During his campaign for President, Donald Trump made a number of campaign promises.
This is where we’ll see which ones he keeps and which ones he doesn’t.
Promises
These are the things Trump has said he’ll do as president. Some of them may require Congressional approval, some of them he can do himself if he really wants to, some may be impossible for reasons having to do with physics or the Constitution. Doable or not, here they are.
Donald Trump wants to:
- Drain the Swamp –
- Build a wall along the Southern border
- Make Mexico pay for that wall –
- Repeal and replace Obamacare
- Keep Carrier jobs in the United States –
- Trump Vows to End Training of Foreigner Replacement Workers –
- Make companies that leave the country pay a 35 percent tax to bring their products into the country –
- Appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton (“Lock her up”)
- Trump said he would “open up our libel laws” –
- Leave marijuana laws up to the states –
- Approve the Keystone pipeline
- Increase oil drilling
- Trump said: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” –
- Suspend immigration from parts of the world with a “proven history of terrorism”
- Refuse entry to all Syrian refugees
- Create a database of Syrian refugees
- Build a “safe zone” in Syria for refugees
- End birthright citizenship
- Deport 5 million undocumented immigrants – or the 2 to 3 million that he says have criminal records
- Make it harder for companies to hire skilled foreign workers
- Stop federal funds from going to “sanctuary cities”
- Keep US troops in Afghanistan
- Renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal
- Move US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
- Press US allies to pay America for providing them with military protection
- Bring back waterboarding –
- “Go after” the families of terrorists
- Close parts of the internet to stop ISIS recruiters
- Spy on mosques
- Back out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
- Renegotiate NAFTA
- Withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change
- Wants to change NATO (says it has to be “rejiggered”)
- Refuse to engage in nation-building
- Label China a currency manipulator
- Sign an executive order calling for the death penalty for anyone found guilty of killing a police officer
- Impose a minimum sentence of five years in federal prison for any violent felon who commits a crime using a gun
- Abolish gun-free zones entirely
- Cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood as long as the group provides abortion
- Appoint pro-life Supreme Court Justices
- Allow families to deduct the cost of childcare from their taxes
- Grant women (not men) six weeks of paid parental leave
- Push colleges to lower tuition in exchange for continuing to give them tax breaks and funding
- Grow the nation’s economy by somewhere from 3 to 6 percent
- Create 25 million new jobs
- Create a national right to carry a gun
- Repeal any gun or magazine ban on the books
- Allow members of the military to carry guns on bases –
- Enact a ten-point plan for veteran reform (essentially, fire any incompetent or corrupt VA employees)
- Increase veterans’ access to healthcare
- Beef up the military to 540,000 soldiers in the Army and 350 naval vessels
- Wants at least 1,200 aircraft in the Air Force
- Eliminate two regulations every time a new regulation is implemented
- Invest $550 billion in America’s infrastructure, focusing on transportation (or $1 trillion, depending on whether you listen to Trump’s website or Trump himself)
- Pay promised Social Security benefits
- Get rid of Common Core (a set of standards for what students should know in each grade)
- Make unspecified cuts to the Department of Education
- Expand charter schools
- Get NASA to focus more on human exploration of the solar system
- Protect Idaho’s potato market
- Impose term limits on all members of Congress
- Put in place a hiring freeze on most civilian federal government employees
- Enact a tax plan that would reduce the number of income brackets, cut tax rates (particularly on the wealthy), increase the standard deduction, eliminate the personal exemption, abolish the estate tax, and cut the business tax
There are more and, as we find them, they will be included.
Drain the Swamp
So much for “Draining the Swamp” . . . So far, Trump’s first 17 Cabinet-level picks have more wealth than one-third of US households combined – 43 million households.
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Build a wall along the Southern border
Make Mexico pay for that wall
On July 11, 2016, Mexico’s president, Enrique Peña Nieto, said that there is “no way” his country would ever pay for a wall between it and the United States.
On Friday, Jan 6, 2017, Former Mexican President Vicente Fox knocked Donald Trump’s promise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, reiterating that Mexico will not pay “for that f—– wall.”
