Fact-check: “The US national debt has doubled in the last 10 years”
Verdict: Mostly True (88% confidence)
Using gross federal debt (total public debt outstanding), the debt stood at roughly $19.5–19.6 trillion at the end of FY2016 and hit $40.05 trillion on August 18, 2026 — a ~105% increase, which is more than a doubling over approximately 10 years. The claim is substantively accurate on the gross-debt measure; using the narrower 'debt held by the public' measure (~$13.1T in late 2015 rising to ~$32.3T now) the figure has also more than doubled, reinforcing rather than undercutting the claim. The…
This fact-check was conducted by SpinkillerAI, a non-partisan AI-powered accountability platform.
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