“Here is my promise: If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.”
Announced Sept. 9-10, 2026, the pledge drew immediate bipartisan pushback. The payments would cost roughly $1.2 trillion against about $154.5 billion of tariff revenue in the first ten months of fiscal 2026, and they require congressional approval Trump does not control. It repeats the pattern of the unpaid $2,000 tariff dividend and the unpaid $5,000 DOGE dividend before it.
“[paraphrase] Gas prices are going to come way down — you're going to see it very soon.”
· White House remarks on Project 47 energy initiative
· ×3
MS NOW noted this was the rare specific, checkable promise Trump almost never makes. Prices went the other way: regular gasoline hit a record $4.15 a gallon over Labor Day weekend 2026, up 30% year over year, and reached $4.29 by mid-September 2026. Trump shifted to framing $3 gas as an acceptable cost of the Iran war.
“Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time! [paired with the threat that] a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
· Truth Social posts and remarks, setting a hard deadline of 8:00 p.m. ET on April 7, 2026
· ×4
Deadline Apr 7, 2026 · 5 months overdue
Hours before the deadline Pakistan's prime minister publicly asked Trump for a two-week extension. Trump said the US was in 'heated negotiations' and then agreed to suspend attacks for two weeks in exchange for Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz; Iran's Supreme National Security Council accepted and oil posted its biggest one-day drop since 2020. When the two weeks expired around April 21, 2026 Trump extended again and the arrangement became open-ended. On May 18, 2026 he posted that 'we will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow.'
“[paraphrase] The core strategic objectives are nearing completion — we'll be out in two weeks, maybe three.”
· Remarks to reporters ahead of a planned address to the nation
· ×4
Deadline Apr 14, 2026 · 5 months overdue
The war did not end on that timeline. Fighting continued, petrol topped $4 a gallon, and a ceasefire only arrived on April 7, 2026 — itself only two weeks long and then repeatedly re-extended. By June 2026 Trump was touting 'complete victory' while the two-week framing recurred; by August 2026 the US-Iran memorandum of understanding had expired and collapsed, and on August 18, 2026 he was threatening to bomb Oman.
“I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES.”
· Truth Social post
· ×3
The pause was extended before it ran out. On March 26, 2026 Trump posted that he was 'pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days,' moving the deadline to April 6, and on April 5 he moved it again to 8:00 p.m. ET on April 7.
“If Iran doesn't FULLY OPEN [the Strait of Hormuz]... the United States will hit and obliterate their POWER PLANTS.”
· Truth Social post during the 2026 Iran war (Operation Epic Fury)
· ×6
Deadline Mar 23, 2026 · 6 months overdue
The 48 hours expired and the strikes were postponed rather than executed. It was the first in a chain of at least six short deadlines Trump set and then let pass during the 2026 Iran war, catalogued by ABC News in May 2026 under the headline 'Trump's series of unenforced deadlines.'
“[paraphrase] We have won the war on affordability — prices are down.”
· State of the Union address, U.S. Capitol
· ×6
Groundwork Collaborative called it a 'state of delusion': at the time of the speech groceries, electricity, rent, medical care and tuition were all above January 2025 levels, ACA premiums had jumped about 18% with subsidized out-of-pocket costs up more than 75%, and households faced roughly $1,300 in added annual costs in 2026. Senate Democrats' companion analysis documented higher prices and fewer jobs.
“[paraphrase] You have one week to leave Venezuela with your family, for any destination of your choosing.”
· Private phone call from Trump to Nicolas Maduro, lasting under fifteen minutes, first reported by Reuters
Maduro demanded full amnesty plus sanctions relief for more than 100 officials and Trump refused most of it. The November 28 deadline passed with no departure and no immediate action beyond Trump declaring Venezuelan airspace closed. The resolution came five weeks later: on January 3, 2026 US forces executed Operation Absolute Resolve, striking Venezuela and capturing Maduro and his wife.
“[paraphrase] The Justice Department shall publish its Epstein investigative files within 30 days of enactment.”
· Bill signing at the White House, with no reporters present, after Trump reversed course on November 16 and told House Republicans to vote yes
· ×3
On December 19, 2025 DOJ made a partial release of roughly 12,285 items and 125,575 pages, heavily redacted, with more than 500 pages entirely blacked out. The bulk slipped to January 30, 2026, when Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche released further data sets and declared 'full compliance' despite DOJ having identified around 6 million responsive pages. On August 13, 2026 a federal judge put DOJ on notice over stalled production, saying of contempt, 'It's not a threat. It's a promise,' and by September 18, 2026 was warning Blanche personally.
“A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.”
· Truth Social post, followed up in remarks the next day
· ×3
Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said payments would start around mid-2026, then pushed it to later in 2026. Ten months on, ABC News reported on September 10, 2026 that no checks had gone out. It would require legislation Congress has not moved, economists put the cost near $450 billion, and after the Supreme Court struck down the tariffs in February 2026 the administration paid out roughly $100 billion in refunds to businesses instead. Prediction markets put the odds of a 2026 dividend at 3%.
“[paraphrase] The health care plan will be unveiled Monday.”
· Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the plan would be revealed that week; the Monday rollout was then scrapped
· ×12
Deadline Nov 5, 2025 · 10 months overdue
The Monday rollout of the 'Healthcare Price Cuts Act' was scrapped after congressional Republicans revolted at a two-year ACA subsidy extension one lawmaker called 'Obamacare-lite.' 'The Great Healthcare Plan' finally appeared on January 15, 2026 as a legislative framework rather than a bill. Forbes wrote on February 2, 2026 that it 'isn't more than a brief conceptual outline,' echoing his 2024 'concepts of a plan,' and it still requires Congress to act.
“[paraphrase] We will meet in Budapest within two weeks to end the war.”
· Announcement after a phone call with Vladimir Putin
Deadline Oct 30, 2025 · 10 months overdue
Six days later, on October 22, 2025, Trump cancelled the summit after Moscow restated maximalist demands that Ukraine cede territory, cut its army and renounce NATO. A preparatory Rubio-Lavrov meeting was postponed indefinitely and the Budapest summit never took place.
“[paraphrase] Hamas has three or four days to respond. Hamas is either going to be doing it or not, and if it's not, it's going to be a very sad end.”
· Remarks to reporters after unveiling the 20-point Gaza plan with Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House; hardened on October 3 to a fixed Sunday 6:00 p.m. ET deadline on Truth Social
· ×2
Deadline Oct 4, 2025 · 11 months overdue
This one largely held. On October 3, 2025, just before the deadline, Hamas agreed to release all remaining hostages and hand Gaza's administration to independent technocrats, while refusing to disarm. Trump accepted, told Israel to stop bombing, and the ceasefire and hostage-release phase proceeded in October 2025. The disarmament and stabilisation-force elements remained unresolved long past the deadline.
“[paraphrase] This is the dawn of a new Middle East — the war in Gaza is over.”
· White House announcement of the 20-point Gaza plan with Prime Minister Netanyahu
· ×10
The ceasefire took effect Oct. 10, 2025 and produced a hostage exchange and an aid surge, but J Street's six-month review found the plan 'largely stalled on all its promises' beyond that. More than 700 Palestinians and four Israelis were killed after the ceasefire began. Phase two was declared in January 2026 before phase one was complete; NPR reported in March 2026 that the plan had stalled as the Iran war ground on, Israel escalated attacks in August 2026 in defiance of the plan, and the U.S. official leading the effort publicly criticized Israel on Aug. 27, 2026.
“We'll see what happens over the next week or two. And at that point, I'll step in very strongly.”
· Remarks to reporters at the White House
· ×6
Deadline Sep 8, 2025 · 1 year overdue
No intervention followed in the stated window. Through September 2025 there were no new US sanctions on Russia tied to the threat, and HuffPost catalogued the run of expired deadlines under the headline that Putin had faced no consequences.
“I think over the next two weeks we're going to find out which way it's going to go.”
· Remarks to reporters at the White House
· ×5
Deadline Sep 5, 2025 · 1 year overdue
The deadline passed with no announced determination and no consequence for Moscow. It was at least the fifth two-week Ukraine deadline of 2025. By late September 2025 the Washington Post was counting 21 weeks since Trump first gave Putin two weeks.
“I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something.”
· Post-summit remarks after meeting Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Anchorage
· ×3
Deadline Aug 29, 2025 · 1 year overdue
The Anchorage summit produced no ceasefire and no new sanctions after roughly three hours of talks. Nothing followed inside the window Trump named, and Russia escalated strikes on Ukrainian cities through late August 2025.
“[paraphrase] I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number... about 10 or 12 days from today.”
· Remarks alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Turnberry, Scotland
· ×2
Deadline Aug 8, 2025 · 1 year, 1 month overdue
Trump had given Russia 50 days on July 14, 2025 to reach a deal or face 'severe' secondary tariffs, then shortened it to 10-12 days on July 28. The shortened deadline expired around August 8, 2025 with no comprehensive sanctions regime imposed on Russia itself; instead Trump met Putin in Alaska on August 15, 2025. CNN's analysis at the time noted the new deadline deserved skepticism given the string of expired two-week deadlines before it.
“[paraphrase] Trump: I have asked the Attorney General to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony. Bondi: We are ready to move the court tomorrow.”
· Truth Social post by Trump and a reply on X from Attorney General Pam Bondi
· ×2
Deadline Jul 18, 2025 · 1 year, 2 months overdue
DOJ did file quickly, but federal judges denied the unsealing requests between July 23 and August 11, 2025, with at least one judge finding the administration's stated premise 'demonstrably false.' Essentially nothing new was produced by that route, and the move was widely read as damage control after the July 6 memo saying there was no client list.
“Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.”
· Statement read by press secretary Karoline Leavitt at the White House briefing
Deadline Jul 3, 2025 · 1 year, 2 months overdue
The two-week window turned out to be misdirection in the other direction: US B-2 bombers struck Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan on June 21-22, 2025 — two days later, not two weeks. The episode triggered the June 2025 wave of 'two weeks' supercuts on CNN, NBC and late-night television.
“We're going to be sending letters out in about a week and a half, two weeks, to countries, telling them what the deal is.”
· Remarks to reporters
· ×2
The letters did not go out on that schedule. The first batch of tariff letters to trading partners was sent in early July 2025, roughly two weeks past the outer edge of the window, and the rates in them were repeatedly revised afterwards.
· Fox News interview, asked who the buyer for TikTok was
· ×2
No buyer was named within two weeks. The divest-or-ban deadline was extended repeatedly through 2025 by executive order. A framework deal involving a US joint venture was only announced in late September 2025, roughly three months after the two-week promise.
“I'll let you know in about two weeks, within two weeks... We're going to find out whether or not he's tapping us along or not, and if he is we'll respond a little bit differently.”
· Oval Office remarks to reporters
· ×3
Deadline Jun 11, 2025 · 1 year, 3 months overdue
This was the third consecutive two-week deadline on Putin in about a month, and became the most-cited example of the pattern. The two weeks expired around June 11, 2025 with no verdict and no new response. Trump instead issued a 50-day ultimatum on July 14, 2025, then shortened it to 10-12 days on July 28. Russia's war continued.
“[paraphrase] Golden Dome will cost about $175 billion and be fully operational within three years — before the end of my term.”
· Oval Office announcement naming Gen. Michael Guetlein to lead the programme
· ×2
The originating January 27, 2025 executive order gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth 60 days to present an architecture. Congressional Budget Office estimates put the true cost far above $175 billion and the timeline far beyond three years. No operational system exists as of September 2026.
“[paraphrase] We will pay the same price as the nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the world.”
· White House 'most favored nation' drug pricing executive order signing
· ×12
Real progress fell short of the pledge. By September 2026 the administration had signed 26 manufacturers covering about 90% of the branded market and extended MFN pricing to all 50 state Medicaid programs. But NPR reported on Sept. 17, 2026 that the TrumpRx consumer website lists a limited set of drugs, that most consumers still do better paying an insurance copay, and that U.S. prices on TrumpRx remain well above what consumers abroad pay — so the 'lowest price in the world' promise is not met for ordinary patients.
No pharmaceutical tariff rate was announced within the two weeks. Trump kept promising pharma tariffs through the summer of 2025 before announcing a 100% tariff on branded imported drugs in late September 2025, nearly five months after the deadline he set.
“In the next two weeks or three weeks, I'm gonna be setting the deal.”
· Air Force One, remarks to travelling press
· ×2
A 90-day tariff truce with China was announced after Geneva talks on May 12, 2025, but the comprehensive 'deal' Trump described did not materialise on that timetable; talks and truce extensions continued through 2025. Trade adviser Peter Navarro's companion boast of '90 deals in 90 days' also fell far short.
“[paraphrase] This bill is for the workers — the rich will not benefit.”
· Remarks promoting the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
· ×10
The DNC's 200-day review characterized the law as the largest upward wealth transfer in more than 40 years, pairing permanent high-end and business tax cuts with roughly $1 trillion in health and nutrition program reductions, and adding over $3 trillion to the debt over a decade. The tips, overtime and senior deductions aimed at workers all expire after 2028 while the business provisions do not.
This was the first of at least three consecutive two-week deadlines Trump set in the spring of 2025 on whether Putin was negotiating in good faith. He reset the clock on May 19 and again on May 28 without ever announcing a verdict, then moved to a 50-day ultimatum in July 2025 which he cut to 10-12 days on July 28, 2025.
“You can ask that question in two weeks, and we'll see.”
· Oval Office meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store
· ×4
Deadline May 8, 2025 · 1 year, 4 months overdue
Asked whether US military assistance to Ukraine would continue, Trump deferred by two weeks. No answer came at the two-week mark. He used variations of the same deflection on April 27, May 19 and May 28, 2025.
“Over the next two, three weeks. We'll be setting the number.”
· Oval Office remarks to reporters
· ×3
The promised schedule of country-by-country tariff numbers did not arrive on that timetable. Trump returned to the same formula on June 12, 2025, saying letters setting unilateral rates would go out 'in about a week and a half, two weeks.' Letters began going out in July 2025, months after the original deadline.
· Fox Business interview with White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, days after the 'Liberation Day' tariff pause
· ×2
At day 76 there were two framework deals, with the UK and China, neither a full trade agreement. When the 90 days expired in early July 2025 the tally was still two, about 2% of the promise, and Trump extended the negotiating deadline into August. The Supreme Court struck down the IEEPA tariffs in February 2026 and by September 2026 the administration had paid out roughly $100 billion in tariff refunds.
“Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country.”
· 'Liberation Day' Rose Garden tariff announcement, White House
· ×20
Manufacturing employment fell every month from April 2025. The Joint Economic Committee found 108,000 manufacturing jobs lost in Trump's first year; BLS data showed 89,000 lost between April 2025 and February 2026 and roughly 75,000 fewer than at inauguration by mid-2026. Construction spending on factories dropped about 30%, from $250 billion annualized in November 2024 to $175 billion by May 2026. Growth was flat from March 2026 onward.
