‘Trump Can’t Buy Me for $5,000,’ Says Local Man Who Got Experimental Jab for a Free Donut

A local warehouse supervisor said Sunday that President Donald Trump’s proposed $5,000 “dividend,” conditioned on Republicans retaining Congress this fall, would not influence how he marks his ballot.

“You can’t buy me, Orange man!” said Gary Henson, 34, standing beside his 2014 Chevrolet in a Home Depot parking lot. “Five thousand dollars is a lot of money. But I have principle.”

Public health records and Henson’s own account indicate that in April 2021 he received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a drive-through clinic after being told a complimentary glazed donut would be provided upon completion. He accepted the pastry.

“That was different,” Henson said. “That was public health. This is politics.”

He described the donut as “fresh” and “not stale,” and said he ate it in the car before returning to work. He could not recall the brand. A former pharmacy technician who worked the same clinic that week said the incentive that Saturday was a box of mixed donuts from a regional chain, distributed one per completed appointment until supplies ran out.

Hensen said he declined the subsequent boosters because they didn’t provide sugary fried food in exchange for getting them.

Henson said he has voted in every general election since 1996 and considers the franchise “not for sale.” Asked whether a larger sum might change his position, he paused.

“I don’t know what the number would be,” he said. “It’s not five thousand.”

Trump first floated the payment last week at a Republican midterm convention, calling it a “Trump Dividend” for every adult U.S. citizen if his party keeps the House and Senate. The offer has been labeled a bribe by Democrats and, by at least one Republican member of Congress, an insult. Henson said he had seen clips of the speech on his phone but had not read the details.

“I already know how I’m voting,” he said. “The donut didn’t change that either. I was going to get the shot anyway. The donut was just there.”

His wife, reached by phone, confirmed the 2021 appointment. “He still mentions that donut,” she said. “Usually when we’re deciding where to stop for coffee.”

A spokesman for the parish health unit said vaccine incentive programs in 2021 were common, locally coordinated, and “not political.” No comparable pastry program is planned for the midterms.

Henson said he planned to vote early if the lines were short. He did not say for whom.