Introduction
Among ones of the most conspicuous Donald Trump’s promises are repealing Obamacare, banning Muslims, deporting all illegal immigrants, building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and making the Mexican government pay for it, stopping Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP), and reversing Obama’s deal regarding the reopening of diplomatic relationships with Cuba. Some of these promises were delivered, some of them are in progress, but most of them are either procrastinated or abandoned (Felter et al.).
As far as probably the main Trump’s promise of repealing Obamacare is concerned, no progress is observed. Before the elections, one of Trump’s pledges was to revoke and replace Obamacare, namely to lower the price of healthcare, reduce premiums and deductibles. The last update concerning this issue was on July 28, 2017, when the Senate reminded Trump of his promise stating that he showed no signs, willingness, or determination to fulfill it. On the next day, Trump responded claiming that if the Republican senators did not give up, this plan would be realized (“Trump’s Promises”).
Main body
In general, Trump’s promise of banning Muslims showed no signs of progress. In his campaign, Trump expressed a radical decision to ban all Muslims who enter the U.S. until the commission on radical Islam was established. However, later he changed a “complete ban” to an “extreme vetting”. Being a president, he introduced two bans on travel that cause some legal challenges. Several judges claimed that these bans are religious discrimination and must not be approved. In his response, Trump stated that he did not agree with them and that he was willing to take this case to the Supreme Court. Thus, the latest update on July 31, 2017, shows no progress in establishing the commission on radical Islam (“Trump’s Promises”).
Regarding the deportation of all illegal immigrants, Trump has partially fulfilled his promise. Before the elections, Trump stated that approximately 11 million illegal immigrants would be deported from the U.S. However, after the elections, he stated that approximately 2 or 3 million deportations would be carried out and would include people who were criminals, drug dealers, and gang members. Overall, there has been an increase in deportations of illegal migrants, but these are definitely not significant changes (“Washington Times Editorial”).
Another radical promise of Donald Trump was to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border and make the Mexican government pay for it. No progress has been made in this direction since the inauguration. Certainly, Mexico refused to pay for the wall and assist in building it. Thus, Congress is not willing to pay nearly $22 billion compared to Trump’s initial estimated cost of $12 billion for the construction of the wall. Additionally, there are landowners’ protests and a lawsuit from a group on environmental protection (“Trump’s Promises”).
The only major promise that Trump has fulfilled concerns transpacific trade deals. Thus, before the elections, Trump pledged that he was going to realize a withdrawal from the TPP stating that such partnerships increase unemployment. Trump fulfilled his promise a few days after his inauguration (“Tracking Trump’s Campaign”).
Before the elections, Trump promised to end diplomatic relationships with Cuba that had been restored by Obama. But although after the inauguration, he claimed that he was going to end Obama’s one-sided deal, he simply put certain restrictions in the sphere of business and tourism (“Fact Sheet on Cuba”).
Conclusion
Although Donald Trump has some radical goals that he is willing to accomplish, overall, he is a realist, and most of his actions prove that. First of all, his motto clearly shows that he puts America’s interests in the foreground. Thus, he declared China a currency manipulator, questioned NATO’s and other military alliances’ values, particularly when the members did not pay for their defense, he withdrew from TPP, he strongly opposes Obama’s immigration policies and even lets Korea and Japan develop nuclear industry but only under the American “umbrella”. Additionally, he understates the significance of nongovernmental organizations, such as the UN, or Greenpeace, and tries to ameliorate the relationships with Russia (Zakheim).
Works Cited
“Fact Sheet on Cuba Policy.” The White House, 2017. Web.
Felter, Claire, Zachary Laub, and James McBride. “Can Trump Carry Out His Foreign Policy Promises?” Council on Foreign Relations. 2017. Web.
“Tracking Trump’s Campaign Promises.” Politifact. 2017. Web.
“Trump’s Promises before and after the Election.” BBC News, 2017. Web.
“Washington Times Editorial on Raise Act: “A Good Start on Immigration Reform”.” The White House. 2017. Web.
Zakheim, Dov S. “Is Donald Trump a Realist?” The National Interest. 2017. Web.