CREDIT: AP Photos/Graphic by Adam Peck.
Trump made promises about every five to ten seconds. It didn’t matter what he was talking about, false promises fell from his lips like water tumbling over a cliff. He also made many promises about promises, of the “I promise we’ll keep our promises!” variety. Oh yes, he’s not going to be like every other politician in the world, no. This bit of bullshit most people see through, or at least they should. It seems that Trumpoids actually expect him to make good on all the promises. Silly Trumpoids, promises aren’t for politicians! Or narcissistic, filthy rich despots, either.
Think Progress has put an enormous amount of work into tracking all the promises. They discarded all the vague, general ones, like “I promise to make the country great again”, because that doesn’t actually mean anything. Even limiting themselves to concrete promises, they counted 663 promises to date, and counting. That’s a whole lot of promises. The full article is in-depth, and a very good, if depressing read. This is an ongoing program, naturally, tracking the life of these promises. Most politicians are savvy enough to limit the amount of promises they make; the really smart ones talk more about efforts needed, and possible programs. The savvy and smart do that because they know just how much hot water they can land in for breaking promises, voters tend to be a bit weird in that regard. Perhaps most voters don’t believe the promises, but they’ll still hold a politician’s feet to the fire if they don’t come through. It’s a bit different with Trumpoids, they believe the promises, and they want them kept. It’s going to be interesting, to say the least.
Donald Trump will take the Oath of Office 583 days after he first announced his improbable run for the White House.
Along the way, he made 663 promises (and counting), according to a ThinkProgress analysis of Trump’s public statements that examined well over 4 million words from his media interviews, his policy position papers, and his speeches to supporters, interest groups, and national television audiences.
These promises matter. Trump’s voters expect him to deliver. As Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) pointed out two weeks ago on the Senate floor regarding Trump’s pledge to not cut entitlement programs like Medicare, “This was a central part of his campaign… This is what he asked millions of elderly people and working class people to vote for him on.”
Yet attention spans are shorter than ever, and Trump himself is skilled at distracting attention from policy or scandal with tweets and endless varieties of incendiary remarks. It’s easy to forget what he told voters he would do.
So starting the week after the election, ThinkProgress undertook a two-month research project to document every promise Trump made, from the golden escalator ride to the inauguration. They are housed here in ThinkProgress’ searchable, interactive Trump Promises Database.
I clicked on ‘Promised by Day One’ (sourced quotes not included):
Hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce workforce size.
Instruct Treasury Secretary to label China a currency manipulator on day one.
Stop losing jobs on day one from Florida and nationwide.
Announce plans to renegotiate NAFTA day one.
Pursue requirement that for every new regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated on day one.
Announce withdrawal from TPP on day one.
Direct Commerce Secretary and USTR to identify foreign trading abuses that affect the American worker, and begin ending those abuses immediately, on day one.
Begin cancelling billions in climate change spending for the United Nations on day one.
Lift restrictions on production of fossil fuels on day one.
Lift environmental roadblocks to “energy infrastructure projects” to move forward on day one.
Turn around EPA “killing your companies” and losing jobs on day one.
Propose constitutional amendment for term limits.
Propose ethics reforms on day one to end government corruption.
Pursue a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising campaign dollars on day one.
Pursue five-year ban on White House and congressional officials becoming lobbyists on day one.
Pursue lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government on day one.
Ask Congress for bill repealing Obamacare and replacing with “reforms that expand choice, freedom, affordability.”
Get all criminal immigrants out.
Get rid of “international gangs of thugs and drug cartels” before anything else, first piece of paper he signs.
Begin moving 2 million “criminal aliens” out of country on day one.
Issue mandate to everyone, including police to get the bad illegal immigrants out of the country in first hour.
Put strong language in first day in office that when illegal immigrants first get caught they get jail time.
All illegal immigrants out day one.
Repeal Obama’s Immigration executive orders.
Ask Congress to pass “Kate’s Law”.
Cancel all federal funding of sanctuary cities on day one.
Ask DoS, DHS, DoJ to comprehensively review terror immigration cases for extreme vetting as soon as he enters office.
Suspend immigration from “terror-prone regions” on day one.
Immediately suspend admission of Syrian refugees.
