Trump calls Biden’s student loan forgiveness a ‘vile’ publicity stunt

Donald Trump slammed President Joe Biden’s plans to cancel student loan debt as “vile” and suggested that the program will be “rebuked” if he is elected.

The Biden administration has canceled loan balances for nearly 4.8 million people by relying on a mix of existing programs and new policies after the Supreme Court struck down his campaign-trail promise for sweeping relief last year.

In a rambling campaign rally speech in Racine, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, Trump compared debt relief to what he said is “illegal amnesty” for immigrants married to American citizens.

“He did that with the tuition and that didn’t work out too well, he got rebuked, and then he did it again, it’s going to get rebuked again, even more so, it’s an even more vile attack, but he did that with tuition just to get publicity with the election,” he said.

Twenty minutes later, he blamed student loan relief for a climbing federal budget deficit.

“Because he’s throwing money out the window,” Trump said. “This student loan program, which is not even legal, it’s not even legal, and the students aren’t buying it, by the way. His polls are down. I’m leading in young people by numbers that nobody has ever seen.”

Last year, the Supreme Court blocked Biden’s plans for student debt relief after a pair of lawsuits from Republican attorneys general and conservative legal groups.

At a campaign event that same day, Trump hailed the decision and called Biden’s plans “very unfair to the millions and millions of people who paid their debt through hard work and diligence.”

Project 2025, a right-wing special interest-backed plan for Trump’s return to the White House, has also called for reversing student debt cancellation and eliminating the Office of Federal Student Aid.