'When Did I Do That?': Trump Appears Baffled When Questioned About His Promise 'to Send Americans $2K Tariff Checks' — as 'Dementia' Concerns Spike
Donald Trump appeared to forget promising to send out $2,000 tariff checks to U.S. citizens.
Jan. 13 2026, Published 2:11 p.m. ET
Donald Trump has been stunned by his own words.
When asked about his previous statements on wanting to send Americans $2,000 tariff checks, the president was baffled and questioned ever making such comments, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Trump, 79, forgetting his numerous comments on tariff checks fueled criticism of his mental acuity.
Trump 'Forgets' His Own Promise to Americans
Trump was asked about his $2,000 tariff check claims during an interview with The New York Times.
The 79-year-old first floated the idea of sending U.S. citizens $2,000 tariff revenue checks on Truth Social in November 2025.
"People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS! We are now the Richest, Most Respected Country In the World, With Almost No Inflation, and A Record Stock Market Price. 401k’s are Highest EVER," the president wrote. "We are taking in Trillions of Dollars and will soon begin paying down our ENORMOUS DEBT, $37 Trillion. Record Investment in the USA, plants and factories going up all over the place. A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone."
But during a recent sit-down interview with The New York Times, he appeared confused by White House correspondents Katie Rogers and Tyler Pager's questions about the checks.
Trump recalled sending $1,776 'Warrior Dividends' to service members when asked about tariff checks.
"You’ve promised $2,000 checks to Americans based off of your tariff revenues. When can they expect those?" Roger asked the Commander-in-Chief.
"I did do that? When did I do that?" Trump replied.
Rogers attempted to refresh the president's memory, saying, "Well, I mean, your —" before Trump interrupted, "Yeah, I'm thinking. Well, I did $1,776 for the military."
Trump referred to $1,776 "Warrior Dividend" checks he and the Department of Defense said would be sent to more than a million U.S. service members.
While the president claimed the checks were being cut from tariff revenue, the funds were later revealed to be taken from a provision in the "Big Beautiful Bill" allotted to the Pentagon to supplement the Basic Allowance for Housing.
Trump Claims Checks Will Be Sent 'Toward the End of the Year'
Trump said he wouldn't seek Congressional approval on the $2,000 tariff checks.
Pager continued to press Trump on the $2,000 checks and asked, "When will those Americans get those checks?"
"Well, I am going to," Trump said. "The tariff money is so substantial. That’s coming in, that I'll be able to do $2,000 sometime. I would say toward the end of the year."
The journalists continued to press Trump on how he would pull off sending checks to U.S. citizens and whether or not he would go through Congress to make it happen.
"No, I don't believe we do. We have it coming in from other sources," the president replied.
Social media users seized the opportunity to call out Trump's spotty memory amid growing concerns about his mental and physical decline.
"It was only 2 months ago that he made that promise," noted one X user.
"He lies about everything, so he can’t recall anything," quipped a second user, while a third simply added, "Frontotemporal Dementia."
"The scary thing here is he probably doesn't know. He said that he's 80 years old and his memory is gone. I feel like I'm living through Biden 2.0, that Biden did this. We would all be screaming. The right hasn't said a word," moaned another person.
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Trump recently paused a White House meeting to get up and look out a window at the ballroom construction.
The outlet released the full transcript of the Oval Office interview after Trump raised eyebrows during a recent White House meeting.
While discussing plans for Venezuela with U.S. oil company executives, the president abruptly paused the meeting, got out of his seat, and wandered over to a window, where he gazed out at the construction of his $400 million ballroom.
"This is the point where you take the car keys from Grandpa," remarked one X user in response to a video of Trump stopping the meeting to look out a window.
