The United States national debt has reached $40 trillion.
Said by Amity, Checked Updated
- Sources
- 5 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 92%
Bulwark TakesAug 21, 2026
Multiple tier1 sources (Reuters, AP, and Treasury-based reporting) report that total US public debt surpassed $40 trillion on August 18–20, 2026, before the 2026-08-21 posting date, so the claim is true as of its date. The claim matches the post's reference to the '40 trillion dollar debt mark recently' without adding new scope; later sources confirm the milestone persisted.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… timing was weird, too, for a bunch of reasons, all of that maybe makes people, maybe makes more salient, the lack of competence and lack of accountability of our political leadership, not only in the White House but also in Congress, because, like I said, if, if you believe that part of the reason why these rates have been going up is that we, the United States, holds a lot of debt, and in fact, I think we just got to, whatever it was, the 40 trillion dollar debt mark recently, that this, all of these things happen, you know, within a short period of time, that, that we got that, that nice, scary round number that came out, and Scott Bessen said, "By the way, don't worry about this form of debt that we've been issuing. …
Bulwark Takes · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Reuters reports the US total debt surpassed $40 trillion on Tuesday, a new milestone, citing the debt's doubling over a decade.[1]
Supports. AP reports the US national debt hit a record $40 trillion, and Treasury data shows total public debt outstanding at about $40.05 trillion as of the close of business August 18.[2][3][4]
Supports. CNN, citing Treasury Department data, reports the federal debt hit a record $40 trillion, with the milestone reached on the Tuesday before the post date.[5]
Context. Figures differ by measure: total public debt is about $40.05 trillion, while debt held by the public is about $32.27 trillion; the $40 trillion claim refers to the gross total.[3][6]
Sources
6 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 4 not rated
- 1US debt doubles in a decade to reach new milestonereuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2US national debt hits record $40 trillion - AP Newsapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 3US national debt surpasses $40 trillionfinance.yahoo.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 4US national debt exceeds $40tn for first time | The Daily Starthedailystar.net · not rated · cited for: supports
- 5National debt reaches grim $40 trillion milestone. Here's why ... - CNNedition.cnn.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6How $40 trillion national debt grew under Trump compared to ...newsweek.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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