Trump Increases National Debt by $3 Trillion

The national debt has actually increased by $3 trillion since President Donald Trump took office, this being blamed on the massive tax cut for the rich and corporations and for the increased military spending, CBS reports.

“In nearly three years, it rose 15% — from $19.9 trillion to $22.9 trillion, according to the latest numbers from the Treasury Department,” the report noted. Despite what Trump has repeatedly called “the greatest economy in history,” the Trump tax cuts have meant less revenue while spending has increased.

As early as 2012, Trump was complaining about the growing national debt. “With all the talk of fiscal responsibility” at the Democratic National Convention, he tweeted, “it was ironic that the debt passed $16T.”

“Congratulations to Barack Obama for having 2012’s debt already surpass 2011,” he tweeted that October.

Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Mark Sanford in a new interview stated that the U.S. national debt and deficit could “blow up,” warning that certain economic conditions for the country parallel those in the period leading up to the Great Depression.

“This debt, deficit government spending thing is going to blow up on people. We’re living in the 1920s all over again and we don’t even realize it, and what followed the 1920s was a thing called the Great Depression,” Sanford said.

Sanford said in the interview that while he agrees with President Trump on most immigration issues and the need to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump has not reduced the national debt or deficit since entering office. He also noted that Trump has not completed the border wall that was a central component of his 2016 White House bid.

“For all of the banter that’s gone back and forth, he hasn’t gotten it done,” Sanford said. “I mean he’s certainly caused a lot of friction, a lot of smoke and fire, but there’s not been an additional mile of wall built. So you have a question of results and you have a question of broken promises with things that are core that are going to materially impact people’s lives.”