Why Does Michael Lewis Say Cutting Two Trillion From the Deficit Was Impossible?

Michael Lewis says the stated goal is to cut the deficit by two trillion dollars out of a seven trillion dollar deficit. Seventy-five percent of the spending is either interest payment on the debt, the military, or entitlements, and none of the interest, the military, or the entitlements is being addressed. Cutting two trillion dollars out of the debt just by attacking the remaining spending is mathematically impossible.

What actually gets cut is a few billion dollars, which ends up being almost nothing. Paying people who have been laid off for two years ends up probably costing more than the amount cut. He says the result has not been good business.

Seen from Mars the way Elon Musk would look at it, the national debt has increased by three and a half trillion dollars in the first two years of the Trump administration.