Trump and Campaign Promises

This is an update on Trump’s campaign promises and current positions.

REFORM MEDICAID AND MEDICARE

Trump’s transition website has launched and now promises reforms to the program, including modernizing Medicare and offering “flexibility” to states’ administering Medicaid for “innovative” solutions. These are vague references at reform, but hint at the kind of reforms the rest of his party — and particularly House Speaker Paul Ryan — has long championed. It also directly contradicts his initial promises not to touch entitlements.

Current position: Reform Medicaid and Medicare in indefinite ways.

GAY MARRIAGE

During the Republican primary, Trump said he supported “traditional” marriage and said he opposed the Supreme Court ruling that effectively legalized gay marriage and would consider appointing justices to the Supreme Court who would favor reversing the decision.

Trump said in his first televised interview that he’s “fine” with gay marriage now that it’s been settled by the Supreme Court.

His views are “irrelevant because it was already settled. It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it’s done,” he said. “It’s done. It– you have– these cases have gone to the Supreme Court. They’ve been settled. And- I’m– I’m fine with that.”

Current position: “Fine” with marriage equality.

NATO

Trump expressed his displeasure of NATO, suggesting he might not honor the treaty if other member nations do not pay their fare share.

Obama said Trump expressed a desire to honor the NATO commitment in their meeting at the White House.  “He expressed a great interest in maintaining our core strategic relationships,” Obama said of his meeting with the president-elect. “And so, one of the messages I will be able to deliver is his commitment to NATO and the Transatlantic Alliance.”

Current position – Honor NATO

‘DRAIN THE SWAMP’

Trump promised ethics and lobbying reform in October, vowing to institute a five-year ban on executive branch officials taking lobbying roles after they leave government service, and encourage Congress to do the same. “It’s time to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C,” Trump said then, vowing to make government “honest once again.”

On November 13th in his first televised post-election interview, Trump defended his decision to include a slew of lobbyists in his transition team by arguing that “everyone down there” is a lobbyist and that he’d “phase it out.”

On November 15th, Vice President-elect Mike Pence ordered a removal of all lobbyists. It’s unclear if all the registered lobbyists, of which there are at least nine, have left their positions. On Nov. 17, the transition announced that candidates being vetted for high posts in the administration must prove that they are no longer a lobbyist.

Current position: The transition team has announced their intention to remove all lobbyists from among them.

BUILD THE WALL

Trump vowed a “big, beautiful” wall on the nation’s southern border repeatedly during the campaign, insisting that Mexico would be forced to pay for it.

Trump said on November 13th that the wall might include portions of fencing.

Current position: He’ll still build it, but it could include portions of fence or other ways to defend border.

‘LOCK HER UP’

Trump promised to appoint a special prosecutor to go after his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton during his campaign, and “lock her up” was a constant chant among supporters on the campaign trail. During one debate, he famously responded that if he were in charge she’d “be in jail.”

On 60 Minutes however, he immediately walked that back: “I don’t want to hurt them. They’re, they’re good people,” he said, refusing to give a final answer.

Current position: Leave her alone

MASS DEPORTATIONS

Trump vowed during his campaign to deport the nation’s estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. He shifted on the issue repeatedly, taking 18 different stances on immigration during his bid, but never disavowed this initial plan.

Start with the criminals, decide on the rest later

Making good on his campaign promises to start with criminal immigrants, Trump told “60 Minutes” that they’d start with immigrants before deciding on others.

“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, we have a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million,” he said in the interview, citing debunked math. “We are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate. But we’re getting them out of our country, they’re here illegally. After the border is secured and after everything gets normalized, we’re going to make a determination on the people that you’re talking about who are terrific people.”

Current position: Deport 2-3 million criminals. Decide on the rest later.