“By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we'll be able to eliminate those exposures.”
· Cabinet meeting at the White House, said by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with Trump present and repeatedly endorsed by Trump
· ×3
On September 22, 2025 Trump and Kennedy held a White House event announcing not a cause but a claimed association, with Trump telling pregnant women 'don't take Tylenol.' Major medical groups pushed back hard. By October 29, 2025 Kennedy himself conceded the evidence 'is not sufficient to say it definitely causes autism.' No cause of the autism epidemic was identified.
“borrowers are paying back their loans, that they are fully supported in doing so.”
· Department of Education statement announcing the return to collections
· ×2
Collections restarted and support collapsed. Protect Borrowers found 3.6 million borrowers defaulted between January 2025 and early 2026, bringing the national total in default to about 9 million, after the SAVE repayment plan was terminated and servicing backlogs mounted. Wage garnishment and Social Security offsets resumed for defaulted borrowers.
“[paraphrase] We're releasing all 80,000 pages — no redactions.”
· Remarks at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.
· ×6
The National Archives published just over 60,000 pages on March 18, 2025 — well short of the 80,000 promised — and many documents had been released before with redactions still in place. The dump also exposed hundreds of living people's Social Security numbers, an error the Archives spent weeks remediating. RFK and MLK records followed in April-July 2025, the MLK release over the King family's objection.
“We're not doing anything with Medicaid... we're not cutting it, we're cutting waste, fraud and abuse.”
· Address to a joint session of Congress, and repeated statements through spring 2025
· ×12
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act Trump signed July 4, 2025 cut roughly $715–$880 billion from federal health spending over ten years through Medicaid work requirements, more frequent eligibility checks and provider-tax limits. CBO projected roughly 10–17 million more uninsured; ACA marketplace enrollment fell 1.4 million (24.2M to 22.8M) by early 2026. Reporting indicated Trump had to be told by a House member that the bill did in fact 'touch Medicaid.'
· Fox News interview with Attorney General Pam Bondi, acting on Trump's release directive
· ×4
Deadline Feb 28, 2025 · 1 year, 6 months overdue
Six days later, on February 27, 2025, DOJ staged the white-binder 'Epstein Files: Phase 1' handout to social media influencers on the White House driveway. It contained essentially no new information. Bondi then blamed the FBI's New York field office. A DOJ and FBI memo in July 2025 concluded there was no client list at all.
“[paraphrase] I'm going to save TikTok. We'll issue an executive order on day one.”
· Inauguration day executive order directing non-enforcement of the divest-or-ban law
· ×5
Four consecutive enforcement delays followed: January 20, 2025 (75 days), April 4, 2025 (75 days), June 19, 2025 (90 days) and September 2025 (to December 16, 2025). Asked in mid-2025 who the buyer was, Trump said 'I'll tell you in about two weeks.' A framework was signed off on September 25, 2025 and the deal finally closed on January 22, 2026 — about a year and four extensions after day one.
“Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”
· Inaugural address, U.S. Capitol
· ×30
Importers and consumers, not foreign governments, paid. The Yale Budget Lab estimated the tariffs cost the average U.S. household about $1,700 a year; inflation rose after the April 2025 announcement and consumer confidence fell for five straight months. On Feb. 20, 2026 the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs, voiding the centerpiece of the program and forcing an estimated $175–$200 billion in refunds to the importers who had in fact paid.
“We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”
· Inaugural address, U.S. Capitol
· ×30
The U.S. went to war with Iran on Feb. 28, 2026 in an operation the Pentagon named Epic Fury. Trump predicted in the first week that it would take 'four to five weeks'; six months later it was still going. Asked about the campaign pledge, he said 'I didn't guarantee no war. I didn't promise anything.' Rep. Adam Smith noted Trump had said specifically, 'If I'm president, we will not go to war with Iran.'
“Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents.”
· Inaugural address, U.S. Capitol
· ×12
Trump publicly demanded charges against named critics; James Comey was indicted Sept. 25, 2025 in the Eastern District of Virginia and New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted weeks after Trump's Truth Social post naming her. James pleaded not guilty Oct. 24, 2025 and the charges were dismissed without prejudice Nov. 24, 2025. Trump had ousted the U.S. attorney who doubted the cases, told CNN 'there will be others,' and said the prosecutions were 'the opposite' of retribution: 'I've been very mild-mannered.' Chief of Staff Susie Wiles conceded it 'might be retribution.'
“We're going to drill, baby, drill... prices will come down, and with everything.”
· Inaugural address and day-one energy emergency executive orders
· ×30
Drilling deregulation did not translate into lower consumer prices. A UC Berkeley energy professor called the claim that more extraction would drive down inflation 'a direct falsehood.' By 2026 electricity was up nearly 7% year over year, household power bills rose 6.7% in 2025, and gasoline hit a record $4.15 a gallon over Labor Day 2026.
“You're going to see some pretty drastic price reductions.”
· Press conference, Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida
· ×3
No broad price reductions followed. By the week of Jan. 27, 2025, egg prices were still climbing, and CNN reported that Trump's team had already begun conceding there would be no immediate rollback. Overall consumer prices kept rising through 2025 and 2026; the 2026 State of the Union claim that affordability had been 'won' was contradicted by BLS data showing groceries, electricity and rents all above their January 2025 levels.
“[paraphrase] With tariff revenue, we may be able to substantially reduce or even eliminate the federal income tax for many Americans.”
· Post on X, repeated in 2025 remarks about an 'External Revenue Service'
· ×8
Tariffs never came close to replacing income tax revenue: collections ran about $154.5 billion in the first ten months of fiscal 2026 against roughly $2.4 trillion in individual income taxes. The Supreme Court then struck down the IEEPA tariffs on Feb. 20, 2026, halting collection and triggering an estimated $175–$200 billion in refunds. No income tax was eliminated.
“[paraphrase] We'll look at each individual case — if somebody was out of control, we'd look at that differently.”
· NBC 'Meet the Press' interview
· ×5
On Jan. 20, 2025 — his first day — Trump issued blanket clemency to more than 1,500 people charged in the Capitol attack, including people convicted of assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy, rather than the case-by-case review he had described. PolitiFact rated the underlying pardon promise Kept, but the promised individualized screening never occurred.
“If the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East.”
· Truth Social post
· ×2
A ceasefire-and-hostage-release deal was announced on January 15, 2025 and took effect on January 19, with the first three hostages released the day before the inauguration, so the ultimatum was arguably met. But the deal was substantially the framework Biden's team had negotiated since May 2024 and was brokered jointly by the outgoing and incoming administrations. The ceasefire collapsed in March 2025.
“[paraphrase] On day one, I will sign the tariffs — 25 percent on Mexico and Canada, immediately.”
· Truth Social post after the election
· ×10
No tariffs were signed on Jan. 20, 2025; Al Jazeera and NBC News both flagged it as a missed day-one item. Mexico and Canada tariffs came weeks later and were repeatedly paused, and the broader program was voided by the Supreme Court on Feb. 20, 2026 before being partially rebuilt under other statutes.
PolitiFact's Jan. 20, 2026 one-year review found groceries and clothing each up almost 2% year over year, electricity up nearly 7%, and housing, medical care, tuition and child care all up about 3%. The New York Times found beef up 16.4%, coffee up 19.8% and lettuce up 7.3%, with the largest monthly grocery jump (0.7%) since August 2022. Households were projected to absorb another $1,300 in added costs in 2026, up from $1,000 in 2025.
“[paraphrase] We're going to bring down the price of eggs — the groceries, the eggs, everything.”
· Campaign rallies in the closing week, including Pittsburgh
· ×15
By day seven of the term eggs were more expensive, not cheaper, and prices set records through early 2025 amid avian flu. FactCheck.org documented false administration claims about egg and gas prices in April 2025, and CBS News fact-checked similar claims again in September 2025. Overall grocery prices remained above their January 2025 level through 2026, with the largest monthly grocery jump since August 2022 recorded in the one-year review.
“[paraphrase] I will establish a panel of top experts to investigate what is causing the decades-long increase in chronic health problems and childhood diseases, including autism and autoimmune disorders.”
· Campaign rally, Salem, Virginia (the 'Make America Healthy Again' pledge with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.)
· ×8
PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled in its January 2026 one-year review. The MAHA Commission produced reports criticized for citing nonexistent studies, and no standing expert task force with the investigative mandate Trump described was established.
“[paraphrase] We think we can do at least $2 trillion in federal spending cuts through the Department of Government Efficiency.”
· Madison Square Garden rally, New York (Elon Musk pledge Trump adopted and repeated)
· ×10
DOGE never came close. Its 'Wall of Receipts' claimed $110 billion, later $215 billion when the effort wound down; a government watchdog report in August 2026 found the figures rested on estimates that were wrong or unsupported, and third-party analysis could verify only about $35 billion. The promised offshoot of '$5,000 DOGE dividend' checks funded by the savings never happened either.
“[paraphrase] We're going to support the family caregivers — I will enact a tax credit for people caring for a parent or a loved one at home.”
· Madison Square Garden rally, New York
· ×5
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act did not include a caregiver tax credit. Twenty months into the term no such credit has been enacted; PolitiFact still lists it as unfulfilled.
“It's so easy — I would fire him within two seconds.”
· Call-in interview on 'The Hugh Hewitt Show', asked whether he would fire special counsel Jack Smith on the day he took the oath
· ×3
Deadline Oct 25, 2024 · 1 year, 10 months overdue
He never got to fire him. After the election Smith moved to drop both federal cases, which were dismissed on November 25, 2024 under DOJ's policy against prosecuting a sitting president, and Smith resigned from the Justice Department on January 10, 2025, ten days before the inauguration. Legal analysts also noted a president cannot personally fire a special counsel; only the attorney general can.
“[paraphrase] We're getting the criminals out first — murderers, drug dealers, the worst of the worst.”
· Campaign rallies and post-election interviews
· ×25
Nonpublic ICE data obtained by the Cato Institute in June 2025 showed a majority of detainees had no criminal conviction and 93% had no violent conviction. By December 2025, about 74% of the nearly 70,000 people in ICE detention had no criminal convictions at all. Enforcement shifted to courthouse, worksite and street arrests of people with no records.
“We're going to cap it at around 10 percent. We can't let them make 25 percent and 30 percent.”
· Campaign rally, Uniondale, New York (repeated Erie, Pa., Sept. 29, 2024)
· ×8
Nothing happened for a year. On Jan. 12, 2026 Trump posted that 'Effective January 20, 2026, I... am calling for a one year cap on Credit Card Interest Rates of 10%,' but a president cannot set rates unilaterally. Speaker Mike Johnson said the next day it could have 'negative secondary effects,' the Hawley-Sanders bill remained stuck in committee as of February 2026, and Sen. Warren opened an inquiry into regulators' lack of progress. Meanwhile credit card debt hit a record $1.23 trillion and CFPB rollbacks cost families an estimated $18 billion in 2025.
“[paraphrase] We will revoke the temporary protected status of the Haitians in Springfield and send them home.”
· Campaign remarks after the ABC debate, Las Vegas
· ×5
The administration moved to end Haitian TPS but the terminations were repeatedly blocked or delayed in federal court, and PolitiFact still rated the promise Stalled in its January 2026 one-year review.
“[paraphrase] We are going to end all taxes on overtime.”
· Campaign rally, Tucson, Arizona
· ×20
The 2025 tax law created a deduction for overtime premium pay capped at $12,500 for single filers ($25,000 joint), phased out at higher incomes and expiring after 2028 — not an end to taxation of overtime. Payroll taxes still apply and the benefit is unavailable to workers who take the deduction against no federal income tax liability.
“I have concepts of a plan... if we come up with something, we are working on things, we're going to do it and we're going to replace it.”
· ABC News presidential debate with Kamala Harris, National Constitution Center, Philadelphia
· ×12
Deadline Sep 24, 2024 · 1 year, 11 months overdue
This was the terminus of a chain that began with 'something terrific' in 2015, ran through repeated 'two weeks' promises in 2017, and produced five separate 'weeks away' pledges in 2020. No replacement plan followed the debate. The administration's 'Great Healthcare Plan', released January 15, 2026, was a brief conceptual outline requiring congressional action, which Forbes noted was still not more than concepts.
Gas never approached $2. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled at the one-year mark. After the U.S.-Iran war began Feb. 28, 2026, pump prices spiked: gasoline jumped 21.2% in a single month in March 2026, hit a record $4.15 a gallon over Labor Day 2026 (up 30% year over year), and reached $4.29 by mid-September 2026. Trump reframed $3 gas as a reasonable price to pay for the Iran war.
“[paraphrase] We will cut the cost of a new home in half.”
· Economic Club of New York
· ×4
No halving of housing costs occurred. PolitiFact's one-year review found housing costs up about 3% year over year. The administration's 2026 housing package was described by Fortune as a 'big yawn' that did little for affordability, and mortgage costs rose again after the Iran war began in late February 2026.
“[paraphrase] We will reduce the corporate tax rate to 15 percent, but only for companies that make their product in America.”
· Economic Club of New York
· ×5
The 2025 tax law left the statutory corporate rate at 21%. Instead of the promised 15% domestic-manufacturer rate, it restored 100% bonus depreciation and immediate R&D expensing. PolitiFact rated the promise a Compromise as of its Jan. 2026 review.
“[paraphrase] Tariffs will bring auto manufacturing back to levels we haven't seen in 37 years.”
· Economic Club of New York
· ×6
Auto and parts employment did not surge. Steel and aluminum tariffs raised input costs, factory construction spending fell about 30% from November 2024 to May 2026, and overall manufacturing payrolls were roughly 75,000 below the January 2025 level by mid-2026 — the opposite of a multi-decade high.
“We will drive down the rates so you will be able to pay 2 percent again.”
· Campaign rally, Tucson, Arizona
· ×6
Thirty-year mortgage rates never came close to 2%. After a dip driven by directing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds, rates backed up again once the Iran war started: 10-year Treasury yields topped 4.7% and 30-year mortgages sat at 6.66% in 2026 — roughly where they stood when Trump returned to office nearly two years earlier.
“We're going to be paying for that treatment... or we're going to be mandating that the insurance company pay.”
· NBC News interview, Potterville, Michigan
· ×10
No mandate and no federal payment materialized. A February 2025 executive order only requested policy recommendations; an October 2025 announcement covered a discount on one fertility drug and a voluntary employer benefit. In December 2025 Trump signed the defense authorization bill without the IVF coverage provision for active-duty service members after Speaker Mike Johnson stripped it. IVF still costs roughly $15,000–$20,000 per cycle out of pocket.
