Super Stupid

Trump Doesn’t Know How Debt, or Stocks, or Anything Works

Written by SK Ashby

As often as Trump says ridiculous things, it's still fairly rare to see conservatives call him out for it. But Trump said something so preposterous last night the response from both sides of the aisle was nearly unanimous.

Trump appeared on Fox News with his personal fluffer Sean Hannity last night where he made the fantastical claim that stock market gains have eliminated a portion of the national debt.

"The country — we took it over and owed over $20 trillion," Trump said in an interview on Fox News, referring to the total national debt, which has hovered near $20 trillion since early 2016.

"As you know, the last eight years, [the federal government] borrowed more than it did in the whole history of our country," Trump said. "So they borrowed more than $10 trillion, right? And yet we picked up $5.2 trillion just in the stock market. Possibly picked up the whole thing in terms of the first nine months, in terms of value."

I'm fairly certain that $5.2 trillion is not $10 trillion. That is not how numbers work. That is also not how the stock market or the national debt works. Financial gains made by Wall Street do not belong to the United States Treasury.

Some people might say Trump actually does know how these things work and he was simply lying on Fox News, but personally I believe Trump is mentally deteriorating and does not have a firm grasp of reality or even the English language. But you don't have to take my word for it. Virtually every White House official and cabinet member that has the ear of a reporter in Washington says Trump is increasingly unhinged.

I don't know if I should even bother pointing that Trump's package of tax cuts for the rich would add another $5 trillion to the national debt. The gains made because of that also won't belong to the Treasury. At least not until people rise up and eat the rich.