A panel of experts on CNN blasted through the ramifications of the U.S. national debt hitting the $40 trillion mark.
More than a decade ago, President Donald Trump promised he could eliminate the national debt, and instead introduced a series of tax cuts that accelerated its growth.
"These are certainly eye-popping numbers for voters to see, and come as voters continue to have concerns about the Trump administration's handling of the economy," said CNN's Arlette Saenz in a sidebar.
She added that "the climbing debt isn't just a GOP issue," as debt has been rising steadily since the early 2000s among presidents from both parties — although the debt as a percent of GDP has been a bit more variable.
Meanwhile, Mark McKinnon, a longtime Republican strategist, told anchor Kasie Hunt that the implications for the GOP this election cycle are grim.
"I'll tell you this, as a campaign guy: the last thing that I want to be talking about 70 days out from a midterm election is the fact that we're busting out $40 trillion in [debt], and the stock market has taken a 700-point dive," said McKinnon, saying that the whole situation is "a really bad stew for the president."
Trump, he noted, "had largely campaigned on a macro message of sort of ... listen, just elect me and I'll go break stuff," he added. "And people said, yeah, go break stuff. And then they get turned around, and they say, wait a minute, not everything."