Donald Trump has cut the federal deficit by 40 percent in less than two years.
Posted by All In with Chris Hayes, Checked
- Sources
- 7 contradict2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 90%
All In with Chris HayesSep 19, 2026
The claim that Trump cut the federal deficit by 40 percent in under two years is contradicted by multiple tier1 and tier2 sources: the FY2025 deficit fell only marginally ($1.78T vs $1.817T in FY2024, a shrink of roughly 2%), and the FY2026 deficit rose about 12% to $1.99 trillion, the highest since 2021.
A played clip makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post.
What was said
… That's next. I always tell you. Ladies and gentlemen, whenever you hear me talk during this midterm campaign. And I'll say Ro. Was not built a day. Because we know there's a lot of work to do. But just two years in. Not even two years in, President Trump has cut that deficit by 40. 22. And it's fallen even. Faster this year. That was, of course, jd Vance, who is continuing the 2026. Please just give us another chance tour today, making his pitch to a small crowd of MAGA people in Iowa. …
All In with Chris Hayes · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. The FY2026 deficit rose to $1.99 trillion, a 12% increase from $1.78 trillion in FY2025, per Treasury figures reported by AFP and Newsweek.[4][6][7]
Contradicts. Reuters/HuffPost report that Trump and congressional Republicans shrank the annual deficit in 2025 only by a marginal amount, while debt kept growing and federal spending rose.[1][5][8]
Contradicts. The NYT reports the FY2026 deficit approached $2 trillion, its highest since the pandemic, with spending increasing on his watch.[4]
Contradicts. Desjardins calculates a roughly 23% shrink in the 12-month deficit from January 2025 to March 2026, still far from a 40% cut, and driven mostly by revenue gains and one-off factors such as the shutdown and DOGE cuts.[9]
Context. The Treasury's own Fiscal Year 2025 report says the deficit-to-GDP ratio fell from 6.4% to 5.9%, a much smaller improvement than 40%, and the White House budget document describes deficits being 'cut in half' only as a framing claim, not a verified outcome.[2][3]
Context. The passage's '40. 22.' appears to be a garbled figure; the extracted claim's 40 percent figure and 'less than two years' timeframe are not corroborated by any source, and the speaker's own words cannot serve as evidence.
Sources
9 sources: 1 fact-checker, 2 primary, 2 tier 2, 4 not rated
- 1Trump pledged fiscal restraint. Instead, debt tops $40 ...reuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: contradicts
- 2[PDF] March 19, 2026 Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Report of the U.S. ...fiscal.treasury.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 3Technical Supplement to the 2026 Budgetwhitehouse.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 4U.S. Budget Deficit Nears $2 Trillion, a Reality Check for Trump's ...nytimes.com · tier 2 · cited for: contradicts
- 5Trump Pledged Fiscal Restraint. Instead, Debt Tops $40 Trillion As Borrowing Costs Risehuffpost.com · tier 2 · cited for: contradicts
- 6US budget deficit grows to nearly $2 trillion, highest since 2021afp.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 7Trump's Tariff Strategy Collides With $2 Trillion US Deficitnewsweek.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 8Trump pledged fiscal restraint. Instead, debt tops $40 trillion as ...tucson.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 9Have US Public Finances Really Improved, or Is It Just a ...desjardins.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post