Trump Added More to the National Debt Than Obama and Bush.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Not by %

https://www.thebalancemoney.com/us-debt-by-president-by-dollar-and-percent-3306296

Trump added 33.1% to the debt in his 4 years while Obama added 74% which means Obama’s average per year increase is higher than Trump’s too .

Keep in mind a huge chunk of Trump’s debt came from 2020 when COVID shut down the economy for months then significantly restricted it for a while afterwards so the government responded by trying to keep our economy afloat during that period with the passage of the cares act .

[OSR stands with Israel]

I'm repeating myself from other threads, but over the last 40+ years, only "tax and spend" liberals in the White House lowered the deficit, while "fiscally responsible" Republican presidents increased the debt by insane numbers. That's because they funded needless wars via credit card and gave away trillions of dollars in tax breaks for the rich and corporations. Democratic presidents aim just to spend money they actually have, and a lot of that goes into investments that make sure the economy keeps working.

I mean a huge amount of Trump’s debt came from the cares act and the fact we did an unprecedented stimulus . Even despite that his overall year to year average increase in debt was less than Obama’s so you have to take COVID into consideration.

[OSR stands with Israel]

I'm repeating myself from other threads, but over the last 40+ years, only "tax and spend" liberals in the White House lowered the deficit, while "fiscally responsible" Republican presidents increased the debt by insane numbers. That's because they funded needless wars via credit card and gave away trillions of dollars in tax breaks for the rich and corporations. Democratic presidents aim just to spend money they actually have, and a lot of that goes into investments that make sure the economy keeps working.

I mean a huge amount of Trump’s debt came from the cares act and the fact we did an unprecedented stimulus . Even despite that his overall year to year average increase in debt was less than Obama’s so you have to take COVID into consideration.

This is ridiculous. The Trump Administration deficit in 2019, before Covid, was right around $1 trillion. I think it's a valid criticism of the Obama Administration, and the Biden Administration, that they haven't reduced the deficit enough, but Obama's 2016 deficit was less than half of Trump's 2019 deficit, even though the economy was stronger in 2019 than in 2016.

You make some good points on economics, but if you are trying to deny that Republicans only pretend to care about the deficit/debt when a Democrat is President, you are lost.

To put it technically, Republicans are Neo Keynesians when a Republican is President but pretend to be Monetarists when a Democrat is President.

I am not saying the GOP is good in it (they aren’t) , just that the numbers aren’t as bad as they seem due to COVID. Look at the link I shared .


I consider George W Bush to be the worst president on this issue in modern times as he inherited a surplus , a great economy, and the US as a clear hegemon with no other rival and despite all of that he still ended up doubling the debt .

[OSR stands with Israel]

I'm repeating myself from other threads, but over the last 40+ years, only "tax and spend" liberals in the White House lowered the deficit, while "fiscally responsible" Republican presidents increased the debt by insane numbers. That's because they funded needless wars via credit card and gave away trillions of dollars in tax breaks for the rich and corporations. Democratic presidents aim just to spend money they actually have, and a lot of that goes into investments that make sure the economy keeps working.

I mean a huge amount of Trump’s debt came from the cares act and the fact we did an unprecedented stimulus . Even despite that his overall year to year average increase in debt was less than Obama’s so you have to take COVID into consideration.

This is ridiculous. The Trump Administration deficit in 2019, before Covid, was right around $1 trillion. I think it's a valid criticism of the Obama Administration, and the Biden Administration, that they haven't reduced the deficit enough, but Obama's 2016 deficit was less than half of Trump's 2019 deficit, even though the economy was stronger in 2019 than in 2016.

You make some good points on economics, but if you are trying to deny that Republicans only pretend to care about the deficit/debt when a Democrat is President, you are lost.

To put it technically, Republicans are Neo Keynesians when a Republican is President but pretend to be Monetarists when a Democrat is President.

I am not saying the GOP is good in it (they aren’t) , just that the numbers aren’t as bad as they seem due to COVID. Look at the link I shared .


I consider George W Bush to be the worst president on this issue in modern times as he inherited a surplus , a great economy, and the US as a clear hegemon with no other rival and despite all of that he still ended up doubling the debt .

That's fine, but your math is wrong though. The 33.1% increase under Trump is from a higher base than Obama's 74% increase (over 8 years.) That website, which is showing the net debt, I believe, so that it adds, I believe, increases in the interest on the debt payments,  shows that the average of Trump's deficits is higher than the average of Obama's deficits. Trump had to deal with Covid in his final year, but Obama had to deal with the fallout from the Great Recession. The Obama Administration's final deficit was, I believe, $465 billion, whereas the Trump Administration's, pre Covid, was $996 billion, even though the economy was stronger in 2019 than in 2016.

Sure, this is a headline that doesn't take Covid into account, but a $1 trillion deficit is astounding, and was about 5% of GDP. At worst economists say that a deficit to GDP ratio is not sustainable if above 3%. Of course, the United States is protected by being the World Reserve Currency/Petrodollar, but there is no mistaking that if this were not the case, or if the United States loses this status (as slowly seems to be happening) that the United States would likely be seeking loans from the IMF.

I was talking about average % increase and not the raw amount . I also don’t think Trump’s numbers were good either , just the vast increase seems higher than it was cause of COVID . I certainly don’t think Obama also deserves the blame for much of his debt increase due to the fact he took office during the  Great Recession .

I think much of the debt we have I incurred since 2000  comes for these 4 reasons

1. The War in Iraq and the massive increases in the military budget since 9/11
2. The Great Recession
3. COVID
4. Interest payments on the debt