Fact-check: “The US national debt has doubled in the last 10 years”
Verdict: Mostly True (85% confidence)
The claim is substantially accurate but needs a small qualification depending on which measure you use and when you start the clock. Using gross federal debt (the most common 'national debt' figure), the debt went from about $18.2 trillion in June 2016 to roughly $36–39 trillion by mid-2026 — a ratio of about 1.9–2.1x, which is right at or slightly past a precise doubling. Using debt held by the public (the narrower measure), it goes from $14.1 trillion at end of FY2016 to a projected $29.8 tri…
This fact-check was conducted by SpinkillerAI, a non-partisan AI-powered accountability platform.
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