“Be clear with US tax payers. They will pay for it,” Fox told Trump in a tweet.
Also on Friday, Jan 6, 2017, Trump asked Congress, not Mexico, to pay for the border wall.
Donald Trump’s transition team has signaled to congressional Republican leaders that his preference is to fund the border wall through the appropriations process as soon as April, according to House Republican officials.
This move would break this campaign promise, as Trump repeatedly said he would force Mexico to pay for the construction of the wall along the border.
This is a broken Promise
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Repeal and replace Obamacare
Trump’s transition website leaves exactly what Obamacare would be replaced with fairly up in the air, but his earlier statements on healthcare line up with standard Republican positions.
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Keep Carrier jobs in the United States
Here’s one that didn’t get kept. On December 1, 2016, In Indiana, Donald Trump declared that “Companies are not going to leave the United States without consequences.”
Trump repeatedly pledged to keep Carrier jobs in the United States after the Indiana-based air conditioning and heating systems maker said it would move 1,400 jobs to Mexico. The vow became a rallying cry for Trump and his supporters — one that Trump repeatedly stated on the campaign trail.
“We’re not going to let Carrier leave,” Trump said in Indiana in April. “Because say what you want, Indiana. I’ve been talking about Carrier now for four months, right?”
In the case of Carrier, the “consequences” include the parent company of Carrier Corp. (United Technologies) accepting $7 million in financial incentives over 10 years in exchange for a guarantee that the air and heating conditioning company would retain at least 1,000 jobs and invest $16 million into its Indiana operation.
While the agreement is obviously good news for the workers who’ll keep their jobs, there are relevant details Donald Trump doesn’t want to talk about.
Carrier jobs are still moving to Mexico. The company will keep roughly 800 jobs in Indiana, but The Wall Street Journal reports that Carrier “still plans to move 600 jobs from the Carrier plant to Mexico,” plus moving another 700 other jobs that will be lost when it closes a separate plant in Huntington, Indiana. In other words, under Trump’s alleged triumph, the one that will teach a valuable lesson to American companies, Carrier is shipping 1,300 jobs from Indiana to Mexico, even as it receives millions of dollars from the state.
This is the exact opposite of what Trump said he’d do. As a presidential candidate, Trump mocked government efforts to keep employers stateside with grants, tax incentives, and low-interest loans. Candidate Trump said that approach “doesn’t work,” which is why he’d use a stick rather than a carrot: “What you do is you tell them, ‘You move to Mexico, you`re going to pay a 35 percent tax bringing these products that you make in Mexico back into the country.’”
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Trump Vows to End Training of Foreigner Replacement Workers
Donald Trump has vowed to end the practice of laid-off American workers being made to train foreigners brought over to replace them.
Trump called these incidents “demeaning” and said: “We are not going to let it happen to our people anymore.”
Trump made the pledge December 9, 2016 during rallies in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he returned to his campaign themes on immigration in rousing speeches.
On Dec 2, 2016, Donald Trump tweeted this: “Rexnord of Indiana is moving to Mexico and rather viciously firing all of its 300 workers. This is happening all over our country. No more!”
Not only is Rexnord moving to Mexico, but they are forcing their enployees to train their Mexican replacements by withholding their severance packages until those foreign workers are trained. As of 12/23/2016, the Trump administration has been silent on this one.
Guess this promise isn’t going to be kept!
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Make companies that leave the country pay a 35 percent tax to bring their products back into the country
As a result of the Carrier company moving 1,300 jobs from Indiana to Mexico, there will not be a 35% tax imposed on any of their products brought into this country, or any tax at all.
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Appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton (“Lock her up”)
Trump said he would “open up our libel laws”
First of all, Libel laws are constrained by the First Amendment.
There is no federal libel law for a president to change and Legal claims for libel arise under state law.
The president of the United States has the power to sign or veto federal law passed by the U.S. Congress, but has no corresponding power to affect state law.
