Analysis: Trump vowed to eliminate the debt in 8 years. He’s on track to leave it at least 50 percent higher.
By Heather Long Heather Long Economics correspondent Email Bio Follow March 12 at 11:59 AM In March of 2016, then candidate Donald Trump told The Washington Post he could eliminate the entire U.S. debt in eight years. Now that he’s president, Trump is doing the exact opposite.
To put it another way, if the economy does not have an awe-inspiring ride in the next decade and instead performs more like what CBO anticipates, Trump would be on track to add close to $10 trillion to debt held by the public by 2025 — more than the $7 trillion added under former president Barack Obama.
But Trump’s own budget calculations show that reducing taxes and making heavy cuts to domestic programs do not balance the budget . If he serves eight years, Trump would leave with higher debt as a percent of GDP than when he entered office, according to White House forecasts. Social Security and Medicare are driving forces of growing government spending in the years to come. Trump also promised during the 2016 campaign he would not touch Medicare or Social Security. In his latest budget proposal, he includes a $845 billion cut to Medicare.
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