Trump made big promises after elected. Did he deliver?
Taxes, judges, deregulation, climate: A closer look
President Donald Trump says he’s not a politician. As proof, the real estate developer points to the promises he made both on the 2016 campaign and early in his term – and, he says, delivered. “Unlike so many who came before me, I keep my promises,” he said during his State of the Union speech this year. So what were his major promises? The appointment of conservative justices to federal courts. Broad tax cuts. Building a border wall on the southern border and making Mexico pay for it. Massive deregulation. Replacing Obamacare with a health coverage plan that’s “far less expensive and far better.” Bringing back manufacturing. Reinvigorating fading industries, such as coal and steel. Renegotiating trade deals in a way that helps the U.S. Moving the Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem. Curbing immigration. Reducing the national debt. Withdrawing from the Paris climate accord. The USA TODAY Network looked at promises large and small, national and exceedingly local, that Trump made on the trail and early in his term. He has delivered on a number of them, including tax cuts, conservative judges, deregulation, the climate accord and the Israeli Embassy. Some have been partly accomplished, such as trade deals, the border wall and defeating ISIS. Other pledges have yet to be realized, such as bringing back coal and steel. And some have gone in the wrong direction, such as reducing the national debt and bringing back manufacturing. Larry Sabato, director of Center for
Politics at the University of Virginia, said Trump “has certainly fulfilled some promises,” especially the appointment of conservative judges that have won him the continued admiration of white evangelicals who are expected to again support him in overwhelming numbers.
But the president also tends to exaggerate his record of delivering, he said.
“If you listen to Trump, he’s fulfilled all promises and has done so perfectly,” Sabato wrote in an email to USA TODAY. “In other words, he can’t be relied on to tell the truth and only people who haven’t paid attention over the past four years or are members of his worshipful base would believe otherwise.”
But, “how’s that border wall paid for by Mexico coming?” he asked, a reference to one campaign pledge Trump has not yet made good on.
Conservative justices
Trump delivered resoundingly on the pledge to nominate conservative judges to the nation’s Supreme Court.
With the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, Trump has become the first president since Richard Nixon to name three judges to the court in a first term.
Barrett joins Neil Gorsuch, who was confirmed in 2017, and Brett Kavanaugh, confirmed in 2018.
In addition to the Supreme Court, Trump has named more than 200 judges to district and appellate courts, helping the GOP’s efforts to remake the federal bench. – Ledyard King, USA TODAY
Border and immigration issues
Trump partially accomplished his signature campaign promise of building a wall along the entire 2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border to stop drugs and people from entering illegally. But it looks different than what he envisioned, and Mexico is not paying for it – U.S. taxpayers are.
After he won the 2016 election, Trump abandoned the promise of a solid, concrete wall spanning the entire border, in favor of 30-foot steel slats known as bollards at strategic sections of the U.S.-Mexico border.
As of Oct. 19, construction crews have completed installation of 371 miles of new fencing, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Most of the fencing is replacing older lower fencing or vehicle barriers that were easier to climb over or under.
Trump has not accomplished his promise of reforming the legal immigration system. In May 2019, he unveiled legislation that would significantly revamp the system into a merit-based one that would mostly award green cards to immigrants based on education and skills rather than being closely related to legal permanent residents or U.S. citizens. But Trump’s proposed legislation never gained traction in Congress.
Trump has used his executive powers to find other ways to restrict legal immigration without the help of Congress, experts say. His administration has implemented a new “public charge rule” that makes it more difficult for some immigrants who have used public benefits in the past to receive green cards. The administration also has increased vetting for H-1B visas, which companies use to bring in high-skilled workers from other countries. – Rafael Carranza and Daniel Gonzalez, Arizona Republic
Health care
In 2016, Trump promised “great health care” for any American who is sick, and at affordable prices. Nonpartisan experts say health care costs have continued to rise during his term.
Trump repeatedly cited premium increases among Affordable Care Act plans and limited competition among insurers to describe the system as failing, and to argue it should be replaced. But his administration never proposed an alternative, and experts say the proposals put forward by GOP leaders in Congress did not live up to Trump’s promise that he would provide great health care at a fraction of the cost.
Trump’s push to repeal the ACA ultimately failed in 2017, when three Republican senators broke ranks and voted with Democrats to preserve the law. – Zac Anderson, Sarasota HeraldTribune
Michigan manufacturing
Trump ran in 2016 on a promise to restore and protect manufacturing jobs, and nowhere did he make that guarantee more fervently than in Michigan.
Four years later, however, neither Michigan nor the U.S. has seen any economy-changing resurgence in manufacturing, despite gains in other parts of the country prior to the pandemic.
But Trump did have some victories. As promised, his administration renegotiated NAFTA. Also, two new major assembly facilities have been announced since he took office: a Jeep plant in Detroit and a $700 million plant at Ford’s Rouge complex. General Motors has announced it’s investing $150 million in its existing Michigan plants.
– Todd Spangler, Detroit Free Press
Pennsylvania coal and steel
Trump’s promises of rejuvenating coal and steel industries in Pennsylvania have not exactly come to fruition.
There are fewer coal-mining jobs since he took office in 2017. He followed through on promises to cut environmental regulations to benefit coal, but experts say it has not been enough to offset other issues, such as falling demand, a shift to more environmentally friendly renewable energy sources and competition from cheaper natural gas.
Trump’s tariffs on steel have leveled the playing field against cheaper imports, but the taxes have taken a toll on U.S. companies that import steel. Jobs in Pennsylvania’s iron and steel mills and ferroalloy manufacturing rose some during Trump’s first term but have fallen amid the pandemic. – J.D. Prose, Pocono Record
Taxes and national debt
Trump campaigned on a promise of simplifying and slashing taxes, especially for the working and middle classes. Passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which amounted to the most sweeping overhaul of the tax code in decades, did bring tax cuts. While the bill helped average families, it steered the bulk of relief to the richest.
The legislation is projected to add nearly $2 trillion to the national debt over the next decade despite Trump’s assertions that the law will pay for itself through economic growth. So while the bill helped him deliver to a larger degree on tax cuts, it made his pledge to eliminate the national debt within eight years that much tougher.
As of Oct. 14, total U.S. debt stood at $27.1 trillion, up from $19.95 trillion on Jan. 20, 2017, the first day of his presidency. – Ledyard King, USA TODAY
Ohio manufacturing
Less than a year into his presidency, Trump urged those attending a rally to stay in the Mahoning Valley because the jobs that made northeast Ohio into a production powerhouse would be coming back. Three years later, those jobs have not returned, and in 2019, General Motors shuttered its assembly plant. Manufacturing in the Youngstown/ Warren/Boardman area is at its worst since the Great Recession, a level where it has hovered even before the pandemic.