"The goal of reducing the US budget deficit is not without merit, though...

While that is the stated goal, because that goal is hard to dismiss out of hand, IMO it is just the talking point to increase acceptability of the actual goal"

yeah, I laugh pretty hard when Trump says he'll reduce the national debt, at the people who believe him. Trump Devotion Syndrome is a dangerous thing. Trump sure did not reduce the
deficit in his 1st term, he increased it more than any Prez in history. And in the current
iteration, if Trump gets his way, the national debt will explode again. Trump will say
virtually anything, even though he knows it will never get done. He lies without any
shame or remorse, that is just the way it is. But the Trump sycophant's lap it all up.
There are ZERO repercussions from his base for Trump spinning fairy tales at them.

So whether it's the annual budget deficit, or the interrelated national debt, 1 thing
we can be pretty sure of is that under Trump, it's going up, no matter what claims
he makes.