of the U.S. military. Specifically, he said that he was giving troops a “war dividend,” a onetime bonus check pegged to a sum with deep patriotic significance: $1,776.
“The checks are already on the way,” Trump said during his address, promising them to more than 1.4 million troops.
The announcement was in keeping with the sort of grand gestures the president often favors. As the host of NBC’s The Apprentice, he savored dramatic twists and tense cliffhangers, and as a Manhattan developer, he reveled in emblazoning his name in big, bold (often gold) letters on his properties, a trend that has continued into his presidency. In his first term, Trump included his full name (“President Donald J. Trump”) just below the words “Economic Impact Payment” on stimulus checks, and his Treasury Department recently confirmed that a portrait of him—the image of him raising his fist following the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the words Fight. Fight. Fight.—may be featured on a commemorative $1 coin pegged to America’s 250th birthday next summer.
The $1,776 checks—which will go to every service member from the rank of private to colonel, or their equivalents—come at a moment when Trump’s relationship with the military is particularly complicated. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—or secretary of war, as he prefers—prompted widespread ridicule when he summoned hundreds of commanders from around the world to Washington for a bellicose speech unveiling new physical-fitness standards for the military. Despite running as an “America First” isolationist, Trump seems to be inching ever closer to a war with Venezuela, as he and his team authorize military strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean. He said yesterday that the United States will conduct a “blockade” to stop sanctioned oil tankers from entering Venezuela. Critics have argued that the more than two dozen boat strikes, which have so far killed 95 people, are illegal. And six Democratic lawmakers, all of whom served in either the intelligence community or the military, said that they were hearing so much uncertainty and concern from the rank and file that they felt compelled to release a video reminding service members that they are required to refuse illegal orders. (In response, Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition.)
Trump supporters will almost certainly celebrate the bonuses as yet another sign of a commander in chief who appreciates the men and women of the military. But a more cynical interpretation is that the money, although welcome, represents an attempt by Trump to buy loyalty. The bonuses will cost roughly $2.4 billion based on the figures the president provided. The money will come out of the defense budget, but officials have not said what they will cut in order to pay for the checks. The Pentagon referred requests for comment to the White House.
Generals and admirals are notably excluded from receiving the bonuses. Although they occupy the highest pay grades, they often draw the disdain of the defense secretary, who has fired or forced out more than two dozen top officers over the past year.
Earlier today, the president met with the relatives of two members of the Iowa National Guard and an interpreter killed in Syria as they arrived at Dover Air Force Base, in Delaware, for a dignified-transfer ceremony.
A $1,776 bonus is roughly the same as one month of base pay for a new Army private, not counting allowances for housing and meals. The administration has already given troops a 3.8 percent pay raise as part of the Senate bill that passed today, which allots more than $900 billion for defense. That legislation also increases the amount of additional pay that members of the military receive when they are separated from their family for more than 30 days. And the bill bans transgender women from participating in women’s sports at military-service academies.
The Atlantic reported earlier today that Trump was considering the idea of $1,776 bonuses, but the president did not officially settle on the decision until just hours before his speech.
