As the Donald Trump administration wraps up their first year, serious questions are being asked about his promises all throughout his third successive campaign. What was initially promised as a return to a logical pathway back to the recently elusive “American dream” has now just turned into a weekly war of words between Trump and reporters about how much he hates Somali immigrants.
Recently, Trump was making a chain of claims that energy has gone down and how that will lead to “everything” coming down. But in an unforced disaster, Trump decided out of nowhere to call the very concept of “affordability” a scam created by the Democrats. That prompted us to take a look at all the things Trump promised only to abandon as soon as he got to power.
Affordability
Let’s start with what brought us here in the first place: the issue of affordability. Believe it or not, Trump’s recent remarks that went viral didn’t actually start because he was asked about it.
Trump was taking questions after a cabinet meeting, and he was actually talking about his list of countries that his administration will no longer consider for asylum. And somewhere during the conversation, Trump weaved into talking about how he’s simultaneously lowering the cost of energy and everything by extension — and then suddenly he added that affordability was a scam.
Trump: "The word 'affordability' is a Democrat scam" pic.twitter.com/pYhG5leVi3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 2, 2025
But after the long-awaited end of the government shutdown, Trump himself said that he looked forward to “make America affordable again for all Americans.” So was that a scam too?
.@POTUS: "With my signature, the federal government will now resume normal operations and my administration, and our partners in Congress, will continue our work to lower the cost of living, restore public safety… and make America affordable again for all Americans." pic.twitter.com/ybJjiM2lIL
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) November 13, 2025
End the Ukraine War in 24 hours
This one was simply too ridiculous, and it’s unlikely anyone even in the deepest abyss of MAGA saw that as anything more than hyperbole. It goes without saying that the war has obviously not ended — the most progress Trump made on the matter was arguing with the Ukrainian president in the Oval Office because he didn’t wear a suit. Now, Vice President J.D. Vance is blaming Ukraine for housing prices doubling, and the official position of the administration is for Ukraine to cede some land to Russia.
After four years of house prices doubling (and in some areas, tripling) many young people feel priced out of the American Dream of homeownership. A welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota reveals that large numbers of new arrivals aren't assimilating and are funneling our tax dollars…
— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 24, 2025
Gas prices to fall under $2
Credit where credit is due: Trump is a great campaigner. Sometimes the problem is that there’s nothing beyond the campaign promises besides disappointments. Lowering gas prices could normally be filed under his promise that affordability was a core focus of MAGA. But with this one, he actually gave it a number. Gas prices were supposed to go under $2 — that was the promise.
According to AAA Fuel Prices, as of today, one gallon of gas is still $3.
Cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid
Over and over again during his campaign, Trump promised his voters that entitlements for U.S. citizens would remain “untouched.” It’s one of the few paths he had to convince moderates and self-described centrists to consider voting for him.
As soon as Trump was inaugurated, DOGE went after SSA staffing, and the “one big beautiful bill” ensured that the cuts to Medicaid would be deep and would impose new restrictions on some of the most vulnerable Americans — all so the top 1% could have even more tax cuts.
End birthright citizenship via executive order
Some Trump promises were frankly made with full knowledge that they were impossible, chief among them being rights that are actually enshrined in the Constitution. Yet Trump still tried to sign an executive order ending the 14th Amendment.
The executive order ended up being a stress test for the three-branch government, and injunctions by courts nationwide blocked it.
Release the Epstein files immediately
What more remains to be said about the Jeffrey Epstein story? This all started with Trump going on stage and assuring crowds that, should he be reelected president, the files would be released as soon as Day 1 of his presidency. But when he sat down for an interview — even before he won the election — he was already wary of the files being inaccurate.
Then he won, and he fought tooth and nail to ensure the files were never released, even calling it yet another scam. But this one he may eventually have to release after pressure from the public, Congress, and the Senate.
Make IVF treatments free or government-covered
This is another promise that still hangs in the air. This actually aligns perfectly with his conservative base. Trump was touting this plan when he was doing his rounds with the so-called manosphere podcast circuit that is largely attributed to Joe Rogan. Trump was at the Flagrant podcast where he assured host Andrew Schulz that he would champion reproductive health programs, which meant a lot to Schulz.
Trump did end up signing an executive order on the matter. But the EO had no actual policy or spending changes related to IVF. According to Politico, Trump had to make the EO as dilute as possible because some of his base believe IVF is similar to abortion.
Not implement Project 2025
During the campaign run, Trump had to distance himself from the infamous Project 2025. At the time, it was seen as too radical, with hints of far-right ideologies that scared off most moderate voters. But Kamala Harris insisted that the Trump administration wouldn’t shy away from it if they won. Well, the “if” turned to “when.”
Trump appointed Russ Vought into his administration — one of the architects of Project 2025. Since then, mass firings, austerity measures, and many other points in the document keep happening every day. It’s gotten to a point where that might just be the only document to check if you want to make sense of Trump’s second term.
End all government censorship and restore free speech
To this day, Trump is still following up on lawsuits with companies that tried to silence him after he lost to Joe Biden. Simultaneously, Trump is now trying to silence his own adversaries. And it’s not