Promise tracker · U.S. elections
Trump: promises and factual claims
The first and second presidential terms, separating campaign promises from factual claims.
Reviewed by Lars Føleide · 2026-10-27
Three illustrative promises per term and three factual claims. This editorial selection is neither representative nor exhaustive. Aggregate figures describe PolitiFact’s separate, larger cohorts.
How many promises have been fulfilled?
Percentages describe only the selected source cohort. A compromise is not a fulfilled promise. Stalled and underway are not automatically broken. The terms and their different cohorts must not be added into one fulfillment score. The second term is ongoing.
PolitiFact’s January 19, 2021 final article reports 25 kept, 23 compromises and 54 broken. Its first-term scorecard retrieved October 27, 2026 reports 24, 23 and 55. The reason and revision date are unverified. Both source versions are shown without silently choosing a correction.
First term · 2017–2021 · 2021 final article
Kept only: 25 / 102 (24.5 %)
| Status | Count | % | Distribution, 0–100% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kept | 25 | 24.5 | |
| Compromise | 23 | 22.5 | |
| Broken | 54 | 52.9 | |
| Stalled | 0 | 0 | |
| In the works | 0 | 0 |
Source published: January 19, 2021 · PolitiFact ↗
First term · 2017–2021 · webpage retrieved 2026
Kept only: 24 / 102 (23.5 %)
| Status | Count | % | Distribution, 0–100% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kept | 24 | 23.5 | |
| Compromise | 23 | 22.5 | |
| Broken | 55 | 53.9 | |
| Stalled | 0 | 0 | |
| In the works | 0 | 0 |
Source update date unverified. · PolitiFact ↗
Second term · from 2025, ongoing · webpage retrieved 2026
Kept only: 15 / 75 (20 %)
| Status | Count | % | Distribution, 0–100% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kept | 15 | 20 | |
| Compromise | 3 | 4 | |
| Broken | 5 | 6.7 | |
| Stalled | 21 | 28 | |
| In the works | 31 | 41.3 |
Source update date unverified. · PolitiFact ↗
Six illustrative promises
The status filter applies to the examples below. It does not change the denominators or counts in the publisher’s scorecards.
Withdraw the U.S. from TPP
First term · PolitiFact: Kept · January 23, 2017
“withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership”Short original excerpt, as the pledge is documented by PolitiFact.
- What must be fulfilled?
- Withdraw U.S. participation and signature from the TPP negotiations and agreement.
- What happened?
- PolitiFact rates the pledge kept. The January 23, 2017 presidential memorandum directed the trade representative to withdraw and provide written notice.
- Limits
- TPP had not entered into force for the U.S.; this is not a measure of effects on jobs or trade.
- Context and response
- The administration’s memorandum explains its decision in terms of U.S. workers’ interests.
Repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act
First term · PolitiFact: Broken · July 15, 2020
“repealing and replacing”Short original excerpt, as the pledge is documented by PolitiFact.
- What must be fulfilled?
- Repeal and replace the law, rather than change one provision.
- What happened?
- PolitiFact rates the first-term pledge broken. The Senate rejected the narrower repeal amendment 49–51 on July 28, 2017.
- Limits
- One vote is context, not by itself proof of the entire term’s outcome. Later removal of the individual-mandate penalty was not repeal of the whole law.
- Context and response
- Republicans pursued legislation but did not enact full repeal and replacement during the term.
A border wall paid for by Mexico
First term · PolitiFact: Broken · July 15, 2020
“I’ll have Mexico pay for that wall.”Short original excerpt, as the pledge is documented by PolitiFact.
- What must be fulfilled?
- Both build a border wall and have Mexico pay for it.
- What happened?
- PolitiFact rates the combined pledge broken. Its final article describes primarily replacement barriers financed by U.S. taxpayers.
- Limits
- Built or replaced barriers are not the same as newly covered border. A broken combined pledge does not mean no barriers were built.
- Context and response
- The pledge’s own wording requires Mexico to pay. This page has not solicited a new response from Trump or the administration.
Pardon people convicted over January 6
Second term · PolitiFact: Kept · January 21, 2025
“full pardons”Short original excerpt, as the pledge is documented by PolitiFact.
- What must be fulfilled?
- Provide the promised clemency for people convicted of January 6-related offenses.
- What happened?
- PolitiFact rates the pledge kept. The Justice Department records pardons and sentence commutations dated January 20, 2025.
- Limits
- A pardon and a commutation are different actions. This does not claim everyone received the same relief or judge whether it was desirable.
- Context and response
- The administration publishes the clemency action through the Justice Department.
End taxation on tips
Second term · PolitiFact: Kept · July 14, 2025
“not charge taxes on tips”Short original excerpt, as the pledge is documented by PolitiFact.
- What must be fulfilled?
- Retain both the publisher’s pledge classification and the actual limits of the tax change.
- What happened?
- PolitiFact rates the pledge kept. The IRS describes a federal income-tax deduction for qualified tips, capped at $25,000 annually, for tax years 2025–2028.
- Limits
- This is a temporary deduction with income limits and eligibility conditions, not an unconditional exemption from every tax on all tips. The PolitiFact label is identified as its assessment.
