Donald Trump has been taking heat for saying that he plans to pay off the entire $19 trillion national debt in eight years while at the same time promising a massive tax cut that would cost $12 trillion and calling for budget-busting spending programs.
Trump told radio host Joe Pags over the weekend that he will do this by putting the squeeze on Japan and appointing “great people” to cut the budget of each federal department “2 or 3 percent.” Such a plan, Trump said, would be “very easy” to pull off.
The GOP presidential frontrunner, who has previously said that he would be fine with Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia acquiring nuclear weapons in order to reduce the U.S. burden to defend those nations, said he would cut the national debt by putting the squeeze on countries like Japan, never mind the threat it faces from North Korea. These budget cuts and new tribute payments, Trump explained, will not only cover the national debt but will also fund his huge tax and spending plans.
“It’s possible that if Japan doesn’t want to pay up, we’ll say, ‘Good luck and defend yourself,’” he said. “If that means they’re going to have to arm in some way, they’re going to have to arm in some way. We can’t afford to — we’re paying for the military of Japan. And every time this maniac in North Korea — and it’s a bigger problem for them than it is for us, frankly — every time this maniac in North Korea raises his head, we start doubling up. At one point do people take care of us? We’re a debtor nation. Our country is falling apart. Our infrastructure is dying. We owe all of those trillions of dollars. $19, it’s going to be $21 very soon with that stupid budget that was just passed three months ago, the omnibus budget, at what point do we say, ‘Enough, enough’?”
He predicted that the Japanese government would eventually acquiesce to President Trump’s demand to “pay much more money” for military protection and that Saudi Arabia would also pay up: “They don’t like us so much and you know what, with me, they’re going to like us and they’re going to pay more and they’re going to be very happy, okay?”
Warning that companies are outsourcing all of America’s jobs, Trump said that “we’re not going to have anything left and I know how to stop it in two seconds.”
“I know how to fix it, so easy, that aspect of it,” Trump continued. “And even, you know, the nuclear. I am doing so good on nuclear by people that are fair. What’s happening now is we’re paying for the world’s — we’re like the world’s policeman but they don’t pay us for it. We lose a fortune on the military. You know, our military budget is phenomenally higher than any other budget but it’s not for us, we’re protecting everybody else and we lose a fortune. Frankly, Joe, we lose a fortune on everything we do and we have to make our country strong financially again and if we don’t do that we’re never going to have a strong country again. And I’ll save Social Security. I’ll save things that everyone else says can’t be saved because I’ll bring back all of this money that we’re wasting on other countries.”
“We’re going to have a country like you wouldn’t believe,” he said.
Trump did not discuss his plan to bomb and then seize oilfields in the Middle East and send the profits to veterans’ families.
