America’s $38 trillion national debt is so big the nearly $1 trillion interest payment will be larger than Medicare soon

America has had gigantic budget deficits and debt that have been dangerous and ballooning for years, yet it’s only recently that they’re stirring alarm among voters in a big way. In the spring of 2025, a poll conducted by the nonpartisan Peterson Foundation found that 76% of all voters, including 73% of Democrats and 89% of Republicans, agree that addressing the rampant borrowing that’s endangering our economic standing and threatens their own financial futures should be a top priority for the president and Congress.

Since that survey’s release, the picture’s deteriorated at a far faster pace than the Congressional Budget Office and private forecasters anticipated, due in part to the coming tax rate reductions and spending increases embodied in President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. The single major line item that’s now growing fastest, and that has added the most to the budget shortfall since start of the pandemic, is a dark horse: interest expense. This burgeoning cost that contributes nothing toward supporting national defense, funding the nation’s promises on delivering health care for seniors, and funding border control, is the one budget feature most likely to increasingly outrage the folks. Recall that in the 1992 presidential race, independent candidate and political unknown Ross Perot made the exploding interest on the national debt a centerpiece of his maverick campaign and captured nearly 20% of the popular vote, thanks in large part to hammering ho...