Former President Donald Trump’s GOP rivals lined during the second primary debate to attack him for increasing the national debt as president.
The last year of Trump’s time in office lined up with the coronavirus pandemic and massive federal spending packages, which were backed by Trump (and many other Republicans), caused the national debt to soar. From Trump’s first day in office to his last, the national debt increased by $7.8 trillion, according to the Treasury Department — from just under $20 trillion when he took office to nearly $28 trillion when he left.
The candidates painted Trump as fiscally irresponsible and worked to compare him to former President Joe Biden. They also noted the inflationary effects that large influxes of federal spending can have on the economy and attacked the former president to once again sitting out the debate.
“Donald Trump is missing an action,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “He should be on this stage tonight. He owes it to you to defend his record where they added $7.8 trillion to the debt. That set the stage for the inflation that we have.”
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DeSantis who polling a distant second to Trump among Republican primary voters, blamed those in Washington, D.C. for hobbling the American dream through rampant borrowing and spending, imperiling the country’s fiscal future.
“As your president, when they send me a bloating spending bill that's going to cause your prices to go up, I'm going to take out this veto pen, and I'm going to send it right back to them,” the Florida governor said.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, perhaps Trump’s most vociferous critic on the debate stage, tore into the former president.
“He put $7 trillion on the debt. He should be in this room to answer those questions for the people you talk about who are suffering,” Christie, who has frequently lambasted Trump for skipping the primary debates, told the crowd.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who also served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, blamed the country’s inflationary plague squarely on excess government spending.
She specifically targeted Biden’s spending since being sworn into office as contributing to higher prices being felt by consumers at gas pumps and grocery stores across the country.
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Christie agreed with Haley’s assessment and said Biden hasn’t stepped up or shown leadership on the matter.
“They just want to keep kicking the can down the road. And the inflation that Nikki spoke about is absolutely right,” the former New Jersey governor said. “And it’s caused by government spending. And that’s why people all across this country are suffering tonight.”