Unlike many of his rivals for the 2016 presidential nomination -- Jeb(!) Bush, Ted Cruz -- Trump never expressed any real concern about the rising deficits (and debt) in the country, nor did he seem terribly concerned about its potential impacts on the economy either now or in the future.
...
Given that history, no one could, really, be surprised by the lack of interest or concern Trump has shown about adding to yearly deficits since being elected president.
From that piece:
"The decade-long shredding of these hard-fought budget constraints mirrors the shredding of Republican credibility on fiscal responsibility."
Donald Trump: “We’ve got to get rid of the $19 trillion in debt.”
Bob Woodward: “How long would that take?”
Trump: “I think I could do it fairly quickly, because of the fact the numbers…”
Woodward: “What’s fairly quickly?”
Trump: “Well, I would say over a period of eight years. And I’ll tell you why.”
Woodward: “Would you ever be open to tax increases as part of that, to solve the problem?”
Trump: “I don’t think I’ll need to. The power is trade. Our deals are so bad.”
Woodward: “That would be $2 trillion a year.”
Trump: “No, but I’m renegotiating all of our deals, Bob. The big trade deals that we’re doing so badly on. With China, $505 billion this year in trade. We’re losing with everybody.”
— exchange during a Washington Post interview, March 31, 2016
or the year before, in New Hampshire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YudyGPDYIcsor...
in an interview with CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin and Becky Quick on May 5, 2016.
Sorkin: “Mr. Trump, you talk about debt. And you are to some degree the king of debt. I appreciate that point. You have also renegotiated debt agreements over the years. Do you believe that we, in terms of the United States, need to pay a hundred cents on the dollar, or do you think that there’s actually ways that we can renegotiate that debt?”
Trump: “Yeah, I think — look. I have borrowed, knowing that you can pay back with discounts. And I have done very well with debt. Now, of course, I was swashbuckling, and it did well for me and it was good for me and all that. And you know, debt was sort of always interesting to me. Now we’re in a different situation with the country. But I would borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal. And if the economy was good, it was good. So, therefore, you can’t lose. It’s like, you know, you make a deal before you go into a poker game, and your odds are so much better.” …
Quick: “I understand that you’ve done this in business deals, but are you suggesting we would negotiate with the U.S. credit in such a way?”
Trump: “No, I think this. I think there are times for us to refinance. We refinance debt with longer term. Because you know, we owe so much money. … I could see long-term renegotiations, where we borrow long-term at very low rates.” …
Quick: “But let’s be clear. I mean, you’re not talking about renegotiating sovereign bonds that the U.S. has already issued?”
Trump: “No. I don’t want to renegotiate the bonds. But I think you can do discounting, I think, you know, depending on where interest rates are, I think you can buy back. You can — I’m not talking about with a renegotiation, but you can buy back at discounts, you can do things with discounts. … I would refinance debt. I think we should refinance longer-term debt.”
or perhaps...
“This is the United States government. First of all, you never have to default because you print the money,” Trump said on CNN’s “New Day. “I hate to tell you. So there’s never a default.”
“This is the United States government. First of all, you never have to default because you print the money,” Trump said on CNN’s “New Day. “I hate to tell you. So there’s never a default.”
Is your argument that we should never have believed him, Kid?
Funny, that was
our argument!
Or as was written in 2016:
But one thing seems fairly certain: a Donald Trump presidency is likely to have little regard for decreasing the national debt (the cumulative amount owed by the federal government) or the annual budget deficit. Some of us are shocked that the national debt has nearly doubled (from roughly $10 trillion to nearly $20 trillion) on President Obama’s watch, but that number will likely grow under President Trump, perhaps even on a similar scale.
~David Davenport, contributor to Fortune
I take your post of that segment as concession by you that Trump isn't going to be keeping that promise, after you've spent a year telling us we are being impatient.
It is to laugh.
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