“[paraphrase] I would very gladly release my medical records.”
· Interview with CBS News during the 2024 campaign
· ×6
Fifty-five days later, on October 14, 2024, more than 200 health care professionals signed an open letter noting he still had not released anything. Kamala Harris released a detailed physician's report and challenged him to match it; Trump refused, and his campaign pointed instead to two July 2024 memos from Rep. Ronny Jackson about the assassination attempt. At 78, the oldest major-party nominee in history went into Election Day without releasing records — as he had in 2016 and 2020.
“We will be slashing energy and electricity prices by half within 12 months.”
· Campaign rally, Asheville, North Carolina (repeated in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Aug. 17, 2024: 'We're going to get your energy prices down by 50%')
· ×12
PolitiFact rated this Promise Broken on Jan. 20, 2026: gasoline fell modestly in year one but electricity and natural gas prices rose. A Guardian analysis found average household electricity bills up 6.7% in 2025, about $116 more per household, and PolitiFact's one-year check found electricity almost 7% higher year over year. Protect Borrowers reported utility costs up 35% overall with 14 million Americans severely behind on utility debt.
“[paraphrase] We will put a ring around the country — a tariff of 10 to 20 percent on all foreign goods sold in America.”
· Campaign rally, Asheville, North Carolina; repeated through the campaign
· ×25
The universal tariff was imposed by emergency decree rather than by law and then collapsed. On Feb. 20, 2026 the Supreme Court struck it down 6-3; Trump signed an order halting collection and CBP stopped collecting on Feb. 24, 2026, with the Court of International Trade ordering administrative refunds on March 4, 2026. The White House announced a replacement 10% global tariff under other statutes, but as of September 2026 refunds remained tangled between Customs and the courts.
“Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again.”
· Campaign rally, Bozeman, Montana (repeated at Waunakee, Wisconsin, Oct. 1, 2024 and dozens of other rallies)
· ×25
Deadline Aug 10, 2024 · 2 years, 1 month overdue
Within a month of taking office the White House was already walking the pledge back; by February 2025 Trump publicly abandoned the idea of an immediate rollback in prices. Inflation reaccelerated after the April 2025 'Liberation Day' tariffs, reaching roughly 3% in 2025, and the Senate Joint Economic Committee and outside analysts estimated households paid about $2,120 more in 2025 because of it. In his 2026 State of the Union Trump claimed he had 'won' on affordability while grocery, electricity, housing and medical prices all remained above January 2025 levels.
“It is very late in the process, (early) voting has already begun — there will be no rematch!”
· Truth Social; earlier in August 2024 Trump had publicly pushed for three debates against Harris
· ×3
Trump spent August 2024 demanding multiple debates and made participation contingent on Harris agreeing to three. After the single September 10, 2024 debate — which polls scored for Harris — he posted "THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!" and in October ruled out the CNN-hosted October 23 debate Harris accepted, and Fox's offered dates of October 24 and 27. Only one Trump-Harris debate ever took place.
“[paraphrase] We're going to pay off the national debt — and we'll do it fairly quickly.”
· Campaign interviews and rallies (a pledge he first made in 2016 and revived in 2024)
· ×8
The debt rose about $2.25 trillion in Trump's first year back in office ($2.29 trillion over calendar 2025) and is now approaching $50 trillion. Steve Rattner's July 2026 analysis found the deficit up from $1.8 trillion at inauguration to $1.9 trillion, above 6% of GDP versus 3.4% in 2017, with debt over 100% of GDP and on track to pass the 1946 record of 106% around 2030. Investor Jason Calacanis called Trump the 'worst-spending president in history.'
“[paraphrase] We will immediately reinstate Remain in Mexico.”
· Campaign rallies and the 2024 Republican platform
· ×8
PolitiFact still rated this Stalled at the one-year mark in January 2026. The program requires Mexican cooperation that has not been secured at scale, and the administration relied instead on third-country removals and near-total asylum shutdowns at the border.
“[paraphrase] We want one-day voting, paper ballots only.”
· Campaign rallies and Truth Social posts
· ×8
No federal paper-ballot mandate exists and none is possible without Congress. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled in its January 2026 review; states continue to run elections on their own equipment.
“[paraphrase] We will have same-day voting with all results counted on election night.”
· Campaign rallies
· ×6
No federal action was taken to force same-night counting, which federal law cannot impose on states. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled at the January 2026 one-year mark, with the 2026 midterm rules unchanged.
“I WILL BRING THE COST OF EVERYTHING WAY DOWN. I WILL BREAK THE INFLATION NIGHTMARE!!!”
· Truth Social post
· ×40
Costs rose across the categories families feel most. Sen. Warren's January 2026 report and Protect Borrowers documented groceries, utilities, health care and college all more expensive; utility costs rose 35% with 14 million Americans severely behind on utility debt; credit card debt hit a record $1.23 trillion with delinquencies near Great Recession levels. Households paid an estimated $2,120 more in 2025 alone.
· Truth Social post, repeated throughout the 2024 campaign
· ×14
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025, did not repeal the taxation of Social Security benefits. Instead it created a temporary $6,000 deduction for filers over 65 that runs only from 2025 through 2028 and phases out at higher incomes, leaving many beneficiaries — including those under 65 on disability or survivor benefits — still paying tax. PolitiFact rated the promise a Compromise.
“[paraphrase] I will end the forever wars and keep us out of new ones.”
· Republican National Convention acceptance speech, Milwaukee
· ×25
In early January 2026 U.S. forces assaulted Caracas, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife; 80 Venezuelan and Cuban citizens were killed by U.S. gunfire and airstrikes. Trump then said the U.S. would 'run' Venezuela's government for an indefinite period, with no stated plan for governing 28 million people. By September 2026 the administration had also ordered strikes in Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, and Rep. Jason Crow introduced a war powers resolution to rein in the Venezuela operation.
“[paraphrase] We will fill up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve right to the top — immediately.”
· Republican National Convention acceptance speech, Milwaukee
· ×6
The SPR was not refilled to capacity. Purchases were limited by appropriations and by the very oil prices the administration was trying to keep low, and refill slowed further once the February 2026 Iran war drove crude higher. PolitiFact still listed the promise as unfulfilled at the one-year mark.
“[paraphrase] We will create jobs like you have never seen — the greatest economy in the history of our country.”
· Republican National Convention acceptance speech, Milwaukee
· ×25
Job creation slowed sharply. Reuters data cited by Senate Democrats showed average monthly job gains falling roughly two-thirds, from about 168,000 a month in Biden's final year to about 49,000 a month in Trump's first year, with manufacturing shedding 108,000 jobs. Consumer confidence fell for five consecutive months after the April 2025 tariffs, and a WSJ poll showed a 15-point gap in negative economy ratings.
“What I want to do and what I will do is you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically as part of your diploma a green card to be able to stay in this country.”
· 'All-In' podcast interview
The campaign walked the pledge back within hours, and in office the administration moved the opposite direction — restricting student visas, raising H-1B fees and tightening OPT. PolitiFact rated the promise Promise Broken in its January 2026 review; no graduate has received a green card by virtue of a U.S. diploma.
“For those hotel workers and people that get tips, you're going to be very happy, because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips.”
· Campaign rally, Las Vegas, Nevada
· ×30
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act created a deduction for tip income rather than eliminating the tax, capped at $25,000, limited to specified occupations, phased out by income, and set to expire after 2028. Payroll taxes on tips still apply. PolitiFact rated it Promise Kept, but the delivered policy is narrower and temporary compared with the flat 'no tax on tips' pledge.
“Yeah, yeah, I would... I guess I would. I think that less so because, you don't know, you don't want to affect people's lives if it's phony stuff in there.”
· Fox & Friends Weekend interview with Rachel Campos-Duffy; repeated on the Lex Fridman podcast on September 3, 2024
· ×4
Deadline Jun 3, 2024 · 2 years, 3 months overdue
In February 2025 Attorney General Pam Bondi said the client list was 'sitting on my desk'; a DOJ and FBI memo in July 2025 then concluded there was no client list and no further disclosures were warranted, and Trump called the story 'pretty boring stuff' and a Democratic 'hoax.' He reversed on November 16, 2025, told House Republicans to vote for release, and signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on November 19, 2025. Releases remained partial and contested into September 2026. House Democrats accused Fox of deceptively editing the original 2024 broadcast to cut his hesitation.
“[paraphrase] We will cut the federal budget every year of my presidency.”
· Agenda 47 policy platform / campaign video
· ×4
Federal spending and deficits both rose. The deficit grew from $1.8 trillion at inauguration to about $1.9 trillion by mid-2026, and the Treasury reported surging monthly deficits through fiscal 2026. Total federal outlays increased, driven by the 2025 tax law, higher interest costs and military operations in Iran and Venezuela. PolitiFact moved this between 'Compromise' and 'In the Works' but never to Kept.
“I'm testifying. I tell the truth. I mean, all I can do is tell the truth. And the truth is that there is no case.”
· Remarks to reporters ahead of his New York criminal trial
· ×3
Trump softened the pledge within weeks — "I would if it's necessary" — and the defense rested on May 21, 2024 without calling him. Afterwards he blamed Judge Juan Merchan's rulings: "Anything I did in the past, they can bring everything up." On May 30, 2024 a jury convicted him on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
“[paraphrase] We will create a victim compensation fund for Americans harmed by migrant crime, paid for with assets seized from the gangs.”
· Agenda 47 policy plan / campaign rallies
· ×4
No such fund has been created. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled at the one-year mark in January 2026, with no legislation introduced and no seized-asset mechanism established.
“[paraphrase] Only citizens will vote — we will require proof of citizenship to register.”
· Campaign rallies and the SAVE Act push
· ×12
The SAVE Act passed the House but stalled in the Senate, and Trump's March 2025 elections executive order imposing proof-of-citizenship requirements was blocked in federal court. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled at the one-year mark; Poynter's January 2026 review listed it among the promises facing Senate hurdles.
“We're not going to do anything with Social Security... We're not touching Social Security, other than we make it more efficient. Medicare is going to be strengthened.”
PolitiFact rated this a Compromise. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act triggered statutory PAYGO sequestration exposing Medicare to roughly $500 billion in cuts over a decade and raised Medicare Part D costs, while the Social Security Administration was gutted by staffing cuts and leadership churn; the Treasury secretary's comments about private accounts were characterized by Democrats as a 'backdoor for privatizing Social Security.'
“[paraphrase] We'll put a 60 percent tariff — maybe more — on everything coming in from China.”
· Fox News 'Sunday Morning Futures' interview
· ×15
The across-the-board 60% China rate was never put in place. Rates swung wildly through 2025 truces and escalations, and PolitiFact still rated the promise Stalled at the one-year mark in January 2026. The Feb. 20, 2026 Supreme Court ruling invalidated the emergency authority Trump had used for most of the China tariffs.
“[paraphrase] I will ban federal bureaucrats from taking jobs at the companies they deal with and regulate.”
· Agenda 47 'Drain the Swamp' policy video
· ×4
No such ban was enacted. PolitiFact rated the promise Promise Broken in its January 2026 review; the administration instead rescinded existing ethics pledges and staffed agencies with former industry officials, with departing officials moving into regulated industries without restriction.
“[paraphrase] We will revisit Section 230 and hold the big tech platforms accountable.”
· Agenda 47 free speech policy video
· ×4
No Section 230 legislation reached Trump's desk. PolitiFact still had the promise unfulfilled at the January 2026 one-year review, and no bill advanced in either chamber during 2026.
“I will not be testifying on Monday. I have already testified to everything & have nothing more to say.”
· Truth Social, after his lawyers had told the court he would take the stand on December 11, 2023
· ×2
Trump's team had scheduled him to testify under friendly questioning to rebut New York AG Letitia James's claim that he fraudulently inflated property values. On December 10, 2023 he cancelled in an all-caps Truth Social post calling the case a "witch hunt." He had testified once, under hostile questioning, on November 6, 2023. Judge Arthur Engoron ruled against him in February 2024 with a judgment exceeding $450 million with interest.
“[paraphrase] We will finish the wall — we're going to finish it quickly.”
· Campaign rallies throughout 2023-2024
· ×40
About 700 miles of primary barrier exist along the roughly 2,000-mile border, with dozens of new miles added since January 2025 and a $2.6 billion contract awarded by June 2026. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in June 2026 the primary wall would not be complete until the end of 2027, with technology in place by mid-2028 — after Trump's stated timeline. Mexico has still never paid for any of it; U.S. taxpayers fund it.
“I will make it a personal mission to totally eradicate veterans' homelessness in America by the end of the next term.”
· Campaign website policy video
· ×6
An executive order promised housing for 6,000 veterans at a new National Center for Warrior Independence on the West LA VA campus, but the April 2026 budget request included zero dollars to build any of that housing. The administration instead pursued encampment removal, civil commitment and a VA-DOJ arrangement letting officials seek legal guardianship over 'vulnerable' veterans — an approach the National Homelessness Law Center said takes rights away rather than providing housing.
“[paraphrase] Trump said he would go after Christopher Steele over the dossier and filed a data-protection claim against Orbis Business Intelligence in the High Court in London.”
· High Court of Justice, London
The High Court dismissed the claim on February 1, 2024, largely on limitation grounds, finding Trump had waited far too long to bring it. In March 2024 he was ordered to pay Orbis roughly £300,000 in legal costs. It was one of a run of Trump-as-plaintiff media suits — CNN, Clinton, Orbis — that ended in dismissal and cost orders against him.
“[paraphrase] On day one I will restore the travel ban, and we'll expand it.”
· Campaign rally, Clive, Iowa
· ×12
Deadline Oct 17, 2023 · 2 years, 11 months overdue
A proclamation covering a list of countries came in June 2025 rather than day one, and PolitiFact still rated the promise Stalled in its January 2026 review because the sweeping 'expanded' ban — including the promised ideological screening and country list Trump described on the trail — was never fully implemented and parts have been narrowed in litigation.
“We're going to be returning education back to the states where it belongs.”
· Agenda 47 education video and repeated campaign rallies
· ×20
A March 2025 executive order directed Secretary Linda McMahon to wind the department down and cut nearly half of its 4,100-person workforce, with more layoffs in October 2025 and grant programs shifted to six other agencies by December 2025. But only Congress can abolish it and a Senate filibuster makes that impossible with the current majority; Reason reported in February 2026 that Trump's own bill funded the department at $79 billion and barred parts of it from being downsized or decentralized. The department still exists in September 2026.
“[paraphrase] We will pass a law requiring voter ID for all elections.”
