Well, there was one line of truth in all the lies Donald Trump has said since he went down that escalator to announce his candidacy for the Presidency.
The man who bankrupted a casino is "The King of Debt."
Under the leadership of tax cut, increasing defense spending, poorly administered military ventures, pandemic mismanagement, tariff refunds, and a screw the poor and middle class agenda, Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan, both Bushes, and now Donald Trump, the United States has gone from roughly a trillion-dollar national debt following the Carter/Mondale Administration to now $40 trillion.
The only Administration in this time period to actually balance the budget and achieve a surplus. The Democratic Clinton/Gore Administration.
Close to 30 percent of the national debt occurred under the two Trump Administrations.
This is while Trump and his family are openly using their positions to make billions for themselves.
So much for being the party of fiscal responsibility.
What is Trump and his MAGA minions, like JD Vance, have in response to this?
Blame Joe Biden, and we have a plan.
Sorry. Not in this reality, and Democrats should do a better job at defending the Biden/Harris Administrations record instead of allowing Trump and his loyalists to just say this latest big lie with no response.
While the national debt did increase under the Biden/Harris Administration, much of that was due to cleaning up the pandemic mismanagement mess left by Trump.
A similar case can be made for President Obama, who had to launch economic stimulus measures to counter the Great Recession, which was caused in part by conservative and, yes, Clintonian deregulation of the economy, housing, and banking sectors by repealing Glass-Steagall.
With regard to Trump and his allies having a plan to solve the fiscal crisis after he said in 2016 that the debt would be gone by now.
Remember these are the same people who said they would bring prices down, make government more efficient, and end the war in Ukraine on day one of their return to power.
Look how well that turned out!
Reacting to the United States hitting the $40 trillion mark, Matters of State Strategies Vice President Matt Grodsky commented to Blog for Arizona:
"40 trillion reasons why 47 (Trump) needs to go. Democrats need to remind voters and especially moderate Republicans about the debt under his watch."
Zach Moller, Director of Third Way’s Economic Program commented:
“$40 trillion is a staggering milestone, but it didn’t happen by accident: Republican presidents have repeatedly chosen to borrow for large tax cuts and major military commitments rather than pay for them. More alarming than this big round number, however, is the direction we’re headed. President Trump has doubled down with trillions of dollars in additional deficit-financed tax cuts, while tariffs and conflict in the Middle East are putting new pressure on inflation and interest rates. We cannot afford for President Trump to keep taking a bad fiscal situation and making it worse."
Senator Mark Kelly posted:
The growing national debt is a ticking fiscal time bomb that has to be addressed.
Political leaders who do not treat it as important or pay lip service to it to get votes (Reagan, Bush II, and Trump) should be ignored.
Furthermore, when Democrats do regain power in Congress and the Oval Office, they had better have a ready-made agenda and public relations campaign to reduce the debt while also providing for needed and overdue investments in lifting the American People up, like paid leave, universal pre-k and full-day kindergarten, free school meals, Medicare and Medicaid expansion, apprenticeships, Pell Grants increases, and restoring food assistance programs.
As Senator Kelly said in another post:
Do not repeat the mistake of 1993 when Bill Clinton and Al Gore allowed hypocrite Republicans and Ross Perot to frame the political discussion around reducing the deficit and putting out Harry and Louise commercials attacking Hillary Clinton's health care plan.
This is after Reagan and Bush increased the national debt from one to about six trillion dollars during their 12 years in office.
Democrats need to frame the argument of combining deficit reduction, reducing the national debt, and investing in the American People now and again and again before hypocritical Republicans pull out their fiscal conservative tighten-the-belts religion argument just when Democrats are in charge and convince the gullible that, despite their record of economic. mismanagement and incompetence, they are right on the economy.
The below scenes in 1970's adapation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar show how important it is for Democrats to speak first and last to the people in making the argument for their economic agenda and with the right speaker.
The Bard knew about the human condition as well as anyone and the value of choosing the right messenger to deliver the message.
Democrats should remember this lesson as well.
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