Reporter Asks JD Vance About the U.S.’s $40 Trillion Debt. He Blames Biden Instead
If in trouble, blame the last guy.
For the first time in history, the U.S.’s debt touched $40 trillion, according to information revealed by the Treasury Department on Wednesday. A Reuters article dated August 20, 2026, notes that as of Tuesday, the total public debt stood at $40.047 trillion. The figure includes $32.266 trillion in Treasury securities held by the public and $7.782 trillion in intra-governmental debt holdings.
On August 20, 2026, Vice President JD Vance spoke to Newsmax about the debt issue, stating that the Trump administration was actively working to address it. However, online attention focused not on his assurance, but on a clip from the interview circulating on social media, where Vance blames the previous Biden administration, claiming the Trump administration merely inherited this debt.
He said, “Even though the debt is too high. Even though we have inherited this debt bomb from the Biden administration, we actually do have a plan to get the economy growing faster than the debt, and that’s the most important thing.” He continued: “The issue that we have had under the Biden administration and what we’re still kind of dealing with is that the debt was growing faster than American GDP.”
Just a few months ago, Vance blamed Biden and his administration for soaring gas prices
This isn’t Vance’s first time blaming the Biden administration for something when accountability is demanded. Four months ago, Vance was asked about soaring gas prices in the U.S. amid its ongoing war with Iran, which has disrupted service in the Strait of Hormuz. He did acknowledge the price hike but also took more than a moment to attribute it to the Biden administration.
In a clip shared by Representative Jimmy Gomez on social media from an interview Vance appeared in, he says, “Yes, energy prices are higher. First of all, they are higher from a baseline where we’ve never had the terrible energy prices that we have had in the last administration. We know the American people are hurting. The energy prices, while painful, will not be around forever.”
How much did each president add to the U.S.’s debt?
According to Al Jazeera, the total U.S. debt has doubled since 2017, coinciding with Trump’s first term (2017-2021) as president. When he assumed power, the debt was $19.95 trillion, and during his first term it rose by $7.8 trillion, partly due to COVID-19-related expenses, according to the source. Biden, on the other hand, added $8.4 trillion to the debt during his term (2021-2025), also in part attributable to the pandemic.
In his second term, Trump (2025 onwards) has allegedly added $3.8 trillion to the total debt, which takes his total across two terms to $11.6 trillion. Notably, Trump added this amount in just over a year, suggesting debt accumulation could increase sharply in the coming years.
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