“I’m going to put in … great conservative judges.” (remarks, March 20, 2016)
Trump has appointed conservative (and young) judges across the federal bench, and this will be a major element of his legacy. He was helped by the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who blocked Obama from filling vacancies; Trump thus inherited an unusually large number of positions to fill.
“We will honor the American people with the truth, and nothing else.” (speech, July 21, 2016)
Trump has made more than 20,000 false or misleading statements since assuming office, by the count of The Washington Post.
“We will build the roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, airports and the railways of tomorrow.” (remarks, July 21, 2016)
Trump never tried to pass an infrastructure bill.
“We’re going to cut taxes for the middle class. … We will ensure that the benefits are focused on the middle class, the working men and women, not the highest-income earners.” (speech, Sept. 27, 2017)
Trump did pass a tax cut, but it was focused on the wealthy. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimated that for the 2018 tax year, 20 percent of the benefits would go to the top 1 percent, and that by 2027, 82 percent of the benefits would go to the top 1 percent.
“We’ve got to get rid of the $19 trillion in debt. … I could do it fairly quickly … over a period of eight years.” (interview, March 31, 2016)
The debt has surged and may soon be larger than the American economy for the first time since 1946. That’s partly because of his tax cut for the wealthy and partly because of Covid-19.