50 year mortgage? Identification checks for $2,000? What experts think about some of Trump’s unique policy ideas

This article originally appeared on PolitiFact.

Amid a record government shutdown and Democratic off-year election victories, President Donald Trump has floated a series of unusual policy ideas.

He watches: Trump floats tariff ‘dividends’ for Americans, but experts question the calculations

Fifty year mortgage? Do we pay Americans, rather than insurance companies, for health coverage? Dividends of $2,000 from tariff revenue? Bonuses for air traffic controllers who reported to work during the shutdown? Everything proposed by the President within a few days.

We’ve looked at each of these proposals and whether policy experts think they are likely to come to fruition.

Each idea, for now, is little more than presidential musings on social media. In order to become a reality, most of these proposals would require formal proposals and legislation approved by both chambers of Congress. Other ideas, such as mortgages, are likely to require significant action on the part of lenders.

Add a 50-year mortgage option

On November 8, Trump posted on Truth Social two side-by-side photos of President Franklin Roosevelt and himself, with a “30-year mortgage” higher than Roosevelt’s and a “50-year mortgage” higher than Trump’s. One headline read: “Great American Presidents.”

Read more: Validation of Trump’s promise to give Americans $2,000 in tariff profits

This idea quickly sparked backlash, among housing policy experts and Trump’s base of supporters. The idea originated with federal housing director Bill Bolte, Politico reported.

“All it means is you pay less every month. Pay it over a longer period of time. It’s not a big factor. It might help a little bit,” Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on November 10. (Ingraham corrected Trump, a lifelong real estate developer, when he said that today’s mortgage lasts forty years, not thirty.)

Experts say Trump is ignoring the downsides of the 50-year mortgage.

First, the borrower will pay much more interest over the life of the loan. Stijn van Neuerberg, a professor of real estate and finance at Columbia University, gave the example of a home worth $450,000. With a fixed interest rate of 6.2% and a 20% down payment, a borrower would pay about $434,000 in interest with a 30-year mortgage, and more than $800,000 in interest with a 50-year mortgage.

Mortgages are structured so that the borrower mostly pays interest during the early years of the loan. Taking out a 50-year mortgage extends the larger interest payment period and delays principal accumulation. With a 30-year mortgage, a 30-year-old buyer who wants to remain in their home can expect to own it mortgage-free by age 60, but the same borrower with a 50-year mortgage will not own the home outright until age 80.

Van Neuerberg warned that lower monthly payments may encourage buyers to spend more on housing, which could lead to higher housing prices, hindering any broader benefits of property affordability.

Paying Americans directly for health care

In another post on Truth Social on November 8, Trump wrote: “I recommend that Senate Republicans send the hundreds of billions of dollars currently being sent to money-sucking insurance companies to bail out Obamacare’s bad health care, directly to the people so they can afford their own health care, much better, and have money left over.”

“Instead of going to insurance companies, I want the money to go into an account for people where people buy their own health insurance,” Trump explained during his interview with Ingraham. “It’s a very good thing. The insurance will be better. It will be less expensive.”

Without a formal proposal, it is difficult to assess how this would work. But it sounds similar to current health savings accounts, which conservatives often favor. These accounts allow people to set aside money before taxes to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses, such as deductibles and copayments.

However, under current law, funds from these accounts generally cannot be used to pay insurance premiums. This would not necessarily be the case with Trump’s proposal.

Some progressives said that if Trump wanted to cut insurance companies, expanding Medicare to everyone would be a way to do that.

“Yes, Mr. President: You’re right. We have the ‘worst health care’ of any major nation,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, R-Va., responded to

Trump proposed paying Americans $2,000 from tariff profits

Trump promised Americans $2,000 each from what he called the “trillions of dollars” in tariff revenue he said his administration had collected.

“People who oppose tariffs are idiots!” Trump said in a November 9 Truth Social post. “We are receiving trillions of dollars and will soon begin paying off our enormous debt, $37 trillion. Record investment in the USA, factories and mills are going up everywhere. Dividends of at least $2,000 per person (not including high-income people!) will be paid to everyone.”

There are no official proposals yet regarding these tariff profits. Trump did not specify the income cutoff or say whether children would receive the payment. He also did not say what form the payments might take, such as a check or tax credit.

There is no certainty that tariff revenues will be sufficient to cover the cost of a $2,000 per person dividend.

As of the end of October, the federal government had collected about $144 billion in tariffs above the 2024 level, when tariffs were much less widespread. Tax policy specialists say tariff revenue collection could increase to more than $200 billion annually if Trump’s tariffs remain in place.

But the Tax Foundation noted that distributing the $2,000 tariff to each person earning less than $100,000 would cover 150 million adult beneficiaries and cost nearly $300 billion, or more if children qualify. This is much higher than the amount of money raised by tariffs so far.

Meanwhile, Congress must approve new reparations, and lawmakers have already refused to act on that idea once, when they passed the Big Beautiful Bill. Trump’s tariff powers also have to pass muster from the Supreme Court, which is hearing a challenge against them.

$10,000 bonuses for air traffic controllers who continued to work during the shutdown

As the shutdown entered its second month, Trump criticized air traffic controllers who called in sick, a tactic some believe was a protest against having to work without pay. The absences hampered the commercial aviation system.

“For the air traffic controllers who were great patriots and took no leave because of the Democratic shutdown hoax, I will recommend a reward of $10,000 per person for outstanding service to our country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

This requires congressional action, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy acknowledged in Post X.

“To those who have worked throughout the lockdown – thank you for your patriotism and commitment to keeping our skies safe,” Duffy said. “I will work with Congress to reward your commitment.”