Fact-check: “The US national debt has doubled in the last 10 years”
Verdict: Mostly True (78% confidence)
The US national debt has grown enormously over the past decade, but whether it 'doubled' depends on which 10-year window you use. Looking back from mid-2024, the debt grew from roughly $17.8 trillion (end of FY2014) to about $34–35 trillion — an increase of roughly 90–97%, which is close to doubling but not quite. However, as of early 2026, total gross federal debt sits around $38–39 trillion, and measuring from roughly 2016 forward, the debt has in fact doubled or exceeded that mark. The claim…
This fact-check was conducted by SpinkillerAI, a non-partisan AI-powered accountability platform.
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