The Congressional Budget Office published its latest forecast of the national debt yesterday. Before we get to that, though, let’s take a little trip down memory lane:

For the past 40 years, the Republican playbook has been straightforward: they take office, cut taxes on the rich, and run up the national debt. Each time, Democrats have dutifully cleaned up their messes, only to watch them retake power and use the newly cleaned-up budget as yet another excuse to cut taxes on the rich and run up the national debt. Now Donald Trump has done it:

Needless to say, each time this happens Republicans start issuing dire warnings about the evils of a rising national debt as soon as the tax cut has passed. You’d think people would start cottoning to this eventually, but so far the con just keeps working. I wonder how much longer they can pull it off?