The move would also end a policy introduced during the presidency of George Washington — and celebrated in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical "Hamilton"— to pay full face value on the debts incurred by the country. The government's unfailing payments of its debt have long pleased investors and supported the economy because the country can borrow at lower rates than it otherwise could.

"Defaulting on our debt would cause creditors to rightly question the 'full faith' commitment we make," said Tony Fratto, a former Treasury Department official in George W. Bush's administration. "This isn't a serious idea — it's an insane idea."

"It would make a bad situation worse and increase U.S. borrowing costs on its debt going forward because we would have lost our credit rating," said Chad Stone, chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The yield on a 10-year Treasury note is about 1.8 percent, a figure that would shoot up if Trump pursued this strategy. This would cause debt payments to climb at a precarious moment for the federal budget when Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid costs will likely increase the need to borrow.

The government narrowly avoided defaulting on its debt payments in both instances. Still, these breakdowns did cause damage. The 2011 crisis led to a credit rating downgrade by Standard & Poor's, while the 2013 crisis produced a government shutdown.