As this week got underway, Donald Trump whined online that the “Fake News Media refuses to talk about” the $600 billion in revenue generated by his trade tariffs. Later, the president, who’s earned a reputation for making up numbers that make him happy, told House Republicans the administration has “taken in $650 billion.”
These numbers were a little closer to reality than earlier claims — in September, Trump told U.S. military leaders that his tariffs had taken in “trillions of dollars” — but the reason that news outlets “refuse to talk about” his made-up statistics is that they’re not true. According to the Trump administration’s own estimates, tariffs generated roughly $200 billion in revenue in 2025.
Complicating matters, the Republican continues to make new plans to spend money he doesn’t have. The president published this message to his social media platform on Wednesday afternoon:
After long and difficult negotiations with Senators, Congressmen, Secretaries, and other Political Representatives, I have determined that, for the Good of our Country, especially in these very troubled and dangerous times, our Military Budget for the year 2027 should not be $1 Trillion Dollars, but rather $1.5 Trillion Dollars. This will allow us to build the ‘Dream Military’ that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe.
He added that this massive increase in military spending is possible “because of Tariffs, and the tremendous Income that they bring.”
Trump concluded his message by boasting that under his vision he could boost the Pentagon’s budget by an additional $500 billion while simultaneously paying down the national debt.
At this point, we could talk about the fact that the “long and difficult negotiations” Trump referred to didn’t happen in reality. We could also talk about the fact that the Pentagon does not need, and did not ask for, $1.5 trillion. We could note that the national debt has climbed by roughly $2 trillion since Trump returned to power. The idea that he can lower that total while cutting taxes for the wealthy and vastly increasing military spending is plainly bonkers.
But as important as these elements are, there’s another dimension to this that shouldn’t get lost in the shuffle.
It’s true that Trump’s tariffs are bringing in money — that’s not surprising, as tariffs are for all intents and purposes taxes, and taxes generate revenue — but the president’s claims about the totals reflect someone who’s either terribly confused about fiscal basics or brazenly lying.
That’s just part of the problem, however. Making matters worse is the fact that Trump has told Americans that he intends to use tariff revenue to reduce the national debt. And to pay for “dividend” rebate checks. And to pay for a bailout for farmers. And even to finance a new nationwide system of free child care for American families.
In recent months, the president has even gone so far as to suggest more than once that tariff revenue will be so robust, he might eventually be able to use the money to eliminate federal income taxes altogether. Now, the president intends to also use this same pile of money to increase military spending by $500 billion. There’s an old accounting joke that “you can’t spend the same dollar twice.” Under Trump, it’s tempting to revise the line to “you can’t spend the same dollar six times, especially when you don’t have that dollar.” Last summer, Trump boasted online, “[O]ur Country is doing very well and can afford just about anything.” This bogus assumption has led to him to make all kinds of promises that he’ll never be able to keep. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
Latest Post
Recommended