· Agenda 47 election integrity policy video
· ×10
No national voter ID law exists. Election administration is a state power and the necessary federal legislation never cleared the Senate. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled in its January 2026 one-year review.
“A Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia... will be presented at a major News Conference on Monday.”
· Truth Social, two days after his Fulton County indictment; the conference was to be held at Bedminster, New Jersey
· ×2
Deadline Aug 21, 2023 · 3 years, 1 month overdue
He cancelled on August 20, 2023, writing that his lawyers would prefer to put the evidence in 'formal Legal Filings' and that 'the News Conference is no longer necessary!' No such report was ever released, publicly or in any court filing. As late as a July 2026 primetime speech on election security, experts said the documents he cited still showed no evidence of the fraud he alleges.
“[paraphrase] An eye for an eye, a tariff for a tariff — whatever they charge us, we charge them.”
· Agenda 47 policy platform
· ×10
Congress never passed the Reciprocal Trade Act. Trump instead imposed 'reciprocal' rates by emergency decree on April 2, 2025, and the Supreme Court voided that authority on Feb. 20, 2026. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled; as of September 2026 the reciprocal schedule exists only in improvised, litigated form under substitute statutes.
“[paraphrase] We will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history — 15 to 20 million people.”
· Campaign rally, Council Bluffs, Iowa; repeated at nearly every rally through Election Day
· ×100
Removals rose but fell far short of the scale promised and of the 1 million-a-year target. DHS claimed 605,000 deportations from Jan. 20, 2025 to Dec. 10, 2025, while the Deportation Data Project counted roughly 350,000. Trump's second term averaged about 14,700 deportations a month, well under the roughly 36,000 monthly average of Obama's second term. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled in January 2026.
“[paraphrase] We will take funding away from schools that don't end teacher tenure and adopt merit pay.”
· Agenda 47 education policy video
· ×3
No federal incentive program targeting teacher tenure was created, and tenure remains a matter of state law and collective bargaining. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled in its January 2026 one-year review.
“I will sign an executive order on day one of my new term in office making clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward, the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic US citizenship.”
· Campaign policy video released by the Trump campaign
· ×4
Deadline May 31, 2023 · 3 years, 3 months overdue
Trump did sign the order on January 20, 2025, but a federal judge blocked it three days later on January 23, 2025, calling it 'blatantly unconstitutional.' The policy remained enjoined through subsequent litigation and no child was denied citizenship under it.
“If I'm president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours.”
· CNN town hall, Goffstown, New Hampshire
· ×53
Deadline May 11, 2023 · 3 years, 4 months overdue
CNN counted at least 53 occasions on which Trump said he would end the war within 24 hours or before taking office. The war was still going on when he was inaugurated on January 20, 2025, and continued through 2025 and into 2026 despite repeated two-week deadlines, a 50-day ultimatum, the August 2025 Alaska summit and the cancelled Budapest summit. On March 14, 2025 Trump said the 24-hour pledge had been 'a little bit sarcastic.'
“[paraphrase] Homeschooling families will be able to use up to $10,000 per child, tax free, for their educational expenses.”
· Agenda 47 education policy video
· ×4
The 2025 tax law created a federal scholarship tax credit for donations to scholarship-granting organizations, not the promised $10,000-per-child tax-free homeschool benefit. PolitiFact still had the specific pledge unfulfilled in its January 2026 review.
“[paraphrase] We will build the National Garden of American Heroes — a vast outdoor park with statues of the greatest Americans who ever lived.”
· Agenda 47 policy platform (a revival of his 2020 executive order)
· ×5
Trump signed the order again in January 2025 and tied the garden to the nation's 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026. That date passed with no garden built: a site in South Dakota was still under discussion, funding remained partial, and statue commissions were only beginning. PolitiFact kept the promise in the unfulfilled column.
“[paraphrase] We will open up large parcels of inexpensive land, bring in doctors, psychiatrists, social workers and drug rehab specialists, and create tent cities where the homeless can be relocated.”
· Agenda 47 policy video on ending the homeless crisis
· ×5
No federally supported tent city with services has been created. PolitiFact found that 11 months into the term the administration had shifted to enforcement instead: a July 24, 2025 executive order focused on clearing encampments from public spaces and expanding forced treatment and civil commitment, without the promised medical and rehabilitation infrastructure.
“[paraphrase] We will hold a contest to charter up to 10 new Freedom Cities on federal land.”
· Agenda 47 'Quantum Leap' policy video
· ×5
No Freedom City has been chartered, no contest held and no site selected. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled in its January 2026 one-year review, more than three years after Trump announced it.
“[paraphrase] We will lead the world in the development of vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicles — flying cars.”
· Agenda 47 'Quantum Leap' policy video
· ×3
No dedicated federal flying-car program was created. Poynter's January 2026 review listed the pledge among the stalled promises, and PolitiFact kept it in the unfulfilled column 20 months into the term.
“[paraphrase] We will adopt a four-year plan to phase out all Chinese imports of essential goods — electronics, steel, pharmaceuticals.”
· Agenda 47 policy video, 'President Trump's Plan to End Reliance on China'
· ×4
No phase-out plan was adopted. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled through the January 2026 one-year review, and the Supreme Court's February 2026 tariff ruling removed the main legal tool the administration had been using against Chinese imports.
“[paraphrase] We will stop China from buying up American farmland and American infrastructure.”
· Agenda 47 policy video on ending reliance on China
· ×6
No federal ban was enacted. USDA announced a farmland action plan in July 2025 but it depended on state laws and future rulemaking, and PolitiFact still rated the promise Stalled in its January 2026 one-year review.
“AMERICA NEEDS A SUPERHERO!... I will be making a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT TOMORROW.”
· Truth Social video post
Deadline Dec 15, 2022 · 3 years, 9 months overdue
He met the one-day deadline, but the 'major announcement' on December 15, 2022 — three weeks after launching his 2024 campaign — was a $99 line of 45,000 digital trading cards depicting him as an astronaut, cowboy and superhero, with fine print noting they had 'no inherent monetary value.' The run sold out in roughly twelve hours for about $4.45 million and secondary-market volume collapsed by January 2023.
“[paraphrase] Trump promised to force the Pulitzer board to strip the 2018 prizes from The New York Times and The Washington Post for their Russia coverage, and sued in Florida state court.”
· Complaint filed in Okeechobee County, Florida
· ×3
Trump demanded the board revoke the 2018 National Reporting prize; the board has never done so. A Florida appeals court declined to dismiss the case in February 2025, and discovery did not begin until December 11, 2025 — three years after filing. No prize has been revoked and no judgment has been entered.
“[paraphrase] Trump said he would like to testify — even "live" — to the January 6 committee, then fought the subpoena in court until the committee expired.”
· Truth Social posts responding to the committee's October 13, 2022 subpoena vote
· ×2
The committee voted unanimously on October 13, 2022 to subpoena Trump for documents and sworn testimony by November 14. Instead of appearing, Trump sued the committee on November 11-12, 2022, calling the subpoena overly broad and a First Amendment violation. He never testified. The committee withdrew the subpoena and dissolved at the end of the 117th Congress, releasing its final report in December 2022.
“[paraphrase] Trump promised to sue CNN for defamation over its use of "the Big Lie," and filed for $475 million in punitive damages.”
· Complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
· ×2
On July 28-29, 2023 U.S. District Judge Raag Singhal — a Trump appointee — dismissed the suit, ruling that every CNN statement Trump cited was protected opinion. Singhal wrote that "no reasonable viewer could (or should)" read "the Big Lie" as accusing Trump of advocating genocide. Trump recovered nothing.
“[paraphrase] Trump promised to sue Hillary Clinton, the DNC and dozens of others for conspiring to fabricate the Russia collusion story — and filed a 193-page RICO complaint.”
· Complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
· ×2
Judge Donald Middlebrooks dismissed the amended complaint as a "shotgun pleading" whose claims were "foreclosed by existing law," writing that "this case should never have been brought" and "no reasonable lawyer would have filed it." In January 2023 he sanctioned Trump and attorney Alina Habba nearly $1 million — $937,989 — for a "continuing pattern" of misusing the courts. The 11th Circuit upheld both the dismissal and the penalty, calling the arguments "frivolous."
“[paraphrase] Trump announced a news conference at Mar-a-Lago for January 6, 2022 to address the anniversary and his election claims, then called it off two days beforehand.”
· Announcement via his Save America PAC for an event at Mar-a-Lago
On January 4, 2022 Trump cancelled the event, blaming "total bias" from the media and the House January 6 committee, and said he would make the same points at a January 15 rally in Arizona. CNN reported that advisers, including lawyers worried about his legal exposure, had pushed him to call it off. It would have been only his second press conference since leaving office.
“[paraphrase] Trump said he was looking at paying the legal fees of January 6 defendants and told a Bedminster fundraiser he would contribute to their legal fund.”
· Interviews and a September 2022 / 2023 fundraiser for January 6 defendants at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster
· ×4
FEC records showed that through the first half of 2021 Trump's committees had paid none of the January 6 defendants' legal costs, despite sitting on roughly $100 million; HuffPost calculated he could have funded every defendant's defense at about $156,000 each and had spent zero. His alleged co-conspirators in other cases also reported never being paid. After returning to office he pardoned or commuted January 6 sentences in January 2025 and talked about federal "reimbursement" instead of personal payment; defendants are now pursuing Federal Tort Claims Act payouts.
“[paraphrase] Beta launch for invited guests in November 2021, with a full nationwide rollout in the first quarter of 2022.”
· Trump Media & Technology Group announcement of Truth Social
· ×3
The November 2021 iOS beta missed its schedule. The app reached the App Store on February 21, 2022 but immediately put tens of thousands of users on a waitlist amid glitches; CEO Devin Nunes conceded it would not be "fully functional" until the end of March. A web version followed in May 2022 with geographic restrictions, and Google Play approval did not come until October 12, 2022 — nearly a year after the promised beta.
“Trump has been telling a number of people he's in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August.”
· Reported by New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman, based on Trump's private conversations
There is no constitutional mechanism for reinstating a president. August 2021 came and went with Joe Biden in office. The claim was tied to the Arizona "audit" and similar state reviews Trump was promoting, none of which changed a single certified result; the Cyber Ninjas review released in September 2021 actually found Biden with slightly more votes. The belief circulated widely among supporters and produced nothing.
“I do think that we're going to see President Trump returning to social media in probably about two or three months here, with his own platform. ... It's going to completely redefine the game.”
· Jason Miller on Fox News' "MediaBuzz," speaking for Trump
· ×3
What actually appeared in early May 2021 was a blog, "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump," which drew almost no traffic and was shut down on June 2, 2021 — 29 days after launch — with Miller teasing that it was a precursor to the real platform. That platform, Truth Social, did not arrive until February 2022, about eleven months after the two-to-three-month promise.
“[paraphrase] Trump told advisers he wanted to start a new party — the Patriot Party — to punish Republicans who blamed him for January 6.”
· Reported conversations with advisers in his final days in office; first reported by The Wall Street Journal
Deadline Jan 25, 2021 · 5 years, 7 months overdue
The idea lasted less than a week. On January 25, 2021 Trump's own campaign committee formally disavowed groups using the Patriot Party name, and adviser Jason Miller told CNN Trump was not considering a third party. Supporters filed their own FEC paperwork and built Telegram groups around a party that never existed. Trump stayed inside the Republican Party and took it over instead.
“[paraphrase] The $600 payments are ridiculously low. Congress must raise them to $2,000 — the House votes Monday and the Senate will start the process.”
· Video statement posted to Twitter, repeated in his December 27 signing statement
· ×2
Deadline Dec 25, 2020 · 5 years, 8 months overdue
His six-day delay in signing lapsed unemployment benefits for millions. He signed on December 27, 2020. The House did pass the $2,000 increase on December 28 by 275-134, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked a standalone vote and the increase died. Americans received $600, not $2,000.
“[paraphrase] Within 24 hours of the FDA's emergency authorization, tens of millions of doses will be distributed.”
· Operation Warp Speed Vaccine Summit at the White House
· ×2
Deadline Dec 9, 2020 · 5 years, 9 months overdue
Within 24 hours of Pfizer's December 11, 2020 authorization the government began releasing 6.4 million doses in two stages, not tens of millions. Pfizer had already cut its 2020 manufacturing projection from 100 million to 50 million doses. About 2.8 million people had been vaccinated in the US by December 31, 2020, against a stated goal of 20 million.
“[paraphrase] Big news coming. We have tremendous evidence and you'll see it very soon. / Sidney Powell: 'I'm going to release the Kraken.'”
· Trump tweets and campaign statements; Sidney Powell on Fox Business's 'Lou Dobbs Tonight'
· ×8
Deadline Nov 8, 2020 · 5 years, 10 months overdue
The evidence never materialised. A promised fraud press conference was cancelled on his attorneys' advice. Attorney General Bill Barr said on December 1, 2020 that the Justice Department had found no fraud on a scale that would change the outcome. Trump and his allies lost or withdrew roughly 60 of 62 post-election lawsuits, and the Supreme Court rejected the Texas case on December 11, 2020. Powell's 'Kraken' suits in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona were all dismissed; she pleaded guilty to misdemeanour conspiracy charges in Fulton County in October 2023.
“We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!”
· Twitter
· ×8
About 4,500 to 5,000 troops were in Afghanistan when the tweet was posted. The drawdown reached roughly 2,500 by mid-January 2021, and U.S. forces were still there when Trump left office. The final withdrawal took place in August 2021.
“I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!”
· Twitter
· ×3
Deadline Oct 7, 2020 · 5 years, 11 months overdue
The blanket release never happened. DNI John Ratcliffe declassified a handful of selected items but no unredacted dump followed. In mid-January 2021, days before leaving office, Trump again ordered 'Obamagate' material declassified with reporting that it would be out within days; the promised material was not publicly released before January 20, 2021.
“I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business.”
· Twitter
· ×2
Deadline Oct 7, 2020 · 5 years, 11 months overdue
The tweet killed relief talks and the Dow fell 376 points that day. Trump reversed within about 24 hours and began demanding piecemeal relief, but nothing passed before the election, and he lost. No further relief became law until the $900 billion package Congress approved on December 21, 2020, more than eleven weeks later.
“[paraphrase] We'll have a vaccine before a very special date — I'm talking about November 3rd.”
· White House press conference, Labor Day
· ×10
No vaccine was authorized before the election. Pfizer announced interim efficacy results on November 9, 2020, six days after Election Day. The FDA granted emergency use authorization to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on December 11, 2020 and to Moderna's on December 18, 2020.
“[paraphrase] Over the next two weeks I'll be pursuing a major executive order requiring health insurance companies to cover all pre-existing conditions for all customers.”