Trump could not “open up our libel laws” because there is no federal libel law for the president to “open up.”
Just one more example of Donald Trump not knowing what he’s talking about.
Leave marijuana laws up to the states
Trump made that position clear in an interview with the Washington Post, though it’s worth noting that Jeff Sessions, Trump’s pick for attorney general, is vehemently anti-pot. Stay tuned!
Approve the Keystone pipeline
Increase oil drilling
Trump said: “Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on”
A “Muslim ban” would violate U.S. obligations under international law as well as under domestic law.
A “Muslim ban” would violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
U.S. citizens could challenge a “Muslim ban” for violating the First Amendment’s speech, religion, and associational protections and would violate Due Process and Equal Protection.
This one would be a tough one to follow through on.
Suspend immigration from parts of the world with a “proven history of terrorism”
Refuse entry to all Syrian refugees
Create a database of Syrian refugees
Build a “safe zone” in Syria for refugees
End birthright citizenship
Deport 5 million undocumented immigrants – or the 2 to 3 million that he says have criminal records
Make it harder for companies to hire skilled foreign workers
Stop federal funds from going to “sanctuary cities”
Keep US troops in Afghanistan
Renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal
Move US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
Press US allies to pay America for providing them with military protection
Bring back waterboarding
His candidate for secretary of defense, retired Marine General James Mattis, told trump that waterboarding didn’t work. Trump still hasn’t changed his mind.
Trump’s position on torture violates:
- The constitution
- The Fifth Amendment
- The Eighth Amendment
- Domestic Law
- The Torture Convention Implementation Act
- The Torture Victim Protection Act
- The War Crimes Act
- The Detainee Treatment Act
- The National Defense Authorization Act of 2016
- International Law
- The Convention Against Torture
- The Geneva Convention
Stay Tuned!
“Go after” the families of terrorists
Close parts of the internet to stop ISIS recruiters
Spy on mosques
Back out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
“Renegotiate NAFTA
Withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change
Wants to change NATO (says it has to be “rejiggered”)
Refuse to engage in nation-building
Label China a currency manipulator
Sign an executive order calling for the death penalty for anyone found guilty of killing a police officer
Impose a minimum sentence of five years in federal prison for any violent felon who commits a crime using a gun
Abolish gun-free zones entirely
Cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood as long as the group provides abortion
Appoint pro-life Supreme Court Justices
Allow families to deduct the cost of childcare from their taxes
Grant women (not men) six weeks of paid parental leave
Push colleges to lower tuition in exchange for continuing to give them tax breaks and funding
Grow the nation’s economy by somewhere from 3 to 6 percent
Create 25 million new jobs
Create a national right to carry a gun
Repeal any gun or magazine ban on the books
Allow members of the military to carry guns on bases
This has already become policy under Barack Obama! A November 18, 2016 directive, approved by Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, says base commanders “may grant permission” to department personnel who ask to carry a privately owned firearm “for a personal protection purpose not related to performance of an official duty or status.” The rule extends to openly carried or concealed weapons.
Enact a ten-point plan for veteran reform (essentially, fire any incompetent or corrupt VA employees)
Increase veterans’ access to healthcare
Beef up the military to 540,000 soldiers in the Army and 350 naval vessels
Wants at least 1,200 aircraft in the Air Force
At the time he made this promise, the Air Force already had more than 1,200 aircraft!
Eliminate two regulations every time a new regulation is implemented
Invest $550 billion in America’s infrastructure, focusing on transportation (or $1 trillion, depending on whether you listen to Trump’s website or Trump himself)
Pay promised Social Security benefits
Get rid of Common Core
This has already become policy under Obama
Make unspecified cuts to the Department of Education
Expand charter schools
Get NASA to focus more on human exploration of the solar system
Protect Idaho’s potato market
Impose term limits on all members of Congress
Put in place a hiring freeze on most civilian federal government employees
Enact a tax plan that would reduce the number of income brackets, cut tax rates (particularly on the wealthy), increase the standard deduction, eliminate the personal exemption, abolish the estate tax, and cut the business tax