Trump administration officials are facing sharp criticism for lying –or making what economists and government watchdogs politely describe as “misleading claims”– about the nation’s $40 trillion federal debt.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently claimed, “There’s nothing magic about the $40 trillion number, and we can grow our way out of that.”
Bessent repeated the lie before the Group of 20 finance ministers meeting in North Carolina, saying: “The world is awash in debt and the only way for us to get out of this is to grow our way out of this.”
Vice President JD Vance echoed the position, telling Newsmax that Bessent’s strategy “is to get the economy to a point where it is growing faster than our debt.” He added, “If you look, we’re on track.”
However, official data contradicts the administration’s optimistic projections.
A June report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that publicly held debt “is projected to grow more than twice as fast as the economy over the next 10 years, reaching 123% of the size of the economy in 2036.”
The GAO warned that the “federal government’s unsustainable fiscal outlook poses serious economic, national security, and societal challenges”.
The debt surpassed $40 trillion earlier this year, exceeding Congressional Budget Office forecasts.
The CBO also projects annual deficits will continue rising through 2028, contradicting Bessent’s suggestion that deficits may have peaked.
Economists note that achieving growth sufficient to stabilize the debt would require annual real GDP growth of approximately 7.3% — more than double the historical postwar average of 3.2%.
Current GDP growth is 2.1% for the first quarter of 2026 and 1.5% for the second.
Vance has attributed the debt to the Biden administration, though CBO data shows the debt has risen nearly $5 trillion since Trump took office, exceeding the CBO’s original projections for this period.
During Trump’s first term, he added $8 trillion to the national debt, which makes him responsible for one-third of America’s total red ink.
The GAO has urged Congress and the White House to develop a long-term fiscal strategy, warning that delayed action “will need to be more dramatic.”
Spending by Trump’s administration is adding $1 trillion to the debt every 100 days, which would blow past $50 trillion before the first convicted felon is scheduled to leave the White House on January 20, 2029.
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