- Context and response
- The IRS itself uses the “No tax on tips” label and explains the deduction’s limits on the linked page.
End the Russia–Ukraine war within 24 hours
Second term · PolitiFact: Broken · April 29, 2025
“in 24 hours”Short original excerpt, as the pledge is documented by PolitiFact.
- What must be fulfilled?
- The explicit 24-hour deadline, not every later opportunity for a peace agreement.
- What happened?
- PolitiFact rates the time-bound pledge broken. This concerns the missed deadline, not a claim that all later diplomacy has the same outcome.
- Limits
- This is an attributed 2025 assessment. This page does not provide a current battlefield or peace-negotiation update.
- Context and response
- Trump later described the 24-hour statement as sarcastic; the publisher’s assessment retained the original deadline.
False and misleading claims
30,573 · Washington Post’s historical count: 30,573 false-or-misleading statement occurrences, including repetitions.
First presidential term only. Published January 24, 2021 · Article preserved by Congress ↗
Second term: no verified exhaustive, comparable tally here. Unknown, not zero.
3 unique claims in the displayed pilot selection. This is not an estimate of all false statements.
Who won the 2020 presidential election?
January 6, 2021 · False
“we won this election”Trump claimed he won. The National Archives records 306 electoral votes for Biden and 232 for Trump. This checks the winner claim, not every separate election allegation.
Context and response: The original speech argues the election was stolen. It is linked alongside the official electoral-vote result.
One linked instance; repetitions have not been inventoried.
The worst inflation in 48 years?
March 4, 2025 · False
“the worst inflation in 48 years”BLS recorded a 9.1% twelve-month CPI increase in June 2022, the highest since November 1981 — about 40 years, not 48. This differs from cumulative price growth during a presidential term.
Context and response: The speech adds that inflation might have been the worst in history. That does not support the specific 48-year claim.
One linked instance; repetitions have not been inventoried.
Old database records and benefit payments
March 4, 2025 · Misleading
“money is being paid to many of them”A missing death date in a database does not by itself establish that someone receives money. SSA clarified this on February 19, 2025. FactCheck.org assessed the speech’s inference as misleading. Improper payments exist; that does not establish millions of payments to deceased people.
Context and response: SSA’s acting commissioner described the database limitation while supporting the administration’s efforts against error and misuse. Both appear in the original statement.
One linked instance; repetitions have not been inventoried.
Method and counting limits
Promise status and factual accuracy are different assessments. An unfulfilled commitment does not establish knowing deception. We distinguish false, misleading, unsupported, disputed, opinion and corrected statements; the three displayed records form a limited pilot. Each claim ID counts once in the selection, regardless of its number of links. Washington Post statement occurrences use a different counting unit. We have no verified exhaustive or comparable tally for the second term. Missing counts mean unknown, not zero. We publish no lie score or inference about knowledge and intent.
Selection and source versions as of . New corrections are recorded with a date and source version. Report an error.
Original sources and source versions
Retrieval is not publication or human review. Text extracts are labeled; their checksum identifies the extract, not the original webpage’s bytes.
View the source material (20)
- pf-first ↗
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2d6f8f7f62890f6f882033231bd6b408e6001c1d08d0268081c766e329e2f832 - pf-final ↗
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75c47aebb1148acd2e40b4ca621f5f8f1e793463ce79208cbe96a3e7adcca5d7 - wp-total ↗
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1912fa133455c86bd636c1b6719f8fb54abd94c9bc7e4277d9cc8420475527c1 - congress-speech ↗
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38fbddefd5f60e7da0dd81118a97187d6f0b8fa35d4fb9506c259c810c6abb3d - election-2020 ↗
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1cbb0ff6fce2d28734afad3db617b3f6e40e69b8aba86c6f695f901ce80a74a5 - fc-congress ↗
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31739fd7cfe5e59196aadcf860ac46147b5ecc68ada74004e544c982c08c9e3b - tpp-action ↗
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233eb4d1c2e9c0c01feafd3feff1e9ae6bb064830b8bf335a8b5f06d03a69be9 - aca-vote ↗
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1cbb0ff6fce2d28734afad3db617b3f6e40e69b8aba86c6f695f901ce80a74a5 - tips-law ↗
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2028734cd7403cce68cb2240fd1991c4d1d264047cb2c1da782bedf54daac833 - clemency-action ↗
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71876e48576b10c835171f3ab1f082d6bfa19ed72671bfb061ca258b7b745e70 - pf-tips ↗
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108afbae33430c629db32b49fe1b5353e49a37305cd8bbfefe170552778d549e - pf-ukraine ↗
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f3649e74d426c7a417f36bca6346ac94163e5104a7cc4e6c9ef5c73a4a75c0a3 - pf-jan6 ↗
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9be7920f09f040865caa1079a2adfb87907e47ff0b10aa1c16bb9f4c6f0af9ad - pf-tpp ↗
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d198a4409eee62557f6752684d3e4c48ef1ee00b3df5e8ded2e34d15f87da5b5 - pf-aca ↗
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8d50bdbf1cb41dd6846cf762500e0c8999bf7dc4e1328aa6fb6bfe690a08dcc9 - ssa-response ↗
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