A comprehensive list of Trump’s broken (and kept) Day 1 promises

By Lucy Ritzmann
It’s no secret that Donald Trump made a lot of promises on the campaign trail – some of which, like saying he’ll make China pay the tariffs for their goods imported to the US, don’t seem to be remotely possible for him to keep, even now that he’s back in the Oval Office.
But many of those campaign promises are well within his capabilities to deliver on – and he has been pretty prolific in delivering them. In fact, on his first day in office, he sat on stage in Washington’s Capitol One arena signing them and tossing the pens he used into the audience.
Axios has a handy chart of many of the things he promised he would do on Day 1 on the campaign trail and how many times he promised them.
From our tally, at the time of publication, it appears that Trump kept approximately 23 of these Day 1 promises, did not keep 21 of them, and 8 exist in a nuanced or limbo zone (although one could argue that since an Executive Order can be signed but not actually enforced, they’re all in a pretty grey zone at this moment). So, we’re breaking down some of the major promises he actually kept on in the first 24 hours of his second term – and some that he didn’t (yet).
Please note that the promises marked with an asterisk are more subjective ones – for example, when Trump signed something intended, on his part, to “make life more affordable in America,” for which there is no guarantee that it will actually have the proclaimed outcome.
PROMISES KEPT:
– Begin the largest deportation operation in the US
– End “electric vehicle mandate”
– Begin to end inflation and make life more affordable
– Increase drilling/fracking for oil
– Begin to end inflation and make life more affordable*
– Terminate the “open border” policies of the Biden admin
– End “Bidennomics” and start “MAGAnomics”*
– End “Green New Deal” policies
NOTE: This will go to the Supreme Court as many groups and even a federal judge are saying this is wildly unconstitutional – and that despite Trump signing the Executive Order, there is no real evidence that he has actually “ended” birthright citizenship for the time being.
– Stop flights bringing migrants to the US
– Sign an executive order banning federal agencies from colluding to censor free speech
– Repeal certain U.S. collaboration with the WHO
– Have DOJ investigate DAs he disagrees with
– Commute sentence of Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht
– Break up Biden admin’s “censorship regime”
– Ban transgender people from the military
– Suspend refugee admissions into the US
– Terminate federal staffers implementing DEl policies
NOTE: It appears that DEI staffers have been forced to take paid leave in advance of being laid off (but they are not technically terminated as of this time). President Trump is also now asking government employees to “snitch” if they see their fellow employees adhering to DEI practices.
PROMISES NOT KEPT:
– Convene FDA panel to see if hormone treatments cause violence
– Address military recruiting, retention, and morale
– Establish criminal penalties for future administrations who open the border
– Ask Congress for a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors
– Release full list of names of his Supreme Court justice picks
To say that America, on paper, is a very different place than it was just a few days ago would be an understatement. And while Trump’s Day 1 has come and gone, it does not appear like he’s slowing down anytime soon – there is good reason to believe these Day 1 broken promises could be kept in Month 1 or within the first 100 days. And for the Trump voters who believed he was all talk and not so much action, they are likely in for a pretty nasty surprise.