Promises made, promises abandoned: Where Trump’s campaign vows stand two years after inauguration

Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States two years ago, standing in front of a crowd far smaller than that of Barack Obama, but with a slate of campaign promises arguably just as long as his predecessor’s was before taking office.

The first two years of Mr Trump’s tenure in the White House featured a learning curve for the president, who held zero political experience upon assuming the Oval Office in 2016. He would soon learn that promises are much easier to make along the campaign trail than they are to actually fulfil while serving in elected office.

For example, Mr Trump vowed to bring US forces home from the Middle East before becoming president, then sent thousands of additional forces to Afghanistan the year after his election; as a businessman, he said he’d be able to produce the best trade deals in history but has since become entrenched in a tit-for-tat trade war with Chinese president Xi Jinping; his plan was to repeal Mr Obama’s landmark healthcare initiative on his first day in office, and yet thousands of Americans have enrolled into the program since his presidency.

He’s revived the decades-old political slogan “promises made, promises kept”, and yet the truth surrounding Mr Trump’s campaign vows is more complicated than a four-word catchphrase.

Here’s where the president’s major campaign promises stand two years after his inauguration.

Nominating conservatives to the Supreme Court: The president doubled up on his promise of nominating a conservative justice, selecting both Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the nation’s highest court.

Both justices were confirmed despite contentious battles – especially for Mr Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault by numerous women who came forward during his nomination process.

Now, as 85-year-old liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg draws headlines over a cancer scare and three broken ribs, the White House has reportedly taken steps to begin reviewing a third potential conservative nominee to the Supreme Court.

Withdrawal from Paris Climate Accord: Despite outcry from Democrats, climate activists and world leaders, Mr Trump announced the US would withdraw from the agreement his predecessor helped broker a few short years before his election.

While the US has continued to attend negotiation meetings over the agreement, the nation remains officially withdrawn from the accord, which seeks to reduce the adverse impact global societies have on carbon emissions and climate change.

Delivering tax cuts: Besides his hardline stance on immigration issues and calls for Republican judges on the Supreme Court, Mr Trump’s campaign was buoyed by his vows to deliver tax cuts to America’s working class.

The corporate tax cuts the Republicans passed last year did in fact provide reductions for many Americans, though those are set to expire and will require another vote to be reinstated. The corporate cuts will remain in effect, however.

Mexican-funded border wall: Mr Trump kicked off his presidential campaign by railing against Mexican immigrants entering the United States and vowing to have the nation’s southern neighbour pay for a wall sprawling the entirety of the US-Mexico border.

His battle for border wall funding has spurred the longest government shutdown in American history – and Mexico has no plans on paying for the wall.

The story has changed in recently, with Mr Trump’s White House suggesting he never actually said Mexico would pay for the wall. To be clear, here is his statement from the launch of his campaign: “I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and I’ll have Mexico pay for that wall.”

The prosecution of Hillary Clinton: “Lock her up” was another infamous rallying cry from Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign that failed to come to fruition.

Mr Trump quickly walked back his frequently repeated promises to incarcerate the former secretary of state upon taking office, though he has since nominated an attorney general pick who has said the Justice Department has a stronger legal basis to investigate her charity foundation that it did his alleged obstruction of justice.

So, for now, this is another promise abandoned.

Repealing and replacing Affordable Care Act: The president vowed to scrap Mr Obama’s healthcare legislation, otherwise known as Obamacare, on his first day in office.

Despite several attempts to repeal the law and additional attempts to replace it with a Republican substitute, the Republican-held House of Representatives and Senate failed to push through an alternative option. Lawmakers also decidedly voted against an all-out repeal of the bill without any substitute, leaving Mr Trump’s campaign promise all but shattered.

Labelling China “currency manipulator”: As president, Mr Trump also promised to begin labelling China a “currency manipulator” immediately after assuming the White House.

His administration has stopped short of doing that, however. In a 2018 interview, the president claimed Beijing actually was not a currency manipulator and had been actively working to prevent weakening its currency.

Mr Trump gained nationwide attention along the campaign trail by boldly stating China – one of the world’s largest economic powers – was “raping” the US economy.

Historic infrastructure improvement: The president demanded $1.5tn in infrastructure spending after winning his election, promising along the campaign trail that America’s infrastructure “will become, by the way second to none.”

Instead, he received just $21bn for the initiatives in 2018, with little progress done on nationwide improvements to the country’s failing bridges and roadways, as well as major airports.

Approving the use of torture: Mr Trump made an unusual case throughout the 2016 election for something that isn’t typically a campaign promise, telling stadiums of supporters, “torture works”.

The president vowed he would immediately approve the use of waterboarding, but has since backed his former CIA director Mike Pompeo’s belief the US should not reinstate the practice.