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“Money is the mother’s milk of politics,” said Jesse M. Unruh, who in the ’60s was a powerful Democratic politician and speaker of the California State Assembly. It is a disgrace, if much is disgraceful these days, that we spend so much on getting people elected to Congress, who do little or nothing to solve real problems once they get there.

AdImpact, the leading advertising intelligence and market analytics company, estimates more than $3.4 billion will be spent on this year’s midterms across all races. In Texas, alone, an estimated $446 million will be spent by November.

President Trump wants to spend more. He has promised every American a $5,000 check, but with a condition. Republicans must maintain their majorities in the House and Senate in order to get their “milk.” This is just a shameless effort at vote buying, though it is not without precedent.

In 1972, Democrat presidential candidate George McGovern tried something similar, promising to give every American – regardless of age or income – an annual $1,000 cash grant. He lost that race to Richard Nixon.

In 1936, Congress overrode President Franklin Roosevelt’s veto and disbursed $2 billion, amounting to $580 per veteran of WWI. Presidents Biden and Trump sent “stimulus checks” to households during the Covid-19 pandemic.

President Trump’s new promise has a different twist.

Yes, Democrats do the same, though they try to be less obvious. There has always been “walking around money,” especially in Democrat precincts in Chicago, to turn out the vote for Democrat candidates.

Today we have “dark money” from the likes of George Soros and other progressives, as well as money coming from other countries that is laundered through American PACs and other entities.

There is a federal law against vote buying. It reads: “Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate; and whoever solicits, accepts, or receives any such expenditure in consideration of his vote or the withholding of his vote — Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

Don’t expect the Trump Justice Department to enforce that one, or even a DOJ under future Democratic presidents.

Democrats are threatening to challenge the president’s proposed payout, but it’s difficult to see how they could do so in court before any checks have been issued and the incentive to vote is before the act. Afterward, it won’t matter, especially if Republicans hold on to or expand their congressional majorities.

The president has not said where his proposed “bribes” will come from. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Trump administration will not use tax dollars to pay them. Lutnick said there are several ways to raise the necessary cash to cover the estimated $1.2 trillion cost to pay 270 million U.S. adult citizens. The Washington Times reported “…the money that could be generated from the Trump Platinum Card, which has not launched. The program requires immigration applicants to pay a $15,000 processing fee and an additional $5 million contribution to the U.S. government to be guaranteed citizenship.” That seems speculative.

Milk can turn sour. So can the “mother’s milk” of politics. This political “bribe” ought to be distasteful and unpalatable to every American, regardless of party.

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Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I've Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America" (HumanixBooks).

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