Talk show hosts Stephen A. Smith and Bill O’Reilly squabbled about whether President Donald Trump will lower the national debt.
The United States currently has a debt of $36 trillion. The debt total was $30 trillion in February 2022 before it increased by a trillion in October of that year. By the end of 2023, it increased to over $34 trillion. In July 2024, the national debt surpassed $35 trillion, and just 118 days later, the U.S. registered $36 trillion in debt.
“When we think about a $36 trillion debt, when we think about the state and the plight of this country, particularly on those terms, who’s more culpable? Is neither party? Is one party significantly more culpable than the other, or is it a combination of them all,” Smith asked O’Reilly on his podcast, the Stephen A. Smith Show Monday. “I’m saying, ‘Wait a minute, Reagan was in office, HW had a term, Reagan had two terms, W had two terms, Trump’s now back for a second time.’ I understand Obama and Clinton was in the mix. They interrupted the proceedings per se, but you had both parties up in there.”
“All of them. I mean, vote buying is just a scandal. ‘We’ll give you this, we’ll give you that, we’ll give you this, we’ll give you that, we’ll give you this.’ You can’t. They don’t have the money. This is a capitalistic nation. This isn’t Sweden, OK,” O’Reilly said. “But the Republicans, they have no interest in cutting anything. None. Because it’s too hard then.”
“Why in God’s name should anybody believe that Trump is going to be a better option than those individuals who preceded him that contributed to the deficit,” Smith asked.
“Because he’s doing it. That’s why he brought Musk in. He’s doing it. He’s going, ‘We’re going to wipe out a lot of the unnecessary spending.’ He’s doing it,” O’Reilly said. “And in the past, 90% of American politicians in both parties don’t want to supervise spending. It’s the last thing on their mind, Stephen A. It’s boring. It’s numbers on a sheet. They don’t want to do it.”
PETE HEGSETH UNVEILS ADDITIONAL $580 MILLION IN DOGE CUTS AT PENTAGON
O’Reilly acknowledged that Trump was unable to affect the national budget during his first term because “COVID wrecked everything.” According to the former Fox News anchor, Trump could focus first on the Pentagon since it has failed six consecutive audits.
Since Trump took office and nominated former Fox News host Pete Hegseth to head the Department of Defense, the department has cut $800 million from its spending by terminating contracts. The most recent budget passed by Congress slated $892.5 billion for defense spending, which is $8 billion more than in 2024.