Begin working on impenetrable physical wall with latest technology on day one.
Build impenetrable physical wall.
Get rid of gun-free zones in schools.
End gun free zones on military bases on the first day.
Issue temporary moratorium on new agency regulations.
Order review of every regulation issued over last 10 years, cancelling “needless” ones.
Cancel every unconstitutional Obama admin executive action, memo, and order on day one.
Unsign executive orders.
Knock out ISIS oil day after he’s president.
As we now know, Donny isn’t going to work on Day one at all, because hey, weekend! Jesus fuck, I thought that list was never going to end. Obviously, it’s incredibly unrealistic, and it goes to show that Trump will say anything at any time, to any one. Lots of words, no thought. Have a wander over to Think Progress for the full story.
A lot of people mistook performance for promises.
Same with Obama. That was when I stopped taking anything seriously that comes out of a politician’s mouth. I believed him about getting out of Afghanistan and Iraq and instead we got “the surge” and Libya and Syria and “no boots on the ground” and a massive deployment of special forces. He promised to close Gitmo.
Trump’s not even promising anything. He’s just bloviating. He marks the end trajectory of honesty in American politics, which is the point where nobody is really trying to pretend. Remember how some people in the US laughed at “baghdad bob” during the gulf war? Well, he’s our president now.
Next up: we replace the president with one of those “magic 8 ball” toys. Signs point to yes!
Trumpoids took all the promises seriously. Talk about people who need critical thinking skills. I haven’t believed a politician since I was 9 years old and watching Nixon on teevee.
I’ve been reading about various sites where Trump voters can post if they’re starting to have regrets. A truly depressing thing is that the broken promise that many of them seem most upset about is his dismissal of his promise to prosecute Hillary Clinton.
It boggles the mind. With all the problems facing the country, there seem to be many people who believe that the president’s first priority should be legally prosecuting his losing opponent, for the first time in American history. They are really upset that we haven’t yet joined the ranks of despotic regimes. Even knowing that this would infuriate the MAJORITY of people who voted for her, that’s the one they most want to hold him to. Actually, that’s probably the reason they want her prosecuted — they look forward to split the country as long as it pisses off the people they don’t like.
I remember well Obama’s first inauguration speech, and how much he stressed that he wanted to be a president for everyone. Apparently not only does Trump not want to be a president for everyone — his followers don’t want him to be one either. What a bunch of vindictive, petty jerks.
Bruce @ 3:
They’d like another civil war, with them as the victors, natch.
I know how “Propose ethics reforms on day one to end government corruption.” is going to work out — The ethics reform will be that it isn’t corruption if a Trump does it.
Davex @ 5:
Yes. Combine that one with “Propose constitutional amendment for term limits.” and ta da, dictator for life!
Trumpoids took all the promises seriously
Yeah. :(
PT Barnum is rolling in his grave; he never realized he could have been president.
I AM glad that TTiP is dead. It was bad enough with the lack of regulations you have now, I don’t want to imagine what it would be if we had to accept whatever Trumpania considers sufficient. I mean, you people haven’t even banned asbestos.
Didn’t Trump also make promises to his first two wives???
From my perspective, it would be best for the country if Trump DID break most of his promises, but of course his supporters are looking to him to deliver on them. I wonder how he is going to deal with all the promises that will be difficult or impossible to deliver on.
Lie, deny, blame others, …
Smoke and mirrors: how Trump manipulates the media and opponents: “The president-elect has a number of tactics — including empty words, misleading spectacles, and ‘gaslighting’ — in his arsenal”:
● Empty spectacle
● Empty words
● Discredit everyone
● Credit conspiracy theories
● Browbeating
● Attention hog
● ‘Gaslighting’ — “insisting that basic facts are untrue”
Also, How does Donald Trump lie? A fact checker’s final guide (Nov-2016): “As the presidential campaign has gathered speed, the Guardian has gathered together the lies the Republican candidate has told. What have we learned?”:
● Degrade and destroy
● Embiggen big league
● Shout at the messenger
● Conspiracy smoke, fire not required
● Deny everything
● Distortions
Stooopidity, self-delusion, and hencheejits are not listed, but form a considerable additional part of the incoming delakracy.