The United States’ debt to foreign creditors currently sits at $21 trillion. However, while debt is an issue the Republican Party has expressed interest in over the years, it’s one President Donald Trump reportedly is not concerned about.
According to the Daily Beast, Trump’s various advisors have implored him to work on the country’s rising debt. Trump, however, has consistently been unfazed, knowing that he will no longer be in office when the debt becomes too untenable.
Early last year, senior officials presented the president with graphs demonstrating an impending “hockey stick”-shaped drop the national debt will soon face. Trump responded to the information by noticing that this spike will only occur after he’s out of the Oval Office, saying, “Yeah, but I won’t be here.” Both Trump’s staff and other people in his orbit have never heard him express any genuine concern over the debt, with one former White House official saying, “I never once heard him talk about the debt.”
Many on social media have joked about Trump’s commitment to the debt, drawing a connection between his economic policies and the bankruptcies many of his old businesses endured. Some also compared his disinterest in the debt to his similar lack of concern over climate change.
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However, Marc Short, Trump’s former legislative affairs director, thinks the president is aware of “the threat that debt poses,” looking towards Trump’s interest in “rising interest rates” as proof of his concern. “But there’s no doubt this administration and this Congress need to address spending because we have out-of-control entitlement programs,” Short noted. “It’s fair to say that… the president would be skeptical of anyone who claims that they would know exactly when a [debt] crisis really comes home to roost.”
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One of Trump’s spokespeople, Hogan Gidley, cited how the White House has suggested policies to help reduce the debt, “including in his first budget that actually would’ve balanced in 10 years, a historic, common-sense rescissions proposal.” Gidley also shifted the blame to Congress, saying the Constitution gives them the power to spend.
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