Donald Trump Urges White Women to Have More Kids, Promises a Shocking Bonus for Them (Video)
For many years, conservatives accused Black and brown women of having more children just to get welfare benefits. But now, Donald Trump and his team are encouraging Americans—especially white women—to have more kids. According to The New York Times, the White House has been considering different ideas on how to convince Americans to get married and start families. It’s an early sign that Trump’s team is planning to push conservative family values as part of a bigger cultural plan to fight the country’s dropping birthrate.
One idea they are looking at is offering a $5,000 “baby bonus” to new parents. Trump said he supports the idea, calling it “a good idea” during a recent event, according to ABC News. But why the sudden push to get people to have more babies? Trump isn’t the only one worried. Many other conservatives are talking about a possible population collapse.
Elon Musk, for example, tweeted in 2022 that a falling birthrate is a bigger threat to civilization than global warming. JD Vance, during his first speech as Vice President, said he wanted to see more babies born in America.
But is the U.S. really facing a population crisis? To keep the population stable, each woman would need to have about 2.1 children. However, according to a 2022 report from the National Center for Health Statistics, birthrates are falling short of that goal. Here’s how it breaks down by group:
- Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander women: 2.238
- Hispanic women: 1.970
- Black women: 1.639
- White women: 1.568
- American Indian/Alaska Native women: 1.47
- Asian women: 1.353
If the population keeps shrinking, the country could face serious problems. A smaller workforce would mean less productivity, which could hurt the economy badly. There would also be fewer taxpayers, which could make it harder to fund important services like healthcare and Social Security for older Americans. Fewer people could mean fewer new ideas and businesses too. While some people might think that a lower population would lower housing prices, it could actually damage the real estate market and hurt the economy even more.
Some experts say immigration could help fix the declining birthrate. But since most immigrants are not white, many conservatives seem to prefer encouraging white Americans to have more children instead.
There are also bigger, more practical reasons why people aren’t having more kids, and some Republican policies have made things harder. The Trump administration has opposed universal healthcare, and without it, having a child adds major costs for families.
The lack of affordable daycare and universal preschool is another huge problem. Many working-class families simply can’t afford to raise kids when daycare costs so much. Then there’s the GOP’s fight against abortion rights, which adds more fear and danger to pregnancy. For example, after Texas banned most abortions, infant deaths rose by 13%.
House Republicans have also been fighting against laws that would give women paid time off after having a baby. It’s hard to convince women to have children when they can’t even be guaranteed maternity leave.
On top of all that, private education—including college—is extremely expensive, and Trump and his allies like Elon Musk have been pushing to weaken or even get rid of the Department of Education.
Other problems, like the growing age gap between young and old, the rise in people rejecting vaccines, and general healthcare costs, make raising children even harder for regular families. Not everyone has Elon Musk’s billions to support a huge family.
Trump has floated a few ideas to try to fix this. Besides the $5,000 baby bonus, he’s also backing a plan for a 30% scholarship increase for the Fulbright program. Some in his circle even suggested using government money to educate women about their menstrual cycles so they can plan pregnancies better.
Another strange idea being discussed in the White House is creating a “National Medal of Motherhood” for women who have six or more kids.
Instead of addressing the real, serious reasons why people are having fewer children—like healthcare, childcare, and education costs—Trump and his allies are offering ideas that seem disconnected from reality. This could end up backfiring on them politically.
