President Trump's First 100 Days: Promises Kept And Broken

WASHINGTON, DC — President Trump, like all candidates for the office, made a lot of promises during his campaign. To mark his first 100 days in office, we're looking back at some of those promises and seeing how they measure up to his actions since being sworn in. Obviously, many of Trump's promises, such as his pledge to create 25 million jobs or eliminate $19 trillion worth of government debt, are ongoing and cannot yet be said to be fulfilled or broken. Many other promises, though, are ripe for assessment.

We're interpreting "promises" pretty broadly here: Trump needn't have said the words "I promise" or "I pledge"; if he said explicitly during the campaign that he would or would not carry out a specific action, we're putting it in the promise column. (For more information on this and other political stories, click here to subscribe to the White House Patch daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Of the literally hundreds of promises made during the campaign, Trump has followed through on several already. On others, however, he has decidedly fallen short. We'll start with his successes.

Promises Fulfilled

Gun Control

Promise: On an Obama-era executive order designed to limit gun access for people with mental illnesses, "I will veto. I will unsign that so fast."

Action: Trump signed a resolution in February nullifying the executive order on gun control.

Keystone Pipeline

Promise: Trump promised he would lift "roadblocks" to energy infrastructure "like the Keystone pipeline."

Action: While building the Keystone is still a work in progress, the Trump administration did issue a permit for its construction, reversing President Obama's policy. Court battles and other obstacles remain to be solved before the line is operational.

Trump's Salary

Promise: On his presidential salary: "I’m not gonna take the salary. I’m not taking it."

Action: Arguably, Trump is taking the salary, because he is legally required to. But since Trump is choosing to donate his salary equivalent to the National Park Service, we can call this a promise fulfilled.

ISIS Plan

Promise: "Immediately after taking office, I will ask my generals to present to me a plan within 30 days to defeat and destroy ISIS."

Action: Trump issued an executive order that directed Defense Secretary James Mattis to develop such a plan.

Supreme Court

Promise: Trump said he will "begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list."

Action: Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was on his original list of 20 potential nominees, is now sitting on the court. Trump also repeatedly said that he would appoint a pro-life justice, and while Gorsuch would not publicly declare his view on the matter, he is widely believed to oppose abortion.

Bike Racing

Promise: “I promise I will never be in a bicycle race. That I can tell you,” Trump said after then-Secretary of State John Kerry broke his leg in a cycling accident. (He was not racing.)

Action: There is no evidence Patch has found that Trump has participated in a bicycle race.

Trade Deals

Promise: "I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership," he said during the campaign. He also threatened to pull out of North American Free Trade Agreement.

Action: In his first week, Trump pulled the United States out of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He said on Wednesday that he would quickly start the process of renegotiating Nafta — not abandon it, as he said he would do during the 2016 presidential campaign if he could not rework the deal.

Promises Broken

Tweeting Habit

Promise: "Don’t worry, I’ll give it up after I’m president. We won’t tweet anymore. I don’t know. Not presidential,” Trump said a year ago, during the GOP primaries.

Action: Trump continues to tweet frequently, both from his personal account and from the presidential account. A Congressional investigation into whether President Obama wiretapped Trump resulted from an early-morning series of tweets from the new president.

Golfing

Promise: "I'm going to be working for you, I'm not going to have time to go play golf," Trump said. "I love golf. But if I were in the White House, I don't think I'd ever seen Turnberry [the golf course he owns in Scotland] again. I just want to stay in the White House and work my ass off." He frequently criticized Obama for golfing as president.

Action: In his first 66 days as president, Trump golfed 13 times, according to CNN. He spends most weekends at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida where he has easy access to the golf course.

China Currency

Promise: "I will direct the Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator."

Action: The president has not asked Secretary Mnuchin to label China a currency manipulator, and Trump publicly declared China does not manipulate its currency after meeting with President Xi Jinping.

Obamacare Repeal

Promise: "When we win on November 8th and elect a Republican congress, we will be able to immediately repeal and replace Obamacare. Have to do it. I will ask Congress to convene a special session so we can repeal and replace, and it will be such an honor for me, for you, and for everybody in this country because Obamacare has to be replaced and we will do it and we will do it very, very quickly."

Action: Trump did not convene a special session of Congress. And though Republicans tried to pass a new health care bill "quickly," they failed to do so. Even if it had passed, it would not have completely repealed Obamacare, only parts of it. An amended version is still in Congress.

More On Health Care

Promise: Trump said he would replace Obamacare with a system that would ensure everybody in the country. "Everybody’s got to be covered. This is an unrepublican thing for me to say because a lot of times they say, 'No, no the lower 25 percent they can’t afford private but…"I am going to take care of everybody. I don’t care if it costs me votes or not. Everybody’s going to be taken care of, much better than they’re taken care of now."

Action: Since taking office, Trump has supported two versions of health care reform being pushed by Republicans, which the Congressional Budget Office says would result in 24 million people fewer people having insurance and reduce benefits for millions more.

Cop Killers

Promise: "One of the first things I’d do in terms of executive orders, if I win, will be to sign a strong, strong statement that will go out to the country, out to the world, that anybody killing a policeman, a policewoman, a police officer, anybody killing a police officer: Death penalty is going to happen, OK?"

Action: Trump has directed the Justice Department to prosecute criminals who kill cops, but he has not ordered them to dole out the death penalty. The executive branch, as it happens, does not have the authority to dictate punishments.

Releasing Tax Forms

Promise: "I don’t mind releasing. I’m under a routine audit, and it’ll be released,” he said of his tax forms. Also: “We're working on that now. I have big returns, as you know, and I have everything all approved and very beautiful and we'll be working that over in the next period of time."

Action: It's been well over a year since Trump said he was going to release his tax returns; in January 2016, he said, "We're working on that now." Since then, he has repeatedly said that he is waiting until a "routine" audit of his tax returns is completed to release them, even though the IRS says an audit does not mean they can't be made public. Trump could release recent returns from years not under audit, or he could have released this year's returns before they were filed. More recently, White House aides have indicated Trump won't release his taxes because the public doesn't care about them. Polling tells a different story. A January CNN/Opinion Research Center poll showed that almost three-quarters of the public -- 74% -- thought Trump should release his tax returns.

Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security

Promise: He will "save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, without cuts." He later tweeted: "I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid."

Action: While Trump has not cut any of these programs, the American Health Care Act that he endorsed and lobbied Congress to pass included massive cuts to Medicaid as does a pending, amended version. Since Trump has repeatedly pushed and endorsed a plan that would cut Medicaid, this counts as a broken promise — even if he hasn't been successful in his attempts to cut Medicaid so far.

Settling Lawsuits

Promise: Asked about three Trump University lawsuits alleging fraud, Trump said, "I don’t settle cases," and he vowed he wouldn't give in on these.

Action: Trump later settled the claims against Trump University for $25 million.

Sanctuary Cities

Promise: Trump said he will "cancel all federal funding to sanctuary cities."

Action: Trump issued an order that, rather than canceling all federal funding addressed federal grants. The order was blocked by Judge William Orrick III, who ruled that even this more minor move would be unconstitutional.

Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images News/Getty Images