Former Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) on Tuesday rebuked Republican lawmakers for looking “the other way” as the U.S. federal budget deficit continues to soar under President Donald Trump.
Sanford — in an opinion column for The New York Times titled “Why Do My Fellow Republicans Make Excuses For Trump’s Deficit?” — accused the president of “driving the country to financial ruin” after the Congressional Budget Office warned the deficit would this year top $1 trillion.
Trump’s own party “is letting it happen,” wrote Sanford, who served in the House from 2013 to 2019 following an eight-year period as governor of South Carolina.
He launched a GOP primary challenge against Trump for the 2020 presidential election, but withdrew from the race in November.
In the op-ed, Sanford criticized Trump’s “abandonment of fiscal responsibility” and called out the silence of conservatives who he claimed would have howled in protest if former President Barack Obama had allowed the deficit to spiral in the same way.
“Too many fellow conservatives, and the Republican Party at large, have chosen to ignore this mounting crisis out of fealty to President Trump,” he added.