That pledge won't come to fruition, and, in fact, he will leave office having added massively to the debt.
When Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2017, the total national debt was nearly $20 trillion, according to the Treasury Department.
It has increased over roughly 30% since, nearly $8 trillion, to $27 trillion, as of Monday.
For comparison, President Barack Obama added roughly $9 trillion to the national debt during his eight years in office, according to the Treasury Department.
At the time, the federal government's debt was over $19 trillion, and most economists thought Trump's pledge ludicrous.
He signed into law the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act," also known as the stimulus, that added $787 billion to the annual deficit.
The deficit is the difference between spending and revenues in a given year, while the debt represents accrued deficits. »
