Making the Case: August 20, 2026

The United States national debt officially hit $40 trillion this week—doubling in just the last ten years. Republicans have spent decades putting tax cuts and foreign wars on the nation’s credit card, and interest payments on the debt alone now cost more than the entire defense budget. Yet, when the country needs more scrutiny over how our money is spent, Trump has spent his term in office firing watchdogs meant to catch waste, replacing them with political loyalists who serve him over the American people.

• The national debt just hit a staggering new milestone.

  • The U.S. national debt reached $40 trillion this week, adding another trillion in just the last five months, as experts warn “our current fiscal trajectory is plainly unsustainable.” [AP News]

    • The debt has doubled in the last decade and quadrupled in less than 20 years. [Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget]

  • The annualized interest on the debt alone costs $1.2 trillion, more than the current defense budget. [Axios]

    • This rising debt is costing American families thousands of dollars, as higher debt leads to higher interest rates. [Center for American Progress]

  • The national debt hit $40 trillion months before forecasters expected, partially because the nation lost billions in revenue from Trump’s invalidated tariffs. [Washington Post]

    • Eight years ago, Trump said “We have $21 trillion in debt… a number that is unthinkable. But that will go down very quickly.” Since then, the debt has nearly doubled. [MS Now]

• Decades of Republicans’ fiscal mismanagement, through foreign wars and tax cuts for the rich, created massive debt that will burden Americans for generations.

  • New analysis shows that Republican tax cuts—including the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, the 2017 Trump tax cuts, and the Big Beautiful Bill—account for about 30% of the debt’s growth since 2001. [Peter G. Peterson Foundation]

  • America’s post-9/11 wars are estimated to have cost nearly $8 trillion, including ongoing costs for veteran’s care, and were funded through debt rather than taxes—a strategy Trump is now deploying to fight his Iran War. [Brown University]

  • This debt will burden the next generation, as public finance expert Linda Bilmes said, “The result is that the interest costs alone will add billions of dollars to the total cost” of the Iran War and “unlike the upfront costs, these are costs we are explicitly passing on to the next generation.” [Harvard Kennedy School]

• As the bill comes due, Trump has turned government watchdogs meant to catch waste into his personal political weapons.

  • In just the first six months of his second term, Trump fired or demoted at least 20 inspectors general. He also cut staff by up to 30% in some offices, leaving many without permanent, independent leadership. [New York Times]

  • Trump has installed political lackeys in place of these watchdogs. His loyalists are investigating Trump’s opponents rather than their own departments and have led 15% fewer audits and 25% fewer investigative reports this year. [New York Times]

    • Trump nominated Dennis Kirk—a Project 2025 co-author—as the Interior Department’s Inspector General. Watchdogs are concerned a “right-wing operative” like Kirk could try to thwart any efforts to investigate the botched no-bid Lincoln Reflecting Pool renovation. [New York Times]

• Voters overwhelmingly want to address the national debt, and Republicans are losing their historical advantage on fiscal issues.

  • 90% of voters are concerned that the national debt’s effect on inflation is increasing the cost of living, and 85% are concerned the national debt’s effect on interest rates is contributing to higher borrowing costs. [Peter G. Peterson Foundation]

  • As of May, 83% of voters say having a plan to address the debt is a deciding factor in who they will vote for. [Peter G. Peterson Foundation]

  • Republicans no longer have an edge on economic and fiscal issues: Americans trust Democrats more than Republicans on economic policy (37% to 36%) and on policies to deal with the budget deficit (33% to 31%). [Pew Research]

  • Voters’ skepticism that Republicans will deal with fiscal issues is justified, as one pundit noted, “budget deficits have grown by massive amounts under every Republican administration (Reagan, Bush 1, Bush 2 and Trump), while shrinking under every Democratic administration (Clinton, Obama and Biden).” [MS Now]

Share this video showing Trump’s hypocrisy, running his campaign on paying off the debt while sending it soaring as president.

(Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)