Right on time, and lest we forget, fair play too. Donald Trump officially announced his candidacy three months ago, so anyone announcing after that sets up the opportunity for Trump to conduct what is sometimes charitably called “contrast campaigning.” Most of the rest of us call it “going negative,” which has its risks, but worked out well for Trump eight years ago in a crowded field, and when Trump himself was more novelty than known quantity.

We can quibble on the substance — and will in a moment — but this statement out from Team Trump today minutes after Nikki Haley’s launch shows that he’s taking his former UN ambassador seriously as a contender. That in itself might be a mistake, especially on these complaints:

The Real Nikki Haley pic.twitter.com/BcW8doC3rt

— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) February 15, 2023

One gets the sense here that the real complaint from Trump comes last on this list. Trump gripes that Haley said she wouldn’t run if Trump did, and as everyone knows by now, Trump has a very thin skin for what he sees as betrayal. Of course, Haley said that almost two years ago too, when there were still some expectations (or perhaps hope is a better word) that Trump would learn some lessons from 2020 and correct his course. After Trump’s recruits blew several winnable Senate races by focusing on 2020 rather than voter concerns, it’s reasonable for Haley to have reconsidered.

A couple of these items are complete non-sequiturs, too. The statement hails Trump’s role in getting Otto Warmbier back home from North Korea — a legit achievement, but what does that have to do with Haley? Trump also attacks Haley over Ukraine, while noting in the statement that she’s actually defended Trump on that issue by claiming the war wouldn’t have happened if he won in 2020. Several of the complaints Trump raises are from remarks made by Haley in 2016 and prior about immigration and a first-run attempt at a bathroom bill that same year. If Trump found those positions objectionable, though, why did he hire Haley to be his ambassador to the UN?

Mainly, though, Trump attacks Haley for backing earlier plans to reform entitlement programs — which also predate Trump’s appointment of Haley. It’s an appeal to the populists on both sides of the aisle, and it seems likely to result in a pledge by all candidates to never ever ever ever think about restructuring programs to make them more sustainable and eliminate their deficit-busting costs.

That may be politically beneficial in the shortest of short terms, but it ignores the very real and increasingly acute debt crisis facing the US. The Wall Street Journal offers a brief primer on it today:

Opportunities to trim costs are limited, with only about one-third of federal spending labeled as discretionary, requiring congressional approval through annual appropriations bills. The rest is mandatory spending and includes entitlements such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Social Security was projected to account for 21% of spending in 2022, according to the CBO, and together with Medicare was over a third of spending. The Social Security figure is expected to grow to 24% in 2027 as an aging population pushes up the costs of both programs. National defense accounts for 13% of spending and is the largest nonentitlement program. The CBO also expects that net interest will account for 11% of spending by 2027, up from 7% in 2022.

This is just math, and not even complex math. The interest on our existing debt will in a few years outstrip our defense spending, and we’re adding a trillion-dollars-plus to it every year now, largely from entitlement programs. Even if we eliminated all discretionary spending, we’d still run deficits now.

Politicians from both parties like scoring short-term points by accusing their opponents of pushing Grandma off a cliff, which was an actual ad that ran against Paul Ryan a decade or more ago. That, however, is not leadership. Neither is this, even if it is fair play in a contested primary.

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Peter Grandich joined me on the latest episode of The Ed Morrissey Show podcast to discuss the ramifications of the national-debt and entitlement crisis. That’s not the only manifestation of the coming debt crisis, either. We also discuss:

• Forget the debt ceiling. The real crisis is that we have no real ceiling at all.
• Peter and I also discuss the new inflation report, why last month’s jobs numbers were unreliable (and wrong), and how the financial media is still trying to sell happy talk rather than warn people what’s coming.
• So is the White House, Peter and I point out.  “Joe Biden was wrong,” Peter chuckles, “I can’t believe that.”
• We also talk about the dangers of personal debt, a little bit about the Super Bowl, and why scriptures warn us about debt and its consequences.

The Ed Morrissey Show is now a fully downloadable and streamable show at  Spotify, Apple Podcasts, the TEMS Podcast YouTube channel, and on Rumble and our own in-house portal at the #TEMS page!