Republicans spent the first five hours of their midterm convention in Dallas warning about socialism before President Trump surprised many with an audacious trillion-dollar proposal to redistribute wealth. Mr. Trump’s call to send $5,000 to every adult American — but only if his party wins in November — was quickly denounced by Democrats, who accused him of trying to buy people's votes. But it also was panned by some Republican fiscal hawks as a socialist-style gimmick that could have harmful economic repercussions.

Representative Ralph Norman, Republican of South Carolina and vice chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, called the idea "far-fetched" and questioned where the money comes from amid the nation's $40 trillion debt. Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of Palantir and major Republican donor, was unimpressed, writing on X that the proposal amounted to "bread and circus bribes."

Marc Short, who served as White House legislative affairs director in Mr. Trump's first term and former Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, called the $5,000 proposal the latest in "a series of policy adjustments that blur the line between us and democratic socialists." With the potential payments estimated to cost roughly $1.3 trillion, Republicans worry it could complicate economic goals and add to national debt, acting much like the Biden-era stimulus measures Mr. Trump and other Republicans blamed for spiraling inflation.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank raised interest rates to the highest level in a year to tame inflation, blaming the war in Iran for worsening inflation pressure. Federal Reserve officials will consider raising rates next week. Representative Chip Roy, a Texas Republican and prominent fiscal hawk, said a trillion and a half dollars of inflationary deficit spending is not his preferred focus.