· News conference at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster, New Jersey
· ×3
Pre-existing conditions were already covered by the Affordable Care Act, which Trump's administration was simultaneously asking the Supreme Court to strike down. The order finally came on September 24, 2020 — seven weeks late — and PolitiFact and other fact-checkers found it created no enforceable protection, merely declaring it 'the policy of the United States.'
“I do want to say that we're going to be introducing a tremendous health care plan sometime prior — hopefully, prior to the end of the month. It's just completed now.”
· White House press briefing
· ×12
August 2020 ended with no plan. CNN's September 5, 2020 headline read 'Trump promised a health care plan before the end of August. It never came.' PolitiFact counted this as at least the fifth Obamacare-replacement promise of 2020 alone. A recognisable 'Great Healthcare Plan' was not announced until January 15, 2026, and even that required Congress to act.
“[paraphrase] I set a date of around Sept. 15, at which point it's going to be out of business in the United States.”
· Remarks to reporters at the White House, followed by the August 6, 2020 executive order setting a 45-day clock
· ×3
September 15, 2020 passed with no completed sale. Trump gave preliminary blessing on September 19 to an Oracle/Walmart 'TikTok Global' structure and Commerce postponed the app-store ban by a week. A federal judge enjoined the ban on September 27, 2020, and a second injunction followed on December 7. The deal was never consummated and TikTok kept operating — a pattern that repeated with serial extensions in his second term.
“[paraphrase] I am giving the pharmaceutical companies until August 24 to come up with something better, or the most favored nation order takes effect.”
· White House drug-pricing executive order signing ceremony
· ×2
The August 24, 2020 midnight deadline passed with no deal and no order, and the White House would not say whether it would proceed. A replacement order was issued on September 13, 2020 that merely directed HHS to develop a rulemaking plan. The resulting interim final rule was blocked by federal courts in December 2020 and later withdrawn.
“We're signing a health care plan within two weeks, a full and complete health care plan.”
· Fox News Sunday interview with Chris Wallace
· ×12
Deadline Aug 2, 2020 · 6 years, 1 month overdue
The two weeks expired on August 2, 2020 with nothing signed. On July 31 Trump said it was coming 'sometime very soon'; on August 3 'hopefully, prior to the end of the month'; on August 7 he promised a major executive order 'in two weeks.' What eventually appeared on September 24, 2020 was the 'America First Healthcare Plan' executive order that fact-checkers described as largely symbolic. No comprehensive replacement plan was ever signed.
“[paraphrase] We're going to have a road to citizenship... I'm going to be signing a big immigration bill in about four weeks.”
· Telemundo interview with Jose Diaz-Balart
· ×3
The White House walked back 'road to citizenship' within days. Four weeks passed with no bill and no executive order, and none ever appeared before Trump left office. What DHS did issue, on July 28, 2020, was a memo restricting new DACA applications, which federal courts later struck down.
“We're going to be there very soon... [capacity] will increase by much more than that in the very near future.”
· Oval Office remarks
Deadline May 12, 2020 · 6 years, 4 months overdue
Hours earlier testing czar Adm. Brett Giroir had said there was 'absolutely no way on Earth, on this planet or any other planet' the US could run 5 million tests a day. Trump reversed within a day, denying he had said it and blaming a 'media trap.' The single-day peak at that point was 314,182 tests, and the US never reached 5 million tests a day.
“I would love to have it open by Easter... You'll have packed churches all over our country. I think it'll be a beautiful time.”
· Fox News virtual town hall from the White House Rose Garden
· ×2
Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx pushed back hard. Five days later, on March 29, 2020, Trump abandoned the Easter target and extended social distancing guidelines to April 30. Easter Sunday 2020 fell in one of the deadliest stretches of the first wave and churches held services online or in parking lots.
“We're going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately.”
· White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing
· ×4
Deadline Mar 20, 2020 · 6 years, 6 months overdue
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn corrected Trump at the same briefing, saying more study was needed. The FDA issued a narrow emergency use authorization on March 28, 2020 for stockpiled product in certain hospitalized patients, then revoked it on June 15, 2020 after trials showed no benefit and possible cardiac harm. The promotion caused shortages for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis patients.
“[paraphrase] The IRS will ensure that within two weeks the first money will be in people's accounts.”
· White House briefing announcing the $1.2 trillion stimulus proposal (Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, alongside Trump)
· ×2
The CARES Act was not signed until March 27, 2020. On March 29 Mnuchin revised the estimate to 'within three weeks.' The first roughly 60 million direct deposits landed around the week of April 13 — about four weeks after the promise — and paper checks began going out the week of May 4 at roughly 5 million a week, with an internal memo warning some Americans might wait until August.
“[paraphrase] Fifteen days of avoiding gatherings of more than 10 people, discretionary travel, bars, restaurants and food courts.”
· White House briefing, issued as federal guidance
· ×2
On March 29, 2020, with the fifteen days about to expire and after pushing to reopen by Easter, Trump extended the guidelines by another 30 days to April 30 — NPR's headline was 'How 15 Days Became 45.' The guidelines then lapsed into a phased 'Opening Up America Again' framework. The phrase became shorthand for a deadline that never ends.
“Google is helping to develop a website. It's going to be very quickly done... Google has 1,700 engineers working on this right now. They've made tremendous progress.”
· Rose Garden national emergency declaration
Deadline Mar 16, 2020 · 6 years, 6 months overdue
Google publicly corrected the record the same day. The project belonged to Alphabet's Verily, not Google, and launched March 15-16, 2020 as a pilot limited to two San Francisco Bay Area counties, with appointment slots filling almost immediately. Verily ultimately helped about 1.6 million people get tested in 2020 — under 1% of all US tests that year.
“We'll have 1.4 million tests on board next week and 5 million within a month.”
· Rose Garden national emergency declaration
· ×2
Deadline Mar 20, 2020 · 6 years, 6 months overdue
Roughly 894,000 tests in total had been run nationwide by March 29-30, 2020, well behind the promised weekly volumes. Asked about the gap between tests 'distributed' and tests actually performed, Trump replied, 'I cannot explain the gap.'
“Over a million tests have been distributed... Before the end of this week, another 4 million tests will be distributed.”
· White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing (statement by Vice President Mike Pence)
Deadline Mar 16, 2020 · 6 years, 6 months overdue
By March 29-30, 2020 roughly 894,000 tests had actually been performed nationwide according to testing coordinator Adm. Brett Giroir — a small fraction of the millions described. In late April Pence said the public had 'misunderstood' him and that he had meant tests available rather than tests completed.
“Anybody that wants a test can get a test. That's what the bottom line is.”
· Remarks to reporters during a tour of the CDC, Atlanta
· ×2
Deadline Mar 7, 2020 · 6 years, 6 months overdue
PolitiFact rated the claim Pants on Fire. Under CDC criteria providers, not patients, decided who was tested, and on March 9, 2020 the Association of Public Health Laboratories said demand far exceeded supply. Texas's largest public health lab could run 26 tests a day. Testing on demand did not exist for months.
“It's going to disappear. One day — it's like a miracle — it will disappear.”
· White House meeting with African American leaders
· ×22
Deadline Mar 12, 2020 · 6 years, 6 months overdue
Rolling Stone counted at least 22 separate occasions on which Trump predicted the virus would simply go away, including earlier claims that heat would kill it 'in April.' The US passed 100,000 deaths by late May 2020 and roughly 400,000 by the time he left office in January 2021.
“And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that's a pretty good job we've done.”
· White House press conference with the Coronavirus Task Force
Deadline Feb 28, 2020 · 6 years, 6 months overdue
Cases did not fall to zero. The first US community-transmission case was confirmed the same day and the first reported US death came on February 29, 2020. By late March the US had the most confirmed cases in the world, and by the first anniversary of the remark the American death toll had passed 500,000.
“[paraphrase] Under the Phase One deal China will purchase an additional $200 billion of American goods and services over two years.”
· Phase One trade deal signing, White House East Room
· ×10
Peterson Institute analysis by Chad Bown found China bought none of the additional $200 billion. Purchases of covered products in 2020 fell more than 40 percent short of the year's target, and over the full two-year period China reached only about 57 percent of commitments.
“I'll release that too, if it's important to you.”
· News conference at the UN General Assembly, the day the White House released the July 25 Zelensky call memo
It took 51 days. The April 21, 2019 call memo was finally released on November 15, 2019, timed to land on the second day of the public impeachment hearings and read into the record by Devin Nunes. Adam Schiff noted the White House was still refusing all subpoenaed documents and records.
“[paraphrase] We're going to have very meaningful background checks. There is a great appetite for background checks.”
· Early-morning tweet on August 5, then remarks to reporters on August 7 before visiting El Paso and Dayton
· ×3
Deadline Aug 19, 2019 · 7 years, 1 month overdue
Reversed inside two weeks. After an August 20, 2019 phone call with NRA chief Wayne LaPierre, Trump said on August 20-21 that 'we have very, very strong background checks right now' and warned of a 'slippery slope,' pivoting to mental health and noting that 'a lot of the people that put me where I am are strong believers in the Second Amendment.' No background-check legislation was ever advanced; House-passed bills died in the Senate. He had made and abandoned a near-identical promise after Parkland in February 2018.
“At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border. If not, Deportations start!”
· Twitter, the day before nationwide ICE raids were to begin in about ten cities
· ×2
Deadline Jul 6, 2019 · 7 years, 2 months overdue
Congress did not change asylum law; it passed a $4.5 billion humanitarian border supplemental instead. The two weeks lapsed in early July with no raids and no enforcement of the ultimatum. The operation finally launched on July 14, 2019 and produced only about 35 arrests nationwide, against the 'millions' Trump had advertised on June 17.
“We're going to produce phenomenal health care. And we already have the concept of the plan... we'll be announcing that in two months, maybe less.”
· ABC News interview with George Stephanopoulos, aired June 16, 2019
· ×12
Senior White House officials told ABC at the time that no bill existed, only 'high-level principles.' Two months came and went. By October 2019 Trump had shifted to saying the plan would come after the 2020 election. This was the opening move of the sequence that ran through the July 2020 'two weeks' pledge.
“[paraphrase] We've agreed on $2 trillion. Come back in three weeks and I'll tell you how we pay for it.”
· Oval Office meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer
· ×7
At the scheduled follow-up on May 22, 2019 Trump walked into the Cabinet Room, refused to sit down, said he could not work with Democrats 'under these circumstances' while they were investigating him, and left after about three minutes — then went straight to the Rose Garden to a pre-printed sign. No infrastructure bill was ever agreed, and the New York Times marked the day with 'How Infrastructure Week Became a Long-Running Joke.'
“[paraphrase] We'll have a full report on Khashoggi's death Monday or Tuesday — what we think the overall impact was, who caused it and who did it.”
· Remarks to reporters on the South Lawn before boarding Marine One en route to California
Deadline Nov 20, 2018 · 7 years, 10 months overdue
No report was released on the promised day. On November 20, 2018 the White House instead issued Trump's 'Standing with Saudi Arabia' statement, which declined to blame Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — 'maybe he did and maybe he didn't!' — and emphasised arms sales. The intelligence assessment naming the crown prince was not declassified until February 2021, under Biden.
“[paraphrase] We will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions.”
· Twitter and repeated rallies; also stated during the 2016 campaign
· ×40
In June 2018 the Justice Department declined to defend the ACA's pre-existing condition protections in Texas v. United States, and in a brief filed June 25, 2020 the administration asked the Supreme Court to strike down the entire law, including those protections. The Supreme Court rejected the challenge in California v. Texas in June 2021. No replacement protection was ever enacted.
“We're putting in a resolution some time in the next week and a half to two weeks [and] we're giving a middle-income tax reduction of about 10 percent.”
· Remarks to reporters at the White House, two weeks before the midterm elections
· ×3
Deadline Nov 3, 2018 · 7 years, 10 months overdue
The resolution did not exist. Congress was in recess until after the November 6 election and never returned before it; Paul Ryan's office referred questions back to the White House and congressional leaders said they knew nothing about it. CNBC noted it was 'unclear what type of resolution Trump was talking about.' No such resolution was ever introduced and no 10% middle-class cut was ever enacted.
“[paraphrase] China is paying us billions of dollars in tariffs.”
· Twitter and rallies through 2018-2020
· ×50
Studies by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Princeton and Columbia economists found the cost of the tariffs was borne almost entirely by U.S. importers and consumers. The American Prospect cited an estimated consumer cost of roughly $34 billion a year and an estimated 300,000 jobs lost to the trade war.
“There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office.”
· Twitter, after the Singapore summit with Kim Jong Un
· ×12
The Singapore statement contained no verification terms or timetable. The Hanoi summit collapsed in February 2019. North Korea continued producing fissile material and testing short-range missiles, and independent estimates put its warhead stockpile higher at the end of the term than in 2018. No weapons or facilities were dismantled.
“[paraphrase] Steel is coming back; our steelworkers are going back to work.”
· Section 232 steel tariff proclamation signing, White House
· ×15
Steel employment rose modestly in 2018 then fell back. U.S. Steel idled blast furnaces in Michigan and announced layoffs in 2019, and the industry shed jobs again in 2019 and 2020. The American Prospect cited continued losses in listing this among the broken promises.
“I'm looking forward to it, actually... I would love to do it... I would do it under oath.”
· Impromptu remarks to reporters at the White House before leaving for Davos; his lawyers indicated an interview could come within two to three weeks
· ×2
White House special counsel Ty Cobb immediately qualified the offer as 'subject to the terms being negotiated by his personal counsel.' Negotiations dragged on for more than a year and Trump never sat for an interview. In November 2018 he submitted written answers only, which the Mueller report in April 2019 described as inadequate.
“Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened.”
· Twitter, five days before the statutory October 26, 2017 deadline
· ×2
Deadline Oct 26, 2017 · 8 years, 10 months overdue
On October 26, 2017, hours before the statutory deadline, about 2,800 records were released but roughly 300 were withheld at the request of the CIA and FBI. Trump's memo said he had 'no choice — today — but to accept those redactions rather than allow potentially irreversible harm to our nation's security,' and ordered a review to release as much as possible by April 26, 2018. Further batches trickled out for years and full release never happened in his first term.
“We are going to be doing that next week. By the way, you know that's a big step... It's a very important step, and to get to that step, a lot of work has to be done.”
· Remarks to reporters at the White House, asked about declaring a written national emergency
· ×2
Deadline Oct 23, 2017 · 8 years, 10 months overdue
Ten days later, on October 26, 2017, he did not declare a national emergency. He directed HHS to declare a narrower 90-day public health emergency under the Public Health Service Act, a tool with no new money attached. USA TODAY tallied 77 days of repeated promises. It followed an August 10, 2017 pledge in which he said 'I'm saying officially right now, it is an emergency' and nothing was signed.
