Broken Promises: A History of Donald Trump's Second Term

Throughout his campaign to regain the presidency, Donald Trump made a variety of promises to his supporters. I intend to chronical those here to see how many he keeps.

At least one promise was to happen before he was sworn in, ending the Ukraine War, multiple promises were to happen on Jan 20, 2025, the same day he takes office, many others were promised for shortly after he takes the oath, and the remainder will happen in due course.

“Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after we win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled,” Mr. Trump vowed in a June rally. “I will get it settled before I even become president,” he said during his televised debate with Vice President Kamala Harris in September. “I will settle Russia-Ukraine while I’m president-elect,” he said again during a podcast in October.

Today is Jan 20, 2025, Trump has been sworn in and the Ukraine War is in full-throttle. In fact, not one attempt has been made to try to end it as I write this.

BROKEN PROMISE

There is a long list of promises Trump made that he said would happen on DAY ONE. To be fair, I will give him until Day Two or Three to keep these promises.

Put a 25% Tariff on Mexico and Canada

“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders.” Nov. 25, 2024 / Truth Social

On January 20th, Trump said he will impose a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico starting February 1st. He promised to have it take effect today.

This will have the effect of inflating prices of the goods we import from there, INCLUDING OIL, up to 25%. Smart Move for inflation wary Americans.

This is a gut punch to American consumers followed by another one.

1) Mexico and Canada are two of America’s top three trade partners. Last year, the US imported $475 billion worth of goods from Mexico and $418 billion from Canada (total $893 billion), collectively accounting for 30% of the value of all the goods the US imported last year, according to federal trade data.

Using a rule-of-thumb 2.5 multiplier for converting import price to retail price, you get $2,233 billion at retail .A 25% tariff would then raise the retail prices up $559 billion to $2,792 billion retail. Assuming there are 340 million people in the US, then inflation would amount to, on an annual basis, $1,641 per man, woman, and child.

2) Meanwhile, the US exported $354 billion worth of goods to Canada last year and $322 billion to Mexico, for a total of $676 billion accounting for a third of the value of all goods the US exported last year. The tariffs Trump intends to place on both countries likely will raise the prospect that the two impose equal retaliatory tariffs on US goods. This would cut exports by around $119 billion (using a rule-of-thumb 17.5% reduction from a 25% tariff. Typical profit margins for exported goods runs between 10% and 20%, so using 15% as an estimate, that means American businesses could lose up to $18 billion in profits because of Trump's tariffs.(Farmers paid a steep price for Trump's first tariffs as many of them went bankrupt, something he didn't mention on the campaign trail.)

PROMISE BROKEN

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/20/economy/tariffs-trump-executive-order/index.html

Pardon Violent Insurrectionists

Trump promised to pardon those the got caught participating in Trump's insurrection and attempt to overthrow an American election. He just pardoned 1,500 or so insurrectionists including those that organized and led the violent attack on police and Congress. Clearly, Trump has no respect for the Rule of Law or America and has proven himself and his Party to be [b]Soft on Crime[/b].

PROMISE KEPT

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/20/politics/january-6-2021-capitol-riot-pardons-trump/index.html

Withdrew from the World Health Organization

Trump signed an EO withdrawing America from the protections offered by the World Health Organization (WHO) while endangering the health of not only America, but the rest of the world.

[i]"Lawrence Gostin, a public health law professor at Georgetown University, said in a post on X that Trump’s pulling out of the WHO is “the most momentous of all” of Trump’s executive actions Monday.

“It’s a cataclysmic presidential decision. Withdrawal is a grievous wound to world health, but a still deeper wound to the US,” he added."[/i]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/politics/trump-executive-action-world-health-organization-withdrawal/index.html

[b]PROMISE KEPT[/b]