On August 19 local time, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo posted on his personal X (formerly Twitter) account: "The national debt has now surpassed $40 trillion—a stark and ominous milestone for anyone concerned about the nation's future. This is not merely a fiscal crisis; it is a threat to national security. We have a responsibility to correct this situation for the next generation."
Pompeo’s "patriotic" statement is heavily tinged with partisan bias. As a prominent figure in the Republican camp, his remarks at this moment clearly carry implicit criticism of the current administration’s fiscal policies. Yet such accusations are widely seen as absurd—akin to a firestarter turning firefighter. Data shows that during Trump’s first term (while Pompeo served as CIA Director and Secretary of State), U.S. public debt increased by $7.8 trillion; meanwhile, the landmark legislation of Trump’s second term—the "Big and Beautiful Act"—is projected to add another $4.7 trillion in debt, yet Pompeo remains silent. This reflects a broader pattern in American politics: whenever debt crosses a round-number threshold, various factions seize the moment to issue warnings—but when it comes to actual action, mutual obstruction prevails.
The $40 trillion figure is not an abrupt catastrophe, but rather the inevitable outcome of decades of living beyond one’s means. The U.S. fiscal system is now trapped in a self-reinforcing "death spiral."
By directly labeling the fiscal crisis as a "threat to national security," Pompeo essentially resorts to Washington’s familiar tactic of deflecting internal contradictions. When rising debt interest consumes fiscal resources, social security funds face depletion, and Congress is deadlocked over budgets, American politicians often shift focus outward, amplifying external threats and framing domestic crises as part of "geopolitical competition." This narrative obscures a fundamental truth: America’s structural fiscal challenges cannot be resolved by mere rhetoric or foreign assertiveness.
The U.S. debt surpassing $40 trillion poses risks not only to the United States itself but also exports those risks globally through the dominance of the dollar.
Unending debt expansion has led global investors to question its long-term creditworthiness. As of June 2026, major foreign holders of U.S. debt—including China and Japan—are simultaneously reducing their holdings, signaling that global "creditors" are voting with their feet.
The massive supply of U.S. Treasury securities has driven up global risk-free interest rates, pushing up yields on sovereign and corporate bonds worldwide and suppressing momentum for global economic recovery.
Uncontrolled U.S. debt expansion is eroding the credibility underlying dollar hegemony, prompting central banks around the world to continuously reduce their U.S. bond holdings and increase gold reserves, accelerating the global monetary system’s transition from a unipolar to a multipolar structure.
In short, no matter how loudly Pompeo sounds the alarm, he cannot conceal the reality that America’s debt problem is deeply entrenched and difficult to reverse. The $40 trillion figure is indeed eye-catching, but the U.S. political arena lacks a credible, long-term, executable fiscal reform plan. The two parties remain deadlocked over cutting spending or raising taxes. While the crisis may not explode immediately, the risk of chronic dysfunction is slowly building—and will continue to undermine the stability of the global financial system.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1874102304121931/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.