“[paraphrase] Cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent would raise average household income by $4,000 a year.”
· White House Council of Economic Advisers report
· ×8
The promised wage gain did not appear. Real hourly wages for production and nonsupervisory workers grew about 1.2 percent in 2018. A Congressional Research Service review found the 2017 law had little measurable effect on wages, and much of the corporate windfall went to share buybacks, which exceeded $800 billion in 2018.
“[paraphrase] This is a middle-class tax cut; the rich will not benefit.”
· Remarks in Bismarck, North Dakota, and repeated during the tax debate
· ×30
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut taxes for most but not all filers, and the individual provisions expire after 2025 while the corporate cut is permanent. The Tax Policy Center estimated that by 2027 the top 1 percent would receive roughly 83 percent of the benefits. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise on December 21, 2017.
“The opioid crisis is an emergency, and I'm saying officially right now, it is an emergency. It's a national emergency. We're going to draw it up and we're going to make it a national emergency.”
· Impromptu remarks to reporters at his Bedminster, New Jersey golf club, ten days after his opioid commission urged a declaration
· ×3
Deadline Aug 17, 2017 · 9 years, 1 month overdue
Nothing was signed. NPR reported on October 17, 2017 that 'in the more than two months since Trump made that pronouncement, no emergency declaration has been signed.' Senators Murkowski and Warren pressed him in writing on October 12. What eventually came on October 26 was a narrower 90-day public health emergency with no new money attached.
“I am not hinting at anything. I will tell you about it over a very short period of time.”
· Rose Garden news conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis
· ×2
He twice refused to elaborate and told reporters 'you're going to be very disappointed.' The House Intelligence Committee set a June 23 deadline for the White House to say whether tapes existed. Thirteen days later, on June 22, 2017, Trump tweeted that he had 'no idea' whether tapes existed 'but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.' The White House response to Congress the next day simply pasted the tweet.
“[paraphrase] The infrastructure plan is coming in the next two or three weeks / this is Infrastructure Week.”
· White House 'Infrastructure Week' rollout, first announced by NEC director Gary Cohn
· ×7
Deadline Jun 19, 2017 · 9 years, 3 months overdue
The White House declared an 'Infrastructure Week' at least seven separate times between June 2017 and May 2019, each derailed — the June 2017 launch by the Comey testimony, the August 2017 permitting push by Trump's 'very fine people on both sides' remarks after Charlottesville, the February 2018 rollout of a $1.3 trillion public-private plan by the Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels payment story, and the spring 2019 effort by Trump walking out of a meeting with Pelosi and Schumer. No infrastructure bill ever passed under Trump, and 'Infrastructure Week' became a Washington punchline for something permanently two weeks away.
“We're going to be having a news conference in about two weeks to let everybody know how well we're doing.”
· Remarks during the Middle East trip on May 21, 2017, repeated at a televised Cabinet meeting on June 12, 2017
· ×2
Deadline Jun 4, 2017 · 9 years, 3 months overdue
No news conference was ever held. Vox tracked it: the first deadline passed, Trump repeated the promise at his June 12 Cabinet meeting, and the second deadline passed on June 26 without the administration organising or even scheduling one.
“And I'll be making a big decision on the Paris accord over the next two weeks.”
· 100-days rally, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
· ×2
Two weeks passed with no decision. At the G7 in Taormina on May 26-27 Trump refused to endorse the accord and tweeted that he would announce his decision 'next week.' He announced withdrawal on June 1, 2017, roughly a month after the two-week pledge. Formal withdrawal notice did not come until November 4, 2019 and took effect November 4, 2020.
“We've got the plan largely completed and we'll be filing over the next two or three weeks — maybe sooner.”
· CBS News interview around his 100th day in office
· ×7
Nothing was filed. Bloomberg reported on June 6, 2017 that 'no legislation has been filed' and that the White House had 'yet to outline the plan, beyond broad principles.' An actual infrastructure outline did not appear until February 2018, about nine months later, and it never passed.
“I shouldn't tell you this, but we're going to be announcing, probably on Wednesday, tax reform... it'll be a massive tax cut.”
· Oval Office interview with the Associated Press and remarks at the Treasury Department the same day
· ×2
Deadline Apr 26, 2017 · 9 years, 4 months overdue
Partly kept and heavily deflated. By April 24 the White House was saying Trump would be 'outlining principles' and Mick Mulvaney said there would be no bill language. What arrived on April 26, 2017 was a one-page outline presented by Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, not a plan or a bill. Legislation did not pass until December 2017.
“We're going to make an announcement in two weeks. It's going to be good.”
· Interview with The New York Times, asked his position on the Davis-Bacon Act
Deadline Apr 19, 2017 · 9 years, 5 months overdue
Two months later Bloomberg reported that 'the Trump administration has made no announcement on the Davis-Bacon law.' No announcement was ever made, and prevailing-wage rules on federally funded construction were left untouched for the rest of the term.
“I think you're going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks.”
· Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson
· ×2
Deadline Mar 29, 2017 · 9 years, 5 months overdue
Nothing was ever submitted. On March 20, 2017 FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers told the House Intelligence Committee there was no evidence supporting the claim. A Justice Department court filing on September 1, 2017 said both the FBI and the National Security Division 'have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets.' In an April 2019 Hannity call Trump said he had made the claim 'just on a little bit of a hunch and a little bit of wisdom maybe.'
The administration announced the rescission of DACA on September 5, 2017 and rejected bipartisan legislative compromises in early 2018. On June 18, 2020 the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in DHS v. Regents that the rescission was arbitrary and capricious. A federal court ordered full reinstatement of the program in December 2020. No permanent protection for roughly 650,000 to 700,000 recipients was enacted.
“We'll be doing something very rapidly having to do with additional security for our country. You'll be seeing that sometime next week.”
· Joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; repeated on February 16 at his first solo press conference
· ×3
Nothing was signed the following week. A senior official then said 'later in the week'; on February 21 Sean Spicer said the order was 'finalized' and 'awaiting implementation.' A March 1 signing was scrapped so the February 28 joint address to Congress could 'breathe.' Executive Order 13780 was finally signed on March 6, 2017, about three weeks after the deadline.
“We're going to be announcing something I would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax and developing our aviation infrastructure.”
· White House meeting with airline executives
· ×2
Markets and the dollar jumped on the promise. Nothing came in two or three weeks. Eleven weeks later, on April 26, 2017, the White House released a single-page, roughly 200-word bullet outline of tax principles. Bloomberg noted on June 6, 2017 that it had been fifteen weeks since Trump promised an aviation infrastructure proposal in two weeks. Actual tax legislation was not signed until December 22, 2017.
“I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and... even, those registered to vote who are dead.”
· Twitter, two days after telling congressional leaders that 3 to 5 million illegal votes cost him the popular vote
· ×4
Deadline Feb 8, 2017 · 9 years, 7 months overdue
The commission was not created until May 11, 2017 and was disbanded on January 3, 2018 without ever issuing a report. Documents later obtained in litigation showed it had found no evidence of widespread fraud. Evidence for the 3 to 5 million claim was never produced by Trump, Sean Spicer or anyone else.
“[paraphrase] From this day forward, it's going to be only America first.”
· Inaugural address, U.S. Capitol
· ×100
The American Prospect and the House Majority Leader's office both catalogued outcomes at odds with the pledge, including the July 2018 Helsinki news conference in which Trump sided with Vladimir Putin's denial over U.S. intelligence findings on election interference, strained relations with NATO allies, and the withdrawal from northern Syria in October 2019 that left Kurdish partners exposed.
“We're going to have insurance for everybody. There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can't pay for it, you don't get it. That's not going to happen with us.”
· Interview with The Washington Post
· ×3
No replacement plan providing universal coverage was ever produced. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the House-passed AHCA would increase the number of uninsured by 23 million by 2026. FactCheck.org reported the number of uninsured Americans rose by about 3 million during Trump's term, to roughly 28 million.
“[paraphrase] I will sign no new foreign deals while in office — I turned down a $2 billion Dubai golf deal — and the Trump Organization will donate all profits from foreign government payments to the U.S. Treasury.”
· Trump Tower press conference, nine days before the inauguration, with a stack of folders presented as divestment documents
· ×3
Trump never divested; he moved assets into a revocable trust he could draw from and his sons ran the company. Ethics experts noted the foreign-profits pledge excluded resorts and let Trump define "profit" himself, and that he already had two existing Dubai golf deals with the same developer. When the Trump Organization said in 2018 it had donated foreign profits, it refused to disclose the amount or any country-by-country breakdown; House Oversight Democrats demanded proof and got none.
“I also know things that other people don't know, and so they cannot be sure of the situation... You'll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday.”
· Remarks to reporters before his New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach
Deadline Jan 4, 2017 · 9 years, 8 months overdue
Nothing was revealed on that Tuesday or Wednesday. Trump was briefed by intelligence chiefs on January 6, 2017 and at his January 11 press conference conceded 'I think it was Russia' — the opposite of the inside-knowledge tease. No separate disclosure was ever made.
“[paraphrase] Anyone who kills a police officer will get the death penalty.”
· Campaign and post-election rallies
· ×4
No legislation or executive action establishing a mandatory death penalty for killing a police officer was pursued. PolitiFact rated the promise broken, noting Trump made no move on it.
Carrier received up to $7 million in Indiana incentives to keep about 1,070 positions, roughly 300 of which were office jobs never slated to move. The company proceeded with moving its fan coil lines to Monterrey, Mexico, laying off about 340 workers in July 2017 and about 215 more in January 2018, roughly 500 jobs in total.
“[paraphrase] I will hold a major news conference in New York with my children on December 15 to discuss the fact that I will be leaving my great business in total order.”
· Twitter, during the presidential transition
· ×2
He cancelled on December 12, 2016 and pushed it to January. The press conference finally happened on January 11, 2017, where he announced he would hand management to his sons via a trust but would not divest — an arrangement the director of the Office of Government Ethics publicly called inadequate that same day.
“[paraphrase] Israeli-Palestinian peace is the ultimate deal, and as a deal maker I would love to be the one to do it.”
· Interview with The Wall Street Journal after the election
· ×10
The "Peace to Prosperity" plan was released January 28, 2020 after repeated delays. Palestinian leaders rejected it outright and boycotted the announcement. No Israeli-Palestinian agreement was reached. The administration instead brokered normalization deals between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco in late 2020.
“Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign. Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”
· 'Closing argument' and first-100-days speech, Eisenhower Hotel, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
He never sued a single accuser. The litigation ran the other way: E. Jean Carroll sued him and juries awarded her $5 million on May 9, 2023 and $83.3 million on January 26, 2024. Summer Zervos's suit was dropped in 2021 after Trump issued a statement.
“On the first day of my term of office, my administration will immediately pursue the following six measures to clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, DC.”
· Gettysburg, Pennsylvania speech releasing the written 'Contract with the American Voter'
· ×18
Deadline Oct 23, 2016 · 9 years, 10 months overdue
Mostly late or never. The federal hiring freeze and TPP withdrawal were signed on day four, January 23, 2017, not day one. The constitutional amendment imposing congressional term limits was never proposed. China was not labelled a currency manipulator on day one; the administration reversed that pledge in April 2017, briefly applied the label in August 2019 and removed it in January 2020. Sanctuary-city defunding was ordered but repeatedly blocked in court.
“Real change begins with immediately repealing and replacing the disaster known as Obamacare.”
· "Contract with the American Voter" speech, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×100
The House passed the American Health Care Act in May 2017, but Senate repeal efforts failed. On July 28, 2017, the Senate rejected a scaled-back repeal bill 49-51 after Republicans John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted no. A further attempt (Graham-Cassidy) collapsed in September 2017. The ACA was still law when Trump left office, with 8.2 million people enrolled through healthcare.gov for 2021.
“The Trump Plan will invest $550 billion in infrastructure and create an infrastructure fund.”
· Campaign platform and "Contract with the American Voter," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×25
No infrastructure bill was introduced in the first 100 days or passed at any point in the term. A $1 trillion plan was rolled out in June 2017 and a $1.5 trillion version in February 2018; neither advanced. Talks with congressional Democrats collapsed on May 22, 2019, when Trump walked out of a White House meeting. "Infrastructure Week" became a recurring joke in Washington.
“[paraphrase] A five-year ban on executive branch officials lobbying the government after they leave, and a lifetime ban on lobbying for a foreign government.”
· "Contract with the American Voter," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×50
Deadline Oct 23, 2016 · 9 years, 10 months overdue
Executive Order 13770, signed January 28, 2017, contained the pledge but with exemptions, and the lifetime foreign-lobbying ban applied only to lobbying registered under FARA, not to broader foreign consulting. Trump revoked the order entirely on January 19-20, 2021, hours before leaving office, releasing all appointees from the pledge.
“[paraphrase] The Middle Class Tax Relief and Simplification Act will let Americans deduct childcare and elder care from their taxes and create Dependent Care Savings Accounts.”
· "Contract with the American Voter," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×5
The December 2017 tax law did not create the promised child and elder care deduction or Dependent Care Savings Accounts, and did not increase the dependent care deduction. PolitiFact rated the promise broken on December 21, 2017.
“[paraphrase] I will direct the Treasury Secretary to label China a currency manipulator on day one.”
· "Contract with the American Voter," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×15
Treasury declined to make the designation through 2017, 2018 and most of 2019. It finally labeled China a currency manipulator on August 5, 2019, then reversed the designation on January 13, 2020, ahead of the Phase One signing. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise.
“[paraphrase] AT&T's purchase of Time Warner is too much concentration of power; my administration will not approve it.”
· "Contract with the American Voter" speech, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×3
The Justice Department sued to stop the merger in November 2017 and lost in district court in June 2018. The D.C. Circuit affirmed in February 2019 and the deal closed. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] We will go through the budget of every department and eliminate wasteful spending.”
· "Contract with the American Voter," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×3
A March 2017 executive order directed a government reorganization plan; the resulting June 2018 proposal required congressional action that never came. PolitiFact rated the promise broken, noting the president cannot unilaterally reorganize every department.
“[paraphrase] The End Illegal Immigration Act will establish a mandatory two-year minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the U.S. after a prior deportation.”
· "Contract with the American Voter," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×5
The End Illegal Immigration Act was never introduced in the first 100 days and no mandatory minimum for re-entry was enacted during the term. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] A hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce the federal workforce through attrition, exempting military, public safety and public health.”
· "Contract with the American Voter," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×4
Deadline Oct 23, 2016 · 9 years, 10 months overdue
A hiring freeze was imposed on January 23, 2017 but lifted on April 12, 2017, replaced by agency-by-agency workforce plans. Federal civilian employment was higher at the end of the term than at the start. PolitiFact rated the promise broken, noting no movement since April 2017.
