Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville sparred with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday night, pointing out President Donald Trump racked up the most federal debt in history during his first term.
Carville blasted Trump’s economic record during a conversation about Elon Musk, DOGE, and cutting down on waste.
During one point of a hearty back-and-forth interview, Carville hit Trump for racking up trillions in debt.
After Hannity noted DOGE could potentially save taxpayers $41 billion by cutting USAID spending alone, Carville dismissed the number as irrelevant when compared to the vast federal budget.
Carville said, “So take that and put it against the $6 trillion, and see what you’ve done when your president is responsible for more federal debt than any president in the history of the United States. So I will spot you $41 billion.”
According to ProPublica, Trump increased the national debt by $7.8 trillion during his first term in office – a single-term record.
Hannity at another point challenged Carville on federal spending.
The architect of Bill Clinton’s 1992 election win fired back:
HANNITY: You know, I was telling people today that you’re going to be on the show and on the radio is reminding people we would do debates against each other around the country. You’re one of the most fun people to ever hang out, but you’re also one of the smartest strategists I’ve ever
met. You are. And I’m not I’m not sucking up. Your old boss, with Newt Gingrich, balanced the budget five times. Hasn’t happened since. Now your party is against tens of billions spent abroad for a Green New Deal, DEI, woke agenda, and transgenderism. What happened?CARVILLE: Well, we’re gonna get that hundred million dollars for condoms for Hamas because –HANNITY: Cute answer, because tens and hundreds of billions –CARVILLE: You went for 10 minutes.HANNITY: All right. Go ahead. Go ahead.CARVILLE: If he can find the money, great. Give everybody $1,000. But I’ll tell you this, more deficit has accumulated under Donald Trump than any other president in American history. But I’m glad that you’re on the fiscal responsibility bandwagon. I’m glad you’re on the bandwagon of Bill Clinton being able to balance the budget and bring unbelievable prosperity to America.
According to Reuters, Carville is right on the deficit, but with an asterisk if pandemic spending is added to the equation. The 2024 fiscal year saw the highest federal deficit on record outside of Covid-era spending when bipartisan bills to prop up the economy were passed.
Reporting for the wire service, David Lawder wrote, “The U.S. budget deficit grew to $1.833 trillion for fiscal 2024, the highest outside of the COVID era, as interest on the federal debt exceeded $1 trillion for the first
Lawder added, ” The deficit for the year ended Sept. 30 was up 8%, or $138 billion, from the $1.695 trillion recorded in fiscal 2023. It was the third-largest federal deficit in U.S. history, after the pandemic relief-driven deficits of $3.132 trillion in fiscal 2020 and $2.772 trillion in fiscal 2021.”
Watch above via Fox News.