Joy-Ann Reid Accuses Donald Trump of 'Bribing' Voters With $500 and $90 Checks

Joy-Ann Reid argued on Monday that President Donald Trump is using federal money to win the midterms. She pointed to $500 Obamacare refund checks, $90 Medicare payments and a $20 million Homeland Security ad campaign that aired during NFL games.

The checks are real, and they are arriving weeks before the November 3 election. But the record does not support Reid's claim that they were aimed at swing states and districts.

"So essentially bribing directly the voters in places he thinks he might lose," Reid said on The Joy Reid Show.

What the $500 Obamacare Checks Are

One-time $500 payments began going out last Wednesday, by check or direct deposit, to nearly 1 million enrollees in 30 states that use healthcare.gov. The administration says those enrollees were overcharged to fund the federal exchange under President Joe Biden.

Reid said the money goes only to people in states with close Senate races or districts "at risk of the Republican losing." The list of 30 states does include several states with competitive Senate races, among them Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Alaska, North Carolina and New Hampshire. It also includes Wyoming, Utah, West Virginia, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Hawaii and Delaware, and none of those is a battleground.

Maine has one of the closest Senate races in the country. The Democratic nominee leads Senator Susan Collins by 2.1 points in PolitiKool's polling average. But Maine is not one of the 30 healthcare.gov states, so it gets no $500 checks.

The $90 Medicare Payments

Trump announced on Friday that more than 20 million seniors would get $90 each, paid from a fund Congress created in 2008. The White House fact sheet puts the cost at about $2 billion from the Medicare Improvement Fund and says most Medicare Part B enrollees qualify. The payments are not targeted state by state.

Reid had that part backward. She said the money was going to "seniors who enrolled in Medicaid." The White House actually excludes people whose premiums Medicaid already pays, along with higher earners who pay an income-related surcharge. NBC News reported that the payments are expected to arrive before Election Day.

The DHS Ads and the 'PSA' Defense

Homeland Security is spending $20 million in taxpayer funds on pro-Trump ads. AdImpact tracked $2.5 million spent on three ads in their first week.

Reid said one ad is "virtually identical" to a 2024 Trump campaign ad and that in it Trump declares he is in "a final battle against the deep state." PBS reported that one DHS ad resembles a 2024 Trump campaign video, and described a DHS spot whose voiceover refers to a "final battle" against "globalists" and "warmongers." The "deep state" wording Reid quoted could not be confirmed.

The White House calls the ads public service announcements. Reid said the administration compares them to past Affordable Care Act enrollment ads, and she rejected that comparison because those ads told viewers how to sign up for coverage. "That's not a PSA," she said.

Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, called the ads "illegal." Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said they "shouldn't be paid for with taxpayer dollars." Trump said on Monday that MAGA Inc. would pay for the ads from now on.

The Promises That Never Paid Out

Reid compared the new payments with older promises. "So the Doge rebates were supposed to be $5,000 each, you never got a dime," she said.

The DOGE dividend Trump backed in early 2025 and the $2,000 tariff rebate he floated that November never materialized. The FAA paid $10,000 shutdown bonuses to only 776 controllers and technicians with perfect attendance, leaving out nearly 20,000 others.

Trump's newest pledge is $5,000 for every adult citizen if Republicans keep Congress, and Reid put its cost at $1.7 trillion. Census Bureau counts show roughly 245 million adult citizens, which puts the figure closer to $1.2 trillion.

David Hogg, the former Democratic National Committee vice chair, told Reid the payments would not win over young voters. "No, because we know he's a liar," he said.

Nobody knows yet whether the checks will change any votes. Trump's approval on the economy is at 29.7 percent in PolitiKool's polling average, and Democrats lead the generic ballot by 8.1 points, with four weeks to go before the election.