THE WASHINGTON POST: What promises Donald Trump made as he eyed off a second term as US President

President-elect Donald Trump made a lot of promises for his first term. He wound up breaking most of the big ones, including quickly failing to produce many of the things he pledged he would on his first day in office.

This didn’t dissuade the American people from electing Mr Trump as president again. And it sure didn’t dissuade Mr Trump from making more huge promises this time around.

With that in mind, I thought it worth putting together a little scorecard that will allow us to judge Mr Trump’s early performance as president. He has promised what can only be described as the most significant “day one” of a presidency in history. And he’s made plenty of other time-stamped promises, as well.

“The people have given us their trust, and in return, we’re going to give them the best day one, the biggest first week and the most extraordinary first 100 days of any president in American history,” Mr Trump said last month in Phoenix.

Here’s how you can gauge whether he’s made good on that.

Day one

Mr Trump has promised he would do oodles of things on his first day. But for our purposes, we’ll focus on the most significant and potentially difficult ones.

End the war in Ukraine

“I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done - I’ll have that done in 24 hours.” (May 2023)

Since his election, though, Mr Trump has described this problem as a “difficult” one, and his incoming envoy for Russia and Ukraine this weekend asked for 100 days, instead.

Seal the border

“We will secure our border. We will secure that border on day one. … We will seal the border. We will stop the invasion immediately.” (September)

“On day one of my new administration, the invasion of savage criminals ends.” (October)

“Securing” the border and what constitutes an “invasion” are subjective ideas, even as doing those things in one day is probably prohibitive; “sealing” the border is a more hard-and-fast goal that has eluded presidents for generations - much less being able to do so “immediately.” (Mr Trump’s language and timeline on this particular promise indeed varied, as you’ll see below.)

Launch a mass deportation operation

“On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program of criminals in American history. We’re going to get them out. We have to.” (November)

Mr Trump is merely talking about launching the effort, not completing it. But given the procedural and legal issues involved in such a gargantuan effort, having a full plan in place so quickly could prove difficult.

Ban travel from some majority-Muslim countries and suspend refugee admissions

“On day one of the Mr Trump presidency, I will restore the travel ban, suspend refugee admissions, stop the resettlement and keep the terrorists the hell out of our country.” (July)

Presidents can suspend refugee admissions, but Mr Trump never did that in his first term. And Mr Trump’s broader travel ban on his first day in office led to chaos at the nation’s airports.

End the Biden administration’s electric-vehicle mandate

“On day one of the Mr Trump administration, I will terminate Kamala’s insane electric-vehicle mandate, and we will end the green new scam once and for all.” (October)

There is some concern among economists that rolling back the EV tax credits could benefit foreign car manufacturers.

End birthright citizenship moving forward

“As part of my plan to secure the border, on day one of my new term in office, I will sign an executive order 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 U.S. citizenship.” (May 2023)

Mr Trump might well sign such an order. But it might well fail to pass legal muster, given the 14th Amendment to the Constitution has long been understood to bestow birthright citizenship - and such a move would require another constitutional amendment.

Revoke Biden’s recent offshore drilling ban

“I’m going to put it back on day one. I’m going to have it revoked on day one.” (Last week)

It could be difficult to do that for legal reasons, as The Washington Post recently reported, even if the Mr Trump administration goes through the courts (a process that would take more than one day).

Two weeks

Increase auto production to record highs

“So, we’re going to have more auto production in the United States than we’ve ever had before, and it’s going to happen very fast. … I’ll get that done in less than 100 days. I’ll get that done in the first two weeks.” (August)

The record year for auto production was more than 13 million in 1999. The country produces about 3 million less than that, meaning it would require a huge, almost instantaneous manufacturing spike that seems quite unlikely.

One month

Get MS-13 out of Virginia

“We’re going to get MS-13 out of Virginia within one month. One month. … I’ll get [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] down here in force. They’re going to clean out this state, and we’re going to get them the hell out of here in one month.” (November)

The Trump administration in 2020 estimated there were as many as 10,000 MS-13 gang members in the United States; ridding Virginia or any other state of their full share of that in one month would seem very difficult.

A few weeks

Stop illegal immigration

“And we will stop illegal immigration once and for all. It’s going to stop. You’re not going to have an invasion of our country any longer. That will stop in just a few very short weeks.” (December)

It’s unclear if Mr Trump meant a few weeks after his comments (i.e. when he takes office) or that it would take him a few weeks. We’ll give him the longer period of time. But over any period of time, getting illegal immigration to zero is nearly impossible

One year

Cut Americans’ energy costs in half

“I will cut your energy prices in half within 12 months - 50 per cent. Twelve months from January 20th - that’s when we assume the office of president, assuming we win.” (November)

Experts have dismissed this as a possibility, given energy costs are largely outside a president’s control and even if Trump can hugely expand domestic energy production.

Solve almost all of these problems:

The border, drug cartels, China-Taiwan tensions, the war in Ukraine, rigged elections, abortion and inflation

“In six months to a year, many of the problems, almost all of the problems that you and I have just spoken about, will be solved.” (September 2023)

Trump said this after a long discussion with NBC News that touched on the above-mentioned issues. It is, perhaps needless to say, a goal that history suggests we should take more “seriously” than literally.

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