Silke Jasso
On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to lambast the media for not covering the fact that, during his first month in office, the debt had decreased by $12 billion as opposed to a $200 billion increase during Barack Obama’s first month in office.
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“The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo[nth],” Trump tweeted.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/835479283699224576
There’s just one problem with his assertion.
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While the overall debt has decreased by $12 billion, the reason, as reported by Business Insider, is most likely due to the government juggling its intra-governmental holdings.
Debt held by the public hasn’t budged much since Inauguration Day, and even the small amount that it did change, bounced up and down depending on the day.
Also, even if the debt had ticked down significantly, the government is still operating under a budget that was put in place before Trump took office so the new administration would have little to do with it.
As far as former President Obama increasing the debt, when he took office the country was in the midst of a significant economic downturn. According to Business Insider, the former president took on debt in an attempt to stimulate the economy, writing, “Both Obama and his predecessor George W. Bush signed into law bills to inject large amounts of capital into the economy to both save the financial sector and get people back to work.”
President Trump, while not inheriting a perfect economy, is certainly starting at a better place than Obama did.
Furthermore, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, if Trump keeps all of his campaign promises, he will significantly add to the deficit.
