Trump’s Out-of-Control Debt Is Not a Bug. To the GOP, It’s a Feature.

But generally speaking, it’s been Republican presidents who’ve piled up the debt. And it’s not very close. Reagan’s percentage was 160.8; Dubya’s was 72.6. Obama’s was 64.4, Bush Sr.’s 42.3, and Trump’s 39.2 (those last two, remember, in just four years, not eight). So, golly—how can it be that the party of fiscal prudence is the party that runs up the debt?

It’s not a coincidence, folks. The debt is the amount of money the government has to borrow to cover its expenses. Said expenses are incurred, of course, when the government spends more than it takes in. Conservatives like to blame excessive spending, and it does no one a disservice to say that at times, they’re onto something.

But here’s an interesting point for us to chew on. In the 34 years after 1946 (that is, after World War II), the national debt went from 106 percent of gross domestic product to just 25 percent. The government was spending like crazy in those years: constructing a vast national security state, building interstate highways, creating Medicare and Medicaid, expanding the welfare state in myriad other ways. And yet, the debt remained under control.