A New York Times chart showing the stark impact President Donald Trump’s administration has had on the federal deficit made the rounds on social media Wednesday, prompting a mix of alarm and mockery, including among conservatives.
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Steve Rattner’s graphic, titled “The Deficit Is Projected to Keep Growing,” tracks the federal budget deficit from Obama through a projected second Trump term, with red bars climbing toward a forecast $3.1 trillion by 2036.
“Trump promised to balance the budget,” Rattner wrote. “Musk projected $2 trillion in savings. This year, the deficit grew by 18% — with $200 billion of that due to refunds of his illegal tariffs.”
The Congressional Budget Office backs the core of the projection. Its Aug. 10 estimate pegged the fiscal 2026 deficit at $2.1 trillion, about $200 billion higher than February’s forecast and a jump the agency tied largely to collapsed tariff revenue after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s emergency-powers tariffs 6-3 on Feb. 20. The prior year’s deficit was $1.8 trillion.
Elon Musk’s DOGE, meanwhile, never came close to its promised $2 trillion in savings.
The reality crashed on social media critics like a ton of bricks.
“This is very not good,” wrote conservative attorney Gregg Nunziata.
Yahoo Sports writer Ben Fowlkes jabbed: “I mean yes we did cut funding to anything that actually helped people but at least we still managed to increase the deficit.”
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Ex-GOP Rep. Joe Walsh fumed, “Trump lied. Again. Musk lied. Again.”
Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson mocked, “It’s going great, MAGA. Splendid work.”
Tech reviewer Zack Nelson called DOGE “a complete sham,” while former California Secretary of State candidate Derek Cressman branded it “bogus.”
Grant Stern, executive editor at Occupy Democrats, joked that Trump is “saddling our nation with debt just like Lisa Simpson foretold.”
Former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos sighed that “actual conservatives should be tad upset about this.”
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