President Donald Trump spent the past month visiting states to promote Republican Senate candidates with massive banners reading "Promises Kept." While the president has had a blank check from party members in the House and Senate, he's failed to meet the expectations his voters had when electing him.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump crafted a hefty list of things he swore he would do “on day one,” but he's struggled to actually deliver.
Many had anticipated Trump fulfilling his promise to get started right away. After all, that’s what both he and his transition team have used as a reason Trump is not having as many , balls and other festivities.
The slogan should probably have been "Keep America Great" as a natural succession of "Make America Great Again," but it's the same slogan as the horror movie The Purge.
The Trump campaign has started a "Promises Kept" website to list off all of his successes,
Here is a list of everything on Trump’s to-do list for “day one” — and whether or not he's accomplished it:
1. Fire all of the ambassadors: DONE
Trump has told all of those to the United States that their service is finished on January 20. He made good on the promise -- kicking out many ambassadors while some had children still in schools in their adopted country. Many of the ambassadors were scrambling to secure visas.
2. Repeal and replace Obamacare: FAIL
One of the final acts of the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was to give a thumbs down to the Republican attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The move would have gotten rid of the law mandating insurance companies cover those with pre-existing conditions. Despite dozens and dozens of attempts by Republicans to get rid of the pre-existing conditions rule, they swore during the 2018 midterm elections that they supported it.
3. Begin deporting all undocumented immigrants: Sorta fail.
on "day one," but he learned quickly that governing is harder than it looks. Many immigrants have been arrested, despite not doing anything illegal. Some have been business owners and beloved members of their communities, and it prompted Forbes to warn it could ultimately hurt the American economy.
4. “Clean house” and fix the Department of Veterans Affairs: FAIL
Then Vice President-elect Mike Pence told a Virginia crowd that on “day one” they’ll clean house at the VA. Instead, Trump has blown through a VA chief and questionable nominee.
Thanks to Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), however, VA health centers got a boost.
Trump spent some of his rallies saying that he has fired everyone he wanted at the VA. According to a GovExec report, some of those fired from the VA might be reinstated with back pay. So, it's unclear what the president is talking about.
5. Start work on “impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall”: FAIL
Just a few weeks ago, Trump told a Mississippi campaign rally crowd that the wall has gone up and helped stop the caravan. If that was true, the president wouldn't need to request funds for the wall from Congress. Trump even went so far as to say Congress gave him $5 billion to build the wall. They've actually given him zero dollars.
"Are we doing OK on the border, folks?" Trump said as the Mississippi crowd chanted, "Build that wall."
"We're not going to have it -- you've got to come into our country legally," Trump said. "We have a lot of [the wall] built, and it's going up. And the rest of it -- it's pretty nasty looking wire, isn't it? We're doing well."
Trump promised that Mexico would pay for the wall, so it's unclear why Trump is demanding Congress fund it. All Democrats would have to do for the next two years is tell the president, "I thought Mexico was paying for it."
6. Demand the Pentagon and intelligence agencies come up with a plan for ISIS: FAIL
While the Pentagon might have submitted plans and strategies, Trump hasn't appeared to implement them. After he seemed to realize his plan to defeat ISIS was the same as former President Obama, Trump pulled back and decided to find another plan. It's unclear what he's doing, but he maintains that he's smarter than the generals and ISIS is alive and well.
7. Withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal: DONE
One of the few things Trump could do by executive order.
8. Pull out of NAFTA and renegotiate it: FAIL
One of the greatest "accomplishments" Trump said he achieved this week. Instead, the so-called "new NAFTA" is pretty much the same NAFTA as before, and foreign leaders are laughing at Trump over it.
9. Kill gun-free zones: FAIL
Not only did Trump say he'd get rid of gun-free zones so Americans can shoot back during mass shootings, but the president also pledged to Parkland, Florida students that he'd stop "this American carnage."
Neither has occurred. There was a bill that passed the House that would have gotten rid of gun-free zones but it never made it to the president's desk for his signature.
10. Stop Syrian refugee resettlement and build “safe zones” in the region: FAIL
“I am also going to notify all countries that refuse to take back dangerous illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in this country that they will lose access to our visa programs if they continue to do so,” Trump said in a Sept. 2016 speech. “This is the measure that is called for under current law, and I will enforce it.”
Any efforts for this have stalled.
11. Stop all wasteful spending:
Trump pledged that his first day in office he plans to instruct all federal agencies to look for examples of wasteful spending that can be cut. But “wasteful” is in the eye of the beholder.
However, all Americans must do is take a look at the reckless spending by former Sec. Scott Pruitt ($4.6 million), Sec. Ryan Zinke ($139,000 on "fixing" a door), millions in private planes taken by Sec. Steve Mnuchin and ex-Sec. Tom Price. That doesn't even include hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to revamp the Housing and Urban Development offices for Sec. Ben Carson.
Meanwhile, the president has spent an estimated $83 million on security costs to travel to his gold courses and take vacations at his properties, according to the Trump Golf Count.
12. End the so-called “war on coal”: FAIL
Trump promised coal miners and the coal industry that under his administration coal will make a comeback. Trump's Environmental Protection Agency relaxed many regulations that keep air and water safe from the coal industry. Still, the cost of using coal is so much higher, the only way he could give coal a comeback is to pay to subsidize the entire industry 100 percent with taxpayer dollars.
13. Tell countries who won’t take back criminals that they can’t ever come to the US: Unclear
In his September speech, Trump promised that he’d be notifying “all countries that refuse to take back dangerous illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in this country that they will lose access to our visa programs if they continue to do so.”
Most immigrants accused of crimes serve their time until they can be transferred back to their country of origin. It isn't clear what Trump planned to do or what he has done, but it hasn't been to take any additional actions other than the existing laws.
14. Call companies and threaten his 35 percent tariff: FAIL
Trump began doing some of these calls not long after he was elected. That tariff shrunk to 25 percent, but now he's promised China he won't go up for at least 90 days, if at all. In fact, while the president promised he would bring work back to the U.S. GM has already announced layoffs.
15. Fight to end abortion rights and Planned Parenthood: FAIL
Incoming VP Mike Pence swore that a major component of the Trump/Pence administration will be overturning Roe v. Wade and defunding Planned Parenthood.
“The days of public funding for Planned Parenthood are over when a Trump-Pence administration arrives in Washington, D.C.,” Pence said. As a fact-check, the Hyde Amendment made it illegal to finance abortions with public funding. So, that "day" was over 25 years ago.
Thankfully, it has been staved off a little, for now. Likely under the Democratic Congress, it won't happen.
16. End regulations: DONE
One of the quiet things the EPA has done is end regulations that protect air and water quality as well as underwater drilling that resulted in the massive BP oil spill that was multiple times worse than the Exxon Valdez spill. That spill was known as the worst ever to have happened in the U.S.
17. Learn pretty much everything he doesn’t already know: FAIL
In an interview with Hugh Hewitt, Trump humbly confessed he doesn’t actually know everything. Like the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas — and why the difference matters. But on “day one” Trump promises that he’ll figure it all out.
Trump still refuses to do his security briefings, and sources have said he can't pay attention unless there are bullet points, graphs, and photos.
While there are many more promises the president has pledged to Americans, these were just the ones he promised for "day one." Most of the promises haven't been met.