Yesterday, Donald Trump gave an interview to CSNBC in which, among other things, he described his approach to the national debt. And it’s awful. Just awful.

Trump said in a television interview Thursday that he might seek to reduce the national debt by persuading creditors to accept something less than full payment. Asked whether the United States needed to pay its debts in full, or whether he could negotiate a partial repayment, Mr. Trump told the cable network CNBC, "I would borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal.” He added, "And if the economy was good, it was good. So, therefore, you can't lose.”

What’s happening here is Donald Trump is applying his knowledge of business to governmental affairs. Businesses view debt this way. A real estate developer, for example, may borrow money to invest in a project and if that project doesn’t pan out they could renegotiate a loan to pay back less than they owe so that at least the lender gets something. U.S. debt does not and cannot work that way. As Matt Yglesias at Vox explains: