The national debt surpassed a record $39 trillion on Wednesday, a milestone that comes just weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.
The unprecedented figure highlights competing administration priorities, from passing a massive tax law and boosting defense spending and immigration enforcement to chipping away at the debt itself — the latter of which Donald Trump promised to do as both a candidate and as president.



Uh, vaguely, yes. They’re essentially pinned to 0% because they need to get their inflation up, but that’s not really caused by their national debt. They’re definitely not in an enviable position overall, but their 260%+ debt:gdp ratio isn’t really why.