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“BALANCED BUDGET!!! DJT” Donald Trump posted that promise on February 7, 2025, the 18th day of his current presidential term. During the 2024 campaign, he had promised even more: the elimination of the entire national debt in a single term of office.
Trump insisted that he could reach his budget goals without disagreeable spending cuts. At a rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in July 2024, Trump pledged to make “not one penny” in cuts to Social Security and Medicare. He repeated that “not one penny” promise countless times through 2024, including in the Republican platform. Instead, he proposed eliminating deficits and debt with magic money from growth, from crypto, and—above all—from tariffs. Tariffs would generate so much revenue that they might replace the income tax, maybe even finance a $2,000 dividend for every American taxpayer.
Basic budget math contradicted Trump’s fantasies. The United States imported about $3.3 trillion in goods in 2024. The budget deficit for that year was about $1.8 trillion. To imagine that tariffs could eliminate the budget deficit required believing that the Trump administration would impose a 55 percent tariff on all imports—including oil, natural gas, and electricity—and that consumers would pay this tariff without altering their buying behavior at all. That was all obviously absurd.
This situation is getting worse. With hundreds of billions needed for the Iran war, and a request to increase Pentagon's budget by $500 billion. Will any of his voters notice? Are there any grownups in Congress capable of making hard decisions on funding and taxation?
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/10/trump-budget-deficit-debt/689085/
@wildgrass said===Are there any grownups in Congress capable of making hard decisions on funding and taxation?===
[quote]“BALANCED BUDGET!!! DJT” Donald Trump posted that promise on February 7, 2025, the 18th day of his current presidential term. During the 2024 campaign, he had promised even more: the elimination of the entire national debt in a single term of office.
Trump insisted that he could reach his budget goals without disagreeable spending cuts. At a rally in St. Cloud, Mi ...[text shortened]... funding and taxation?
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/10/trump-budget-deficit-debt/689085/
Obviously not. It would be nice if either side were populated by grown-ups, but if you think people like AOC and El-Sayed are going to balance the federal budgets, I've got a bridge to sell you.
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@sh76 saidI mean, one side has a plan and the other side doesn't. When Democrats are in charge, deficits go down, and when Republicans are in charge deficits go up.
===Are there any grownups in Congress capable of making hard decisions on funding and taxation?===
Obviously not. It would be nice if either side were populated by grown-ups, but if you think people like AOC and El-Sayed are going to balance the federal budgets, I've got a bridge to sell you.
Sure, you could say that they might fail to execute the plan to raise money from wealthy individuals and conglomerate corporations, and cut wasteful military spending based on Pentagon recommendations, but at least there is a plan.
So you could say they are selling a fake bridge, but the Republicans have nothing but empty promises.
@wildgrass
Wildgas said the deficit goes down with Democrats in power? LoL
Yaa they raise taxes and spend more on useless expenses for poor people like empty daycares like the "learing center"
8 billion in government fraud by dem voters just recently.
Billions more for foreign aid 🙄
Is Africa nice and normal yet?
I didn't think so.
@wildgrass
The list goes on and on...
Dems talk about "balance the budget"....to get elected, then they dole out plenty of cash to useless causes.
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@J-D saidYou question whether it is true and then cite reasons why it is true. That's a weird response.
@wildgrass
Wildgas said the deficit goes down with Democrats in power? LoL
Yaa they raise taxes and spend more on useless expenses for poor people like empty daycares like the "learing center"
8 billion in government fraud by dem voters just recently.
Billions more for foreign aid 🙄
Is Africa nice and normal yet?
I didn't think so.
You can look at 45 years of US politics for evidence of these trends. Reagan, Bush, Bush, and Trump. All 4 presidents left their offices with larger budget deficits than when they started. But Clinton, Obama, and Biden all decreased deficit spending over their terms.
Yes, they raise taxes to pay for their spending. That's how it should be. Republicans on the other hand raise spending and cut taxes, inexplicably.
@wildgrass
Repubs have to spend more to fix your dem policies that are useless and ruiness 😉
I made up that word ruiness
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@J-D saidThat's fine, spend. But then if you can identify reasons to spend then you should raise the money and not hoist the debt on future generations.
@wildgrass
Repubs have to spend more to fix your dem policies that are useless and ruiness 😉
I made up that word ruiness
@wildgrass
I don't think future generations are going to be worth worrying about.
Look at third world countries and American cities and Europe...
Those people aren't going to maintain the American ideal so why bother looking out for their future.
They hate the western way of life.
I'm glad I am relatively old, it's going to get bad.
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@J-D saidThis is the precise attitude that has led conservatives and the Republican party astray. Fiscal conservatism has been cast aside and replaced by an attitude that you can keep your ice cream and eat your ice cream.
@wildgrass
I don't think future generations are going to be worth worrying about.
Look at third world countries and American cities and Europe...
Those people aren't going to maintain the American ideal so why bother looking out for their future.
They hate the western way of life.
I'm glad I am relatively old, it's going to get bad.
Who cares about the future, just spend like drunken sailors and keep taxes low on the rich. That's the whole philosophy of that political party now.
@wildgrass saidSo now you're a conservative?
This is the precise attitude that has led conservatives and the Republican party astray. Fiscal conservatism has been cast aside and replaced by an attitude that you can keep your ice cream and eat your ice cream.
Who cares about the future, just spend like drunken sailors and keep taxes low on the rich. That's the whole philosophy of that political party now.
When we wanted to end foreign aid y'all flipped out.
When we exposed fraud by Dems and immigrants, y'all flipped out.
You don't actually care about debt and the future, you just want to complain about Repubs
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1 edit
@J-D saidFor many decades, conservatives saw foreign aid as a critical tool for stabilizing global economic markets and supporting allies that punched way above its weight in terms of return on investments. Recent major US expansions of global aid programs came under Republican presidential leadership (Reagan and Bush).
So now you're a conservative?
When we wanted to end foreign aid y'all flipped out.
When we exposed fraud by Dems and immigrants, y'all flipped out.
You don't actually care about debt and the future, you just want to complain about Repubs
USAID was widely supported by 11 different presidents for 64 consecutive years. As recently as 2024, foreign aid funding passed the senate 70-29. Populism and your dumb culture war politics changed all that. I stayed behind.
@wildgrass
Ya well those countries and it's people are not capable of getting better.
Time to cut them off.
You sound like a parent that refuses to admit they have a bad kid.
"He a good boy, he din do nuffin 🥴"
You want to keep paying them forever because they are dumb?
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1 edit
@J-D saidAnd you sound like a brooding teenager overwhelmed with hormones
@wildgrass
Ya well those countries and it's people are not capable of getting better.
Time to cut them off.
You sound like a parent that refuses to admit they have a bad kid.
"He a good boy, he din do nuffin 🥴"
You want to keep paying them forever because they are dumb?
The fundamental concept behind foreign aid was to help United States interests both from a defensive point of view and an economic point of view. If there were specific things that weren't serving those interests, then of course it should be eliminated but eliminating all foreign aid was obviously dumb and counterproductive.
If the toilets clogged in the bathroom, you don't demolish the whole house to fix it.