After winning election in 2010, Rep. Mick Mulvaney, co-founder of the deeply conservative House Freedom Caucus, regularly issued scathing critiques of heavy government spending and excessive deficits. In 2015, the South Carolina Republican blasted the Obama administration and fellow Republicans alike for their fiscal irresponsibility.

Now he’s being irresponsible. Monday, Mulvaney — the nation’s budget director and acting White House chief of staff — reportedly told a group of Republicans that President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech wouldn’t focus on the nation’s exploding deficit because “nobody cares” about it.

Everyone should care about it. The U.S. is on track to see interest alone on the national debt top $1 trillion in 2028 — much more than is spent on Medicare or national defense. Mulvaney used to call this trend disastrous and unsustainable. Now that he has the president’s ear, he accepts this unfolding disaster instead of speaking up? He should care.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas


Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion