When Donald Trump made his first successful run for president in 2016, he made 663 promises to American voters. By the end of his 2021 term of office, he could only fulfill approximately 23 percent of his vows. Before we get too excited as to what will happen when Trump 2.0 takes effect on Jan. 20, let’s take a moment to reflect on covenants made by a couple of other presidents.
PolitiFact tracks the promises our presidents have made. PolitiFact is a non-partisan fact-checking website created in 2007 by the Florida-based Tampa Bay Times and acquired in 2018 by the Poynter Institute, a non-profit school for journalists. Here’s a report card on three presidents:
· Barack Obama kept 47 percent of his campaign assurances, 23 percent were broken, and 27 percent ended up as a compromise.
· During 2017-2021, Donald Trump kept 23 percent of his pre-election pledges, 55 percent were broken, and compromise occurred on 22 percent of his promises.
· Joe Biden has been able to keep 33 percent of his commitments, 35 percent were broken, 28 percent ended up in a compromise, and 3 percent of his promises are in the works.
Regardless of our past presidents’ political affiliation, evidence abounds that voters are gullible, easily persuaded, and shouldn’t pay too much attention to a candidate's campaign rhetoric. Unfortunately, candidate platitudes are often made to disinform, misinform, and hoodwink the voter.
Back to our 45th and soon-to-be 47th president, Mr. Trump.
Ryan Koronowski, director at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, reflected on Trump’s 2016 guarantees and felt “... many of the promises that he broke, he was insincere about them or didn’t care enough about them. They were political and meant to earn votes. They weren’t actual policy goals, or corporate backers and power brokers actually moved to shut them down …” (MTN, Nov. 7).
Ron Filipkowski of the pro-democracy MTN (MeidasTouch Network) documented Trump making 93 campaign promises while vying to be America’s 47th president. Filipkowski summarized, “After failing to deliver on his major pledges during the first administration, president-elect Trump resurrected many of the same promises in his 2024 campaign.”
Trump made a multitude of promises during the Sept. 5 economic policy debate and the Sept. 10 presidential debate. On July 8, the Republican National Committee published its 2024 party platform, which included 63 additional promises should Trump get elected (RNC platform.donaldtrump.com).
Mr. Trump repeatedly disavowed Project 2025 – created by the far-right extremist Heritage Foundation -- to be implemented in the first 180 days of his second presidency. However, CBS News identified at least 270 of the 700 policy proposals from Project 2025’s 922-page guide that matched Trump’s past policies and current campaign promises.
And, since the Nov. 5 election, where Trump received less than 50 percent of the votes – not a “mandate” as he claims – he has backed off his promise to bring down grocery costs, end the Ukraine-Russia war before he takes office, and use tariffs to bolster the US economy. Trump’s transition team admits Trump has shifted “from sweeping campaign rhetoric to the nuances and realities of governing” (The Hill, Dec. 29).
Trump made eight promises that would occur on Jan. 20, the day of his inauguration. On Jan. 21, note a `yes’ or `no’ next to each of these promises as to whether they occurred or not. The result may be a bellwether sign of what is yet to come during his 1,461 days as our 47th president:
_____ 1) close the US-Mexico border,
_____ 2) begin “the largest deportation program in American history,”
_____ 3) expedite permits for drilling and fracking,
_____ 4) roll back environmental regulations,
_____ 5) pardon 1,561people convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, US Capitol insurrection (contradiction to supporting law and order),
_____ 6) cut federal funding for any school “pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on the lives of our children,”
_____ 7) roll back President Biden’s electric vehicle policies and
_____ 8) enact tariffs on goods coming in from Mexico, Canada, and China.
Should Mr. Trump’s daily rhetoric, actions, and flip-flopping on promises get under your skin, three coping methods are offered. First, say to yourself, “I can’t help the way I feel right now, but I can help the way I think and act.” Secondly, recall what King Solomon, William Shakespeare, and Abraham Lincoln have said: “This too shall pass.” Third, promise – and fulfill the promise -- to do a better job of vetting future presidential candidates (regardless of their and your political party of preference) and heavily discount their promises.
And perhaps most importantly understand that not fulfilling promises is common amongst not only past Presidents but members of Congress as well, regardless of their political affiliation.
With a little research, you can determine if a member of Congress has fulfilled their promises:
- Track Their Voting Record: Websites like GovTrack.us and Congress.gov allow you to see how your representative or senator has voted on various bills and issues. This can give you insight into whether they are supporting the policies they promised to back.
- Use Fact-Checking Websites: Organizations like PolitiFact and FactCheck.org track politicians' promises and rate their progress. They provide detailed reports on whether promises have been kept, broken, or are still in progress.
- Review Legislation They Sponsored: Check if they have introduced or co-sponsored any bills related to their campaign promises. This can be a good indicator of their commitment to their pledges.
- Follow News and Reports: Stay informed through reputable news sources and watchdog organizations that cover congressional activities and hold politicians accountable.
- Engage with Constituents: Attend town hall meetings, read newsletters, and participate in community forums where you can hear directly from the member of Congress and ask questions about their promises.
- Look at Endorsements and Ratings: Organizations like the League of Conservation Voters, the American Civil Liberties Union, and others often rate politicians based on their performance and alignment with specific issues.
Perhaps if more citizens take the time to become involved, our elected representatives will not just throw out promises to garner votes and instead focus on solving the serious problems facing our nation.
Steve Corbin is a professor emeritus of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.