“I will work with Congress to introduce the following broader legislative measures and fight for their passage within the first 100 days of my Administration.”
· "Contract with the American Voter," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×5
By day 55, nine of the ten named bills had not been introduced: the Middle Class Tax Relief and Simplification Act, End the Offshoring Act, American Energy and Infrastructure Act, School Choice and Education Opportunity Act, Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act, End Illegal Immigration Act, Restoring Community Safety Act, Restoring National Security Act and Clean Up Corruption in Washington Act. Only a repeal-and-replace bill was introduced, and it did not pass. By April 2017 Trump called the 100-day benchmark a "ridiculous standard."
“[paraphrase] On day one I will cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama.”
· "Contract with the American Voter," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×10
Deadline Oct 23, 2016 · 9 years, 10 months overdue
Many Obama-era regulations were rolled back, but the central immigration target, DACA, survived. The Supreme Court blocked its rescission in June 2020 and a federal court ordered full reinstatement of the program in December 2020. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise on January 4, 2021.
“[paraphrase] A requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated, and a temporary moratorium on new regulations.”
· "Contract with the American Voter," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×6
Deadline Oct 23, 2016 · 9 years, 10 months overdue
A January 20, 2017 memo froze pending rules and Executive Order 13771 of January 30, 2017 imposed the two-for-one requirement, but no blanket moratorium on new regulations was maintained and agencies continued issuing rules. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise, finding Trump essentially held the line.
“If I'm elected president, I will push for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress.”
· Campaign rally, Colorado Springs, later item one of the Gettysburg contract
· ×6
No term-limits amendment was proposed by the White House or brought to a vote in either chamber during the term. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in November 2016 there was no chance of it passing, and the administration did not pursue it further.
“[paraphrase] A lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.”
· Campaign rally, Green Bay, Wisconsin; restated in the Gettysburg contract
· ×8
Deadline Oct 18, 2016 · 9 years, 11 months overdue
Executive Order 13770 of January 28, 2017 included a lifetime ban limited to activity requiring FARA registration. Trump revoked the order on January 19-20, 2021, eliminating the ban. A companion promise to ban foreign lobbyists from raising money in American elections was never implemented; PolitiFact rated both broken.
“We are going to stop the inflow of drugs into New Hampshire and into our country 100 percent.”
· Campaign speech, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
· ×25
Trump declared a public health emergency on October 26, 2017. Overdose deaths topped 70,000 in 2017, dipped slightly in 2018, then hit a record above 70,000 in 2019 and about 93,000 in 2020 according to CDC provisional data. NPR reported in October 2020 that the epidemic had never been worse.
“[paraphrase] We will work with colleges to reduce the cost of tuition.”
· Campaign speech, Columbus, Ohio
· ×4
No federal action reduced tuition. The Education Department rescinded the gainful employment rule in 2019 and weakened borrower defense to repayment rules, which The American Prospect cited as easing conditions for for-profit colleges rather than lowering costs.
“If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation... you'd be in jail.”
· Second presidential debate, Washington University, St. Louis
· ×40
No special counsel was ever appointed to investigate Clinton. Attorney General Jeff Sessions had a federal prosecutor review the matter in 2017 and 2018 without appointing a special counsel, and no charges followed. Trump later said he felt it "would be a terrible thing" to pursue.
“I'm under a routine audit and it'll be released, and as soon as the audit is finished it will be released.”
· First 2016 presidential debate, Hofstra University
· ×6
Deadline Oct 10, 2016 · 9 years, 11 months overdue
Trump repeated the 'after the audit' line from 2015 onward and abandoned it once in office. Nothing in law bars releasing returns under audit. A 2022 House Ways and Means report found the mandatory presidential audit was not even started until 2019. Six years of returns became public only in December 2022 after the House Ways and Means Committee forced their release.
“[paraphrase] A concealed carry permit should be valid in all 50 states.”
· Campaign Second Amendment position paper
· ×6
The House passed a concealed carry reciprocity bill in December 2017, but the Senate never took it up and it did not become law. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] We have to expand treatment for the mentally ill; the halfway houses and institutions need to come back.”
· Campaign Second Amendment and public safety materials
· ×4
Some funding increased through the 21st Century Cures Act and opioid response grants, but the administration's budgets repeatedly proposed cuts to SAMHSA programs and to Medicaid, the largest payer for mental health care. PolitiFact rated the record mixed and the promise a compromise.
“We're bringing it from 1 percent up to 4 percent. And I actually think we can go higher than 4 percent. I think you can go to 5 percent or 6 percent.”
· Economic Club of New York speech
· ×30
Annual real GDP growth peaked at 2.9 percent in 2018, matching the best year of Obama's second term, and never reached 3 percent in any calendar year. Real GDP fell 2.2 percent in 2020 during the pandemic recession, the largest drop since the Great Recession.
“I am going to be the greatest jobs president that God ever created... we will produce 25 million jobs over 10 years.”
· Economic Club of New York speech (jobs boast from June 16, 2015 launch)
· ×10
The United States finished Trump's term with a net loss of about 2.7 million jobs, the first net job loss under any president since records began in 1939. Even before the pandemic, job growth from January 2017 to February 2020 trailed the pace of Obama's second term.
“[paraphrase] The tax plan will eliminate the alternative minimum tax.”
· Campaign tax plan
· ×4
The 2017 law repealed the corporate AMT but retained the individual AMT with higher exemption amounts through 2025. The 3.8 percent net investment income tax also remained. PolitiFact rated the promise broken on December 20, 2017.
“[paraphrase] Lower the business tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent.”
· Campaign tax plan and Economic Club of New York speech
· ×12
The December 2017 law cut the corporate rate to 21 percent, not the promised 15 percent. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise on December 20, 2017. The estate tax was likewise not eliminated; the exemption was roughly doubled instead.
“[paraphrase] Cut 1 percent of non-defense discretionary spending every year.”
· Campaign economic plan
· ×4
Federal spending rose in every year of the term. Trump signed budget deals in 2018 and 2019 that raised discretionary spending caps, and fiscal 2020 outlays reached $6.55 trillion. PolitiFact rated the promise broken, finding Trump abandoned the pledge.
“[paraphrase] Provide six weeks of paid maternity leave to any mother with a newborn child whose employer does not provide the benefit.”
· Child care policy speech, Aston, Pennsylvania
· ×6
No national paid maternity leave program was enacted. Proposals appeared in budget documents but were not taken up by Congress. The 2019 defense authorization act gave 12 weeks of paid parental leave to federal employees only, which PolitiFact cited in rating the broader promise a compromise: the vast majority of private-sector workers still had no paid leave.
“[paraphrase] I am proposing to redirect $20 billion in existing federal dollars to school choice.”
· Education speech, Cleveland, Ohio
· ×6
Congress did not appropriate the $20 billion. Federal charter school program funding rose only modestly, and a proposed federal tax-credit scholarship never passed. PolitiFact rated the promise broken, finding increases were minimal.
“[paraphrase] We will build an active Army of around 540,000 soldiers.”
· Military readiness speech, Union League, Philadelphia
· ×4
Active-duty Army end strength stayed near 475,000 through the term; recruiting shortfalls led the Army to abandon growth targets in 2018. PolitiFact rated the promise broken. Related pledges for a 350-ship Navy and 1,200 Air Force fighters were rated compromises, with numbers rising but falling well short.
“[paraphrase] We will rebuild the Marine Corps to 36 battalions.”
· Military readiness speech, Philadelphia
· ×2
The Marine Corps did not expand to 36 battalions. Its 2020 Force Design 2030 plan instead cut infantry battalions and eliminated all tank units. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] We will triple the number of ICE deportation officers.”
· Immigration speech, Phoenix, Arizona
· ×5
A January 2017 executive order called for 10,000 additional ICE officers, but Congress did not fund the expansion. Enforcement and Removal Operations staffing grew only modestly over the term. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] We will cancel all federal funding to sanctuary cities.”
· Immigration speech, Phoenix, Arizona
· ×12
A January 25, 2017 executive order directing the cutoff was blocked by a federal judge in San Francisco in November 2017. Attempts to attach conditions to Byrne JAG grants produced conflicting appellate rulings and were largely enjoined. Funding was not cancelled. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] We will cancel visas to foreign countries that will not take back their citizens we are deporting.”
· Immigration speech, Phoenix, Arizona
· ×4
Visa sanctions were imposed on a handful of countries, including Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea and Sierra Leone in 2017 and additional countries later, but not on all nations classified as recalcitrant. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise.
“We are going to convene my top generals and give them a simple instruction. They will have 30 days to submit to the Oval Office a plan for soundly and quickly defeating ISIS.”
· Foreign policy speech, Youngstown, Ohio; restated on September 6, 2016 in North Carolina
· ×3
He did start the clock: a presidential memorandum on January 28, 2017 gave the Pentagon 30 days, and Defense Secretary James Mattis delivered a preliminary framework around February 27, 2017. PolitiFact rated it a compromise — a plan was produced but it was largely a continuation of the Obama-era campaign, and ISIS's territorial defeat did not come until March 2019. Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling called the 30-day order 'sophomoric.'
“[paraphrase] I will call for an international conference focused on halting the spread of radical Islam.”
· Foreign policy speech, Youngstown, Ohio
· ×2
No new international conference was convened. The administration continued meetings of the existing Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, which PolitiFact counted as partial fulfillment in rating the promise a compromise.
“She'll be holding a press conference over the next couple of weeks... she came in totally legally.”
· Campaign remarks / interviews after reports questioned Melania Trump's early US work visas
· ×2
Deadline Aug 23, 2016 · 10 years overdue
Trump promised his wife would hold a news conference to produce documents proving she entered the US legally. The press conference never happened. In September 2016 her lawyer released a letter instead, and reporting later showed she had worked on a visitor visa before receiving a work visa.
“I'm going to be working for you. I'm not going to have time to go play golf.”
· Campaign rally in Virginia; repeated at rallies through 2016 alongside attacks on Obama's golfing
· ×15
Trump visited golf clubs on 92 days in his first year and on 237 of the first 1,022 days of his first term — roughly a quarter of his presidency. By 2020 he had golfed more than Obama had at the same point, while claiming the opposite. He kept the habit in his second term, spending 106 of his first 473 days back in office at golf courses.
· Republican National Convention acceptance speech, Cleveland
· ×10
The federal government shut down three times during the term, including the longest shutdown in U.S. history, 35 days from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019, over border wall funding. Roughly 800,000 federal workers went without pay and the Congressional Budget Office estimated a $11 billion hit to GDP, $3 billion of it permanent.
“[paraphrase] I am going to be the greatest champion working people have ever had in the White House.”
· Republican National Convention acceptance speech, Cleveland
· ×20
The administration rescinded the Obama-era overtime rule expansion and issued a narrower version in 2019, narrowed the joint-employer standard, and rolled back workplace safety and tip-pooling protections. The American Prospect listed the worker-protection record among the broken promises.
“[paraphrase] We're going to bring back manufacturing and the factories that left.”
· Speech at Alumisource, Monessen, Pennsylvania
· ×50
Manufacturing employment ended the term down about 178,000 jobs, according to FactCheck.org. The sector entered a technical recession in 2019, contracting for consecutive quarters before the pandemic. PolitiFact rated the promise broken in July 2020, finding no overall improvement for the sector.
The total U.S. trade deficit in goods and services rose 36.3 percent from 2016 to 2020, reaching nearly $654 billion in 2020, according to FactCheck.org.
China remained a WTO member throughout the term. The administration blocked appointments to the WTO Appellate Body, paralyzing it in December 2019, but took no action to remove China from the organization. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
No 35 percent tariff on offshoring companies was imposed, and the End the Offshoring Act promised in the Gettysburg contract was never introduced. Labor Department data on trade-related layoffs showed offshoring continued, including by companies Trump had singled out.
“[paraphrase] I'll approve Keystone XL, but I want a piece of the profits for the United States.”
· Energy policy speech, Bismarck, North Dakota
· ×6
Trump issued a presidential permit in March 2017 and a replacement permit in March 2019, but no profit-sharing arrangement was ever negotiated and the pipeline was not completed. It remained tied up in litigation through the term, and the permit was revoked on January 20, 2021.
“[paraphrase] We're going to cancel billions in global warming payments to the United Nations.”
· Energy policy speech, Bismarck, North Dakota
· ×4
The administration withheld the remaining $2 billion pledged to the Green Climate Fund and began Paris Agreement withdrawal, effective November 4, 2020, but continued other U.N. climate-related contributions. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise, finding spending lower than under Obama but still significant.
“Get ready because you're going to be working your asses off.”
· Campaign rally, Charleston, West Virginia
· ×40
Coal production fell 26.5 percent over the term and coal mining employment fell about 25 percent, according to FactCheck.org. Coal-fired plant retirements averaged about 12 gigawatts a year from 2017 to 2020, a higher rate than under Obama's second term. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise in July 2020, finding the decline was slowed but no comeback occurred.
“[paraphrase] Increase fees on all temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats, on border crossing cards and at ports of entry.”
· Campaign memo on making Mexico pay for the wall
· ×3
No increase in visa fees aimed at Mexico was implemented during the term, and the related plan to seize remittances was never pursued. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] We can balance the budget fairly quickly.”
· Campaign interviews
· ×8
The deficit grew every year of the term, from $585 billion in fiscal 2016 to $984 billion in fiscal 2019 and $3.1 trillion in fiscal 2020. PolitiFact rated the promise broken, noting the deficit was growing rather than shrinking.
“[On paying off the $19 trillion national debt] Over a period of eight years.”
· Interview with Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, The Washington Post
· ×5
Debt rose throughout the term. FactCheck.org calculated that federal debt held by the public rose 50 percent under Trump, from $14.4 trillion to $21.6 trillion, and the fiscal 2020 deficit reached $3.1 trillion. Gross national debt went from roughly $19 trillion to about $27.75 trillion by January 2021.
“[paraphrase] My number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran and negotiate a better one.”
· Speech to AIPAC, Washington, D.C.
· ×20
The United States withdrew from the JCPOA on May 8, 2018 and reimposed sanctions, but no replacement agreement was reached. Iran began exceeding the deal's limits in 2019, enriching to 20 percent purity by January 2021 and expanding its uranium stockpile well beyond the 300-kilogram cap. PolitiFact rated the promise broken, at a standstill as the 2020 election approached.
“[paraphrase] Get Congress to allow the sale of health insurance across state lines.”
· Campaign health care plan and Republican primary debates
· ×12
Congress never passed legislation permitting interstate sale of health plans. States continued to regulate insurance under the McCarran-Ferguson Act, and PolitiFact rated the promise broken in July 2020, noting that states still oversee insurance rules.
