Trump warns Democrats could bring a '1929 disaster' if they win the 2026 midterms

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump warned that Democrats would bring a “1929 disaster” and an economic depression if they win control of Congress in the November 2026 midterms.

Trump invoked the Great Depression, when 25% of the labor force was unemployed by 1933 after the 1929 stock market crash.

Trump made the warning in Truth Social videos on Saturday, October 3, urging voters to treat the midterms as if he were on the ballot while promoting his proposed $5,000 checks if Republicans win both chambers of Congress, as he hits the campaign trail this week heading into heavily GOP areas.

Trump ties a Democratic win to a 1929 disaster

Trump said, “If the Democrats win, you will have an economic depression, much like 1929,” contrasting that prediction with his proposed $5,000 payout under a Republican victory.

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic breakdown. 

In the United States, the banking system had collapsed by 1933, while prices and productivity had fallen to one-third of their 1929 levels, as per the Franklin D Roosevelt Library & Museum website.

Trump’s $5,000 proposal was first announced on September 10 at the Republican Party’s first convention held in the middle of a presidential term. 

He gave no details then on how the payments would work or be funded, saying only that the money would have to be spent in the United States.

The president again tied the proposal to tariff revenue, saying Republicans were “taking in massive amounts of money through tariffs and record-setting economic success.” 

Vice President JD Vance, who is also on the campaign trail, has also linked the plan to revenue Trump has raised from tariffs on imported goods.

Trump says Republicans would deliver $5,000 payouts

Trump said the proposed payout would be “very easy” to provide, citing what he called a “record-setting” $21 trillion in investment in the country over the previous 15 months.

“The Trump dividend is approximately $1 trillion,” Trump said, while also pointing to a previous $1,776 payment to military members that he said he had delivered.

His Saturday message came as he and Vance stepped up campaign appearances ahead of the November 3 midterms. 

Trump’s stops in Texas and Oklahoma on Thursday marked the beginning of what he called a 32-day campaign blitz.

Trump says Republicans need to sell their record

The campaign push comes as party leaders have grown more pessimistic about their chances in an election that will decide control of Congress.

Trump has instead argued that Republicans need to better communicate what he said his administration has achieved.

“We’re doing an extremely poor job of promotion and an extremely great job of running the country,” Trump said on Wednesday. 

On Thursday, he added, “I give us an A+ on the government, on economics, on everything.”

In his Saturday videos, Trump repeatedly urged voters to turn out and said they should “pretend I’m on the ballot.” 

In a Pennsylvania message, he added, “Whenever I’m on the ballot, we do great.”

Trump also framed the election around taxes and economic policy in his Saturday video messages.

“They’re going to raise your taxes, and they’re going to destroy our country and certainly destroy our economy,” he said, referring to Democrats.

In his third video, Trump broadened the appeal beyond economics, saying, “We’ve got to beat the Democrats,” and calling the 2026 election “one of the most important elections of our lives.”