Has Donald Trump Kept his Word?

In every election, each nominee during his or her campaign lays out their beliefs and makes promises they try to keep while in office. These promises can range from international trade to cleaning up the local park. No matter the significance of the promises the elected official is judged on their effectiveness to implement policies to uphold the promises made and their ability to keep their word. President Donald Trump has made many campaign promises and has followed through with several of the more important issues in his first two years as President.

A major promise Donald Trump made during his campaign was to appoint conservative justices to the United States Supreme Court. After the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, Donald Trump said before being elected President, I promised that, if elected, I would nominate a Justice who would be faithful and loyal to the Constitution. I even went one step further and publicly presented a list of 20 judges from which I would make my selection, and that's exactly what we did (Trump). On April 10, 2017, Justice Neil Gorsuch took the oath of office. President Trump nominated another justice from the list he previously quoted. Shortly after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement on June 27, 2018, President trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh who took his oath of office October 6, 2018. President Trump kept his word on selecting not one but two well qualified conservative justices to the United States Supreme Court. Now the highest court in the land has a 5-4 conservative favor, this can only help the right agenda as future cases get ruled.

In the same way, President Trump made good on his Supreme Court Justice promise he created a private hotline for veterans to voice their complaints not being addressed by their VA as well as get the help they need such as suicide prevention. This is another method President Trump implemented to ensure all US veterans are properly taken care of. According to the Veterans Affairs Department, the hotline has received over 107,600 calls since its launch in June 2017(as of August 2018)(www.va.gov). The amount of veterans calling and being helped is a huge step for Veteran Affairs in America. So far the President has kept his promises on the Supreme Court and Veteran Affairs but has had to compromise on his efforts to cancel global warming payments to the United Nations.

For instance, the President wanted to completely stop all and every climate change related spending, starting with pulling out of the Paris climate agreement. As opposed to President Obama who increased funding for climate change related research and programs. President Trump stated in his White House speech on June 1, 2017, the money being spent in such programs, "will be sent to the very countries and factories that have taken our jobs"(Trump). In short President Trump, did succeed by shutting down US funding for the Global Climate Fund but he didn't not full stop the funding of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which is a United Nation committee. This is still a step toward keeping his promise.

Another promise the President made was to limit legal immigration Donald Trump has again reduced the refugee cap to 30,000 the decision in support of the President's American First agenda. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sept. 17 said the reduction in the refugee cap is the Trump administration's "commitment to protect the most vulnerable around the world while prioritizing the safety and well being of the American people, as President Trump has directed"(Dept. of State, Pompeo). Pompeo continues by stating the country still must vet every person so we do not allow anyone who might do harm to our country. By limiting the number of refugees the government can allow the best of the best as a way to promote future growth for the United States as a whole.

As well as limit legal immigration President Trump suspended immigration from terror-prone countries and tried to end the terror group ISIS. As Donald Trump loosened restraints on the American military they have effectively executed more airstrikes on ISIS-controlled areas in the Middle East, crippling what is left of their terrorist infrastructure. The travel ban as many people called it the Muslim Ban due to the large percentage of Muslim people currently living in these countries has been implemented to prevent potentially dangerous immigrants from the Middle East enter the country by immigration visas. Donald Trump said in his Immigration speech, Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to begin a comprehensive review of these cases in order to develop a list of regions and countries from which immigration must be suspended until proven and effective vetting mechanisms can be put in place. I call it extreme vetting right? Extreme vetting. I want extreme. It's going to be so tough, and if somebody comes in that's fine but they're going to be good. It's extreme(Trump). After the June 5-4 decision the Supreme Court ruled the President acted within his executive authority meaning the travel ban will stay. President Trump kept his promise to suspend immigration from terror-prone counties and has successfully destroyed ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

Furthermore, Donald Trump made many promises regarding the economy and has plans to promote economic growth through the nation through the creation of 25 million jobs in the next 10 years, which most economists say is impossible. It is too early to tell if his policies have and will generate the economic growth the President is sure of. What can be said for certain is more jobs have been created under the Trump administration. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy created between February 2017 and December 2017 more than 1.6 million payroll jobs were created as well as 261,000 jobs in October of 2017. On average for each, the first eight months of 2018 about 200,000 jobs have been created. The President has kept his word on creating domestic jobs for American citizens.

Overall President Trump has kept or tried to keep many of his campaign promises. Regardless of your political views or your personal opinion of Donald Trump he has been true to his word and there has been political action taken by his administration to better the lives and interests of the American people. With that being said Donald Trump has kept the promises, which got him, elected and has been an effective President by implementing his policies.

Work Cited

1. Current Employment Statistics National News Releases. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018, www.bls.gov/ces/.
2. Engagement Office of Veteran Affairs, Veterans Experience Office (VEO). Military Crisis Line, 18 Oct. 2017, www.va.gov/ve/whvahotline.asp.
3. Keeping His Promise: President Trump's Transparent, Consistent, and Principled Process for Choosing a Supreme Court Nominee. The White House, The United States Government, 9 July 2018, www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/keeping-promise-president-trumps-transparent-consistent-principled-process-choosing-supreme-court-nominee/.
4. Military Crisis Line: Suicide Prevention Hotline, Chat & Text Veterans Crisis Line. Veterans Crisis Line, www.veteranscrisisline.net/get-help/military-crisis-line.
5. Pompeo, Michael R. Remarks to the Media. U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of State, 17 Sept. 2018, www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2018/09/285960.htm.
6. Transcript of Donald Trump's Immigration Speech. The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2016/09/02/us/politics/transcript-trump-immigration-speech.html?_r=0.

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