{"id":2415060,"date":"2025-03-25T13:24:02","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T17:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/stephen-a-smith-and-bill-oreilly-diverge-on-ability-to-lower-debt\/"},"modified":"2025-03-25T13:26:50","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T17:26:50","slug":"stephen-a-smith-and-bill-oreilly-diverge-on-ability-to-lower-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/stephen-a-smith-and-bill-oreilly-diverge-on-ability-to-lower-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith and Bill O&#8217;Reilly diverge on ability to lower debt"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fstephen-a-smith-and-bill-oreilly-diverge-on-ability-to-lower-debt%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2415060&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In a recent podcast discussion, talk show hosts Stephen A. Smith and Bill O&#8217;Reilly engaged in a debate regarding President Donald trump&#8217;s potential to address the national debt, which currently stands at $36 trillion. Smith questioned the accountability of both political parties in contributing to the rising debt, highlighting past administrations&#8217; roles, including Reagan, the Bushes, Obama, and Clinton. He expressed skepticism about Trump being a more effective solution to the issue. O&#8217;Reilly countered by suggesting that Trump&#8217;s approach, including efforts to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/americans-paid-record-high-130-billion-in-credit-card-interest-and-fees-amid-fed-rate-hikes\/\" title=\"Americans paid a staggering 0 ...ion in credit card interest and fees due to increased Federal Reserve rates.\">reduce unnecessary spending<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">coudl yield positive results<\/a>, emphasizing the historical reluctance of politicians to manage spending effectively. He acknowledged that COVID-19 disrupted Trump&#8217;s first term efforts and pointed to defense budget cuts made during Trump&#8217;s time in office as evidence of possible fiscal obligation.The conversation reflects differing perspectives on the political responsibility for the national debt and the effectiveness of Trump\u2019s fiscal policies.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Stephen A. Smith and Bill O&rsquo;Reilly clash on Trump&rsquo;s ability to lower debt<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2073781\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Talk show hosts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3336852\/stephen-a-smith-says-trump-win-is-a-mandate-democratic-party-to-change\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Stephen A. Smith\">Stephen A. Smith<\/a> and Bill O&rsquo;Reilly squabbled about whether President Donald Trump will lower the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/restoring-america\/faith-freedom-self-reliance\/3329035\/trump-endorsed-blueprint-make-america-great-again\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Stephen A. Smith\">national debt<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The United States currently has a debt of $36 trillion. The debt total was $30 trillion in February 2022 before it increased by a trillion in October of that year. By the end of 2023, it increased to over $34 trillion. In July 2024, the national debt surpassed $35 trillion, and just 118 days later, the U.S. registered $36 trillion in debt.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/economy\/3356469\/states-push-to-hire-fired-federal-workers\/\">States roll out the red carpet&nbsp;to bring fired federal workers to their state&nbsp;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/economy\/3356207\/desantis-doge-florida-returns-878-million-taxpayer-funds-federal-government\/\">DeSantis credits DOGE after Florida returns $878 million in taxpayer funds to federal government<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3354964\/gas-prices-increase-five-cents-per-gallon\/\">Gas prices: An increase of five cents per gallon in last three days<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;When we think about a $36 trillion debt, when we think about the state and the plight of this country, particularly on those terms, who&rsquo;s more culpable? Is neither party? Is one party significantly more culpable than the other, or is it a combination of them all,&rdquo; Smith asked O&rsquo;Reilly on his podcast, the <em>Stephen A. Smith Show<\/em> Monday. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m saying, &lsquo;Wait a minute, Reagan was in office, HW had a term, Reagan had two terms, W had two terms, Trump&rsquo;s now back for a second time.&rsquo; I understand Obama and Clinton was in the mix. They interrupted the proceedings per se, but you had both parties up in there.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;All of them. I mean, vote buying is just a scandal. &lsquo;We&rsquo;ll give you this, we&rsquo;ll give you that, we&rsquo;ll give you this, we&rsquo;ll give you that, we&rsquo;ll give you this.&rsquo; You can&rsquo;t. They don&rsquo;t have the money. This is a capitalistic nation. This isn&rsquo;t Sweden, OK,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Reilly said. &ldquo;But the Republicans, they have no interest in cutting anything. None. Because it&rsquo;s too hard then.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/k56hnElU4FI?si=b4SR6dO_2fzDq-gm\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>    <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Why in God&rsquo;s name should anybody believe that Trump is going to be a better option than those individuals who preceded him that contributed to the deficit,&rdquo; Smith asked.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Because he&rsquo;s doing it. That&rsquo;s why he brought Musk in. He&rsquo;s doing it. He&rsquo;s going, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re going to wipe out a lot of the unnecessary spending.&rsquo; He&rsquo;s doing it,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Reilly said. &ldquo;And in the past, 90% of American politicians in both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pa-sos-caused-irreparable-harm-by-blocking-wests-ballot-access\/\" title=\"PA SOS Caused &#039;Irreparable Harm&#039; By Blocking West&#039;s Ballot Access\">parties don&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t want to supervise spending. It&rsquo;s the last thing on their mind, Stephen A. It&rsquo;s boring. It&rsquo;s numbers on a sheet. They don&rsquo;t want to do it.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3354253\/pete-hegseth-580-million-in-doge-cuts-pentagon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong>PETE HEGSETH UNVEILS ADDITIONAL $580 MILLION IN DOGE CUTS AT PENTAGON<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>O&rsquo;Reilly acknowledged that Trump was unable to affect the national budget during his first term because &ldquo;COVID wrecked everything.&rdquo; According to the former Fox News anchor, Trump could focus first on the Pentagon since it has failed six consecutive audits.<\/p>\n<p>Since Trump took office and nominated former Fox News host Pete Hegseth to head the Department of Defense, the department has cut <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3354253\/pete-hegseth-580-million-in-doge-cuts-pentagon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"$800 million\">$800 million<\/a> from its spending by terminating contracts. The most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pete-hegseth-unveils-additional-580-million-in-savings\/\" title=\"... in savings\">recent budget passed<\/a> by Congress slated $892.5 billion for&nbsp;defense&nbsp;spending, which is $8 billion more than in 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2073781\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2073781\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stephen A. Smith and Bill O&#8217;Reilly debate Trump&#8217;s debt reduction ability<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2631,"featured_media":2415061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Bill-OReilly-Stephen-A.-Smith.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[39189,52089,32171,32150],"class_list":["post-2415060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bill-oreilly","tag-debt-reduction","tag-political-commentary","tag-stephen-a-smith"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Bill-OReilly-Stephen-A.-Smith.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2415060"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2415064,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415060\/revisions\/2415064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2415061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2415060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2415060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2415060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}