CNN's "Table for Five" panel delivered a scathing assessment of President Donald Trump's late-stage push to entice voters ahead of the midterm elections, with commentators comparing his string of giveaways to a third grader running class president on a platform of "pie in the sky" promises.

On Saturday's edition of the CNN program, host Abby Phillip opened the discussion by cataloging the incentives Trump has dangled before voters in recent weeks — a stretch that has coincided with persistent polling showing the GOP headed toward a potentially major wipeout against Democrats in the midterms. Among the promises highlighted: Trump's claim that every American adult would receive $5,000 if Republicans won both the House and Senate, and his pledge to help pass a new bill allowing the year-round sale of certain fuel blends. Midterm elections decide control of the House and Senate, and both proposals would hinge on congressional action — meaning the promises' ultimate fate rests with the same voters being asked to deliver Republican majorities.

Phillip framed the strategy as the political equivalent of a schoolyard campaign.

"Remember the kid in third grade who made wild promises if he became student government president?" Phillip said. "Chocolate milk in the water fountains, no more homework, pizza Fridays every day. Well, with just ten days to go until the midterms, Donald Trump is wandering the halls delivering a pie in the sky. The president is making a laundry list of promises to voters, but most of them are coming with a catch: his party has to win."

After airing a compilation of Trump's recent pledges, Phillip argued the approach "rings hollow," pointing to both the steep cost of proposals like the $5,000 check plan and Trump's record of similar past promises — including dividend checks for all American adults supposedly funded by tariff revenue and cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Former Trump staffer Alyssa Farrah Griffin told the panel that the timing all but guaranteed the promises would fail to move voters.

"It feels like a little too late to be doing any kind of handouts at this point," she said. "Listen, how people feel about the economy is baked in at this point. The price of gas, inflation, low jobs. We've just had a revision of the jobs report that was pretty abysmal for the last quarter. That's not where you want to be heading into the midterms. So you do kind of have to come up with these free giveaways. There's not really another message to proactively sell... And I think while people do appreciate relief, I think that they do, frankly, see it as sort of a bribe for their vote."

California Democratic Rep. Katie Porter took the criticism further, contending that Trump is making pledges he expects never to have to keep.

"But I think this helps him in the sense that afterwards, when Democrats win, he can be like, 'Well, see, I know you can't make ends meet, but if we won the House, I would have given you $5,000,'" Porter said. "'I know we're not giving you anything for your, you know, being a victim of water, poisoned water. But, you know, if we voted differently.' So to me, he's throwing these things out here knowing full well that he's not going to have to deliver on them, because Republicans are very unlikely to win the House. And he's saying, you've got to win the House, you got to win the Senate. Like, I don't think they're going to win either, but I think he's letting himself say, 'Now, see, I offered you these things and you, the American people,' he's shifting blame onto the American people for why they're not going to get these things."

This article is based on reporting from Alternet.