“[paraphrase] Allow individuals to fully deduct health insurance premiums from their tax returns and create tax-free Health Savings Accounts.”
· Campaign health care position paper
· ×5
Neither element became law. The 2017 tax law did not create a premium deduction for individuals, and PolitiFact found Health Savings Accounts were substantially unchanged from when Trump took office. Both promises were rated broken in July 2020.
“[paraphrase] Administer Medicaid through block grants to the states.”
· Campaign health care position paper
· ×4
Congress never enacted block grants. A January 2020 CMS initiative called Healthy Adult Opportunity invited states to accept capped funding voluntarily; Oklahoma's application was the only one approved and the state withdrew it in 2020. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] Require price transparency from all health care providers so patients can shop for the best price.”
· Campaign health care position paper
· ×5
A June 2019 executive order led to a rule requiring hospitals to publish standard charges starting January 1, 2021, and a separate insurer rule phased in from 2022. Hospital compliance was low in the first year and the rules covered only part of the health system. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise on January 15, 2021.
“[paraphrase] Allow consumers access to imported, safe and dependable drugs from overseas.”
· Campaign health care position paper
· ×6
A final rule allowing state-run Canadian importation programs was issued September 24, 2020 and took effect November 30, 2020, but no state program was approved and no drugs were imported during the term. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise, with more progress for some drug categories than others.
“I don't settle lawsuits — very rare — because once you settle lawsuits, everybody sues you. ... I could have settled but won't out of principle!”
· Campaign rallies and Trump's Twitter account throughout the 2016 primaries
· ×8
Ten days after winning the election, on November 18, 2016, Trump agreed to pay $25 million to settle two federal class actions in California and the New York attorney general's civil fraud case over Trump University, with no admission of wrongdoing. He said on Twitter he settled "for a small fraction of the potential award because as President I have to focus on our country." New York AG Eric Schneiderman called it "a stunning reversal." A judge finalized the settlement in April 2018.
“I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.”
· Campaign rally, Fort Worth, Texas
· ×12
Libel law is set by state law and Supreme Court precedent, chiefly New York Times v. Sullivan, and no federal statute or ruling changed it during the term. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] We're going to cut the Department of Education way, way down.”
· Campaign interviews and rallies
· ×10
Congress rejected the administration's proposed cuts each year and appropriated more for the department than it requested. The department was neither eliminated nor significantly reduced in funding. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“I would bring back waterboarding, and I'd bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.”
· Republican primary debate, Manchester, New Hampshire
· ×20
Waterboarding was not reinstated. Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo opposed it, and a 2015 statute limiting interrogations to the Army Field Manual remained in force. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“When it comes time to negotiate the cost of drugs, we are going to negotiate like crazy.”
· Campaign rally, New Hampshire; repeated at January 11, 2017 press conference
· ×15
No law allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices was enacted during the term. The administration dropped a proposed rule on drug rebates in 2019 and did not back House-passed legislation (H.R. 3) in 2019 that would have created negotiating authority. Medicare negotiation was authorized later, in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
“[paraphrase] We raised $6 million for the veterans, including $1 million of my own money, and it's going out to veterans' charities right away.”
· Televised veterans' benefit at Drake University, Des Moines, held instead of a Fox News primary debate
· ×2
By March 2016 the Washington Post found much of the money unaccounted for and charities said they had not received it. Trump only wrote his own $1 million cheque on May 24, 2016 — nearly four months later, and only after Post reporter David Fahrenthold pressed him publicly. The related Trump Foundation reporting contributed to the foundation's court-ordered dissolution and a $2 million payment in 2019.
“[paraphrase] Trump repeatedly presented the Donald J. Trump Foundation as the vehicle through which he would deliver his publicly pledged charitable giving.”
· The January 2016 Iowa veterans fundraiser and repeated campaign-trail charity pledges
· ×4
New York's attorney general sued in June 2018. On November 7, 2019, a judge ordered Trump to pay $2 million in damages for misusing foundation money, finding his campaign had "orchestrated" the veterans fundraiser to further his political campaign; Trump admitted to things including a $10,000 charity payment for a six-foot portrait of himself. The foundation was dissolved, its remaining $1.7 million distributed to eight charities, and the Trump children were required to take compulsory training.
“[paraphrase] My first day, gun-free zones on military bases and in schools — they're gone.”
· Campaign rally, Burlington, Vermont
· ×8
Deadline Jan 9, 2016 · 10 years, 8 months overdue
No order or law eliminating gun-free school zones was issued. The Pentagon issued limited 2016 guidance allowing some service members to carry on base, which predated the term. PolitiFact found scant progress and rated the promise broken.
“If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
· Letter released by the Trump campaign, signed by Dr. Harold Bornstein
Trump offered the four-paragraph letter in place of the detailed medical records other candidates release. In May 2018 Bornstein told CNN and NPR that Trump had dictated the letter himself: "He dictated that whole letter. I didn't write that letter." Bornstein said Trump read out the language over the phone and then sent a car to collect it. No comprehensive medical records were ever released in 2016.
“[paraphrase] A total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.”
· Campaign statement, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
· ×30
The first travel ban executive order of January 27, 2017 was enjoined, as was a March 2017 revision. A third version was upheld by the Supreme Court in Trump v. Hawaii on June 26, 2018, but it covered a limited list of countries including non-Muslim-majority Venezuela and North Korea. PolitiFact rated the original promise broken because the restrictions fell short of a religion-based ban.
“[paraphrase] We are going to get rid of the EPA in almost every form, leaving little tidbits.”
· Fox News Sunday interview
· ×8
The EPA was not eliminated. Congress rejected proposed budget cuts of about 31 percent and kept funding roughly flat, though agency staffing fell to its lowest level since the 1980s and more than 100 environmental rules were rolled back or targeted. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise on July 17, 2020.
“[paraphrase] Build a safe zone in Syria, paid for by the Gulf states, so refugees can stay in the region.”
· Campaign interviews and rallies
· ×8
A January 2017 executive order directed a plan for safe zones, but none was established. A 2019 U.S.-Turkey agreement created a limited buffer arrangement in northeast Syria after the U.S. troop withdrawal, not a refugee safe zone. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] Common Core is a disaster and we will end it.”
· Campaign rallies and interviews
· ×20
Common Core standards are adopted by states, not the federal government, and the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 already barred federal mandates on standards. Most states retained standards based on Common Core throughout the term. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
Syrian refugees already admitted to the United States were not deported. Refugee admissions were sharply reduced, with the annual ceiling cut to 15,000 for fiscal 2021, but no removals of resettled Syrians took place. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] Give smaller doses over a longer period of time.”
· Republican primary debate, Simi Valley, California
· ×5
The CDC childhood immunization schedule was not changed during the term. A vaccine safety commission discussed with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in January 2017 was never established. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] I will support the Republican nominee and I will not run as an independent.”
· Trump Tower, after meeting RNC chairman Reince Priebus; signed pledge displayed to cameras
· ×2
Trump signed the RNC's written loyalty pledge on September 3, 2015 and waved it at reporters, using it to defuse the threat of a third-party run. On March 29-30, 2016, at a CNN town hall, he said he no longer felt bound by it: "No, I don't anymore." The pledge was dead 209 days after he signed it. He again refused to sign the RNC's 2024 primary pledge.
“President Obama has renamed Mt. McKinley to Denali after more than 100 years. Great insult to Ohio. I will change back!”
· Twitter
· ×2
The name was not changed during the first term; Alaska's congressional delegation opposed a reversal. PolitiFact rated the promise broken in July 2020. The mountain was renamed Mount McKinley by executive order in January 2025, during the second term.
“[paraphrase] Hedge fund managers are getting away with murder; the carried interest loophole will be eliminated.”
· CBS "Face the Nation" interview and subsequent campaign tax plan
· ×10
The 2017 tax law kept the carried interest provision, only lengthening the required holding period from one year to three years for the preferential rate. PolitiFact rated the promise broken on December 20, 2017.
“[paraphrase] They have to go. We're going to have a deportation force and everyone who is here illegally will leave.”
· NBC "Meet the Press" interview
· ×60
No mass deportation force was created and the undocumented population remained roughly 10.5 to 11 million. ICE removals over the term ran below the peak years of the Obama administration. PolitiFact rated the promise broken in July 2020.
“[paraphrase] Birthright citizenship is the biggest magnet for illegal immigration and it will end.”
· Immigration position paper and NBC "Meet the Press"
· ×10
Trump said in an Axios interview on October 30, 2018 that he would sign an executive order ending birthright citizenship. No such order was issued during the first term and the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee remained in force. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] We will replace the J-1 visa jobs program for foreign youth with a resume bank for inner-city youth.”
· Campaign immigration position paper
· ×2
The J-1 exchange visitor program was not replaced. A June 2020 proclamation temporarily suspended some J-1 categories during the pandemic, but no inner-city resume bank was created. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“I'm self-funding my own campaign. It's my money. ... I don't need anybody's money.”
· Campaign launch and repeatedly at rallies and debates through the 2016 primaries
· ×12
Trump passively accepted small-dollar contributions from the day he announced; by May 2016 supporters had given his campaign roughly $14 million. After clinching the nomination he began fundraising in earnest with the RNC and from major donors. In the end he personally funded about 20 percent of the 2016 effort — the other 80 percent was other people's money — and by 2020 and 2024 he was running conventional donor-funded campaigns.
“I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall.”
· Campaign launch speech, Trump Tower, New York
· ×200
Mexico never contributed money for the barrier. Construction was funded by U.S. appropriations plus roughly $10 billion diverted from Defense Department accounts after Trump declared a national emergency in February 2019. By January 2021 about 452 miles of barrier had been built, of which roughly 40 miles was in locations where no barrier previously existed.
“[paraphrase] I'm going to surround myself only with the best and most serious people.”
· Campaign launch and repeated throughout the campaign
· ×20
The administration had record senior-staff turnover, with Brookings measuring roughly 92 percent turnover among A-team positions over four years. Six Trump associates, including campaign chairman Paul Manafort, national security adviser Michael Flynn, adviser Roger Stone and attorney Michael Cohen, were convicted or pleaded guilty to federal crimes.
“I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid.”
· Twitter
· ×30
Every Trump budget proposed reductions. The fiscal 2021 budget released February 10, 2020 proposed roughly $850 billion less in Medicare spending, about $900 billion less in Medicaid, and about $30 billion less in Social Security disability spending over ten years. The administration also approved state Medicaid work-requirement waivers, which PolitiFact cited in rating the Medicaid pledge broken.
“[paraphrase] It's a possibility — I'll make a decision at some time pretty soon, if the Republican Party unifies behind me.”
· Interviews and a meeting with New York Republican lawmakers
· ×2
Trump strung along New York Republicans recruiting him to challenge Governor Andrew Cuomo, setting a condition — party unity behind him — that he controlled the goalposts for. He never ran. Rob Astorino became the Republican nominee and lost to Cuomo in November 2014. The episode followed the same tease-then-decline pattern as 2000, 2011 and 2012.
“If Barack Obama opens up and gives his college records and applications, and if he gives his passport applications and records, I will give to a charity of his choice ... a check immediately for five million dollars.”
· Video posted to Trump's Twitter account, billed all week as a "major announcement"
· ×2
Deadline Oct 31, 2012 · 13 years, 10 months overdue
Trump had spent the week teasing an election "bombshell" that would be "very big" and "possibly bad for the President." The announcement turned out to be a publicity stunt: a conditional charity offer with a one-week deadline. Obama ignored it, the October 31, 2012 deadline passed, no money was ever paid, and the stunt produced nothing. Trump has never substantiated any claim about Obama's college or passport records.
“I will not be running for president, as much as I'd like to. ... Ultimately, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector.”
For four months in 2011 Trump topped some Republican primary polls, told interviewers he was "serious" and repeatedly promised a decision by June. He announced he would not run at NBC's advertiser upfront on May 16, 2011, in the same breath as announcing another season of Celebrity Apprentice. CNN's write-up the same day was headlined "Was he ever serious? How Trump strung the country along, again."
“Maybe I'm going to do the tax returns when Obama does his birth certificate. ... I may tie my tax returns into Obama's birth certificate.”
· ABC News interview with George Stephanopoulos
Obama released his long-form birth certificate six days later, on April 27, 2011. Trump did not release his tax returns, saying instead they would come out "at the appropriate time." Fifteen years later he has still never voluntarily released a full return; six years of returns became public only when the House Ways and Means Committee forced their release in December 2022.
“I have people that actually have been studying it and they cannot believe what they're finding.”
· NBC 'Today' show interview with Meredith Vieira
· ×3
Deadline Apr 21, 2011 · 15 years, 5 months overdue
Trump said he had dispatched private investigators to Honolulu who were about to reveal shocking findings about Barack Obama's birth certificate. Obama released his long-form birth certificate on April 27, 2011, and no findings were ever produced. Hawaii's state registrar said he had no record of Trump or any representative requesting the records, and in 2021 Michael Cohen said on MSNBC that Trump had simply made the investigators up.
“We must have universal healthcare. ... I'm a conservative on most issues but a liberal on this one. ... We need, as a nation, to reexamine the single-payer plan.”
· Trump's book "The America We Deserve"
· ×2
Trump praised Canada's single-payer system in print in 2000 and told CNN in 1999 he believed health care was "an entitlement" from birth. By 2011 he had abandoned the position, and as president he spent 2017 trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement, called single-payer a "curse" in September 2017, and in 2024 said he had only "concepts of a plan." Universal coverage never came.
“[paraphrase] A one-time 14.25 percent tax on the net worth of Americans worth more than $10 million would raise $5.7 trillion and pay off the entire national debt.”
· Reform Party presidential campaign proposal / Trump's policy rollout
The arithmetic did not work: Trump's estimate of $50 trillion in total American wealth and the share held by the top 1 percent were both badly wrong, by trillions of dollars. Trump abandoned the campaign in February 2000 and never proposed a wealth tax again. As president he did the opposite, signing the 2017 tax law that cut rates on high earners and estates, and the national debt rose sharply on his watch.
“[paraphrase] Trump announced a presidential exploratory committee on Larry King Live, said he could win, and campaigned in Florida, California and Minnesota — then quit.”
· CNN's Larry King Live
· ×4
Trump hired Roger Stone to run the exploratory committee, gave interviews as a candidate, and qualified for two Reform Party primaries. After Jesse Ventura — his loudest backer — left the party in February 2000, Trump ended the campaign on the February 14, 2000 broadcast of NBC's Today. He never expanded past the exploratory phase. It set the template for the 2011, 2012 and 2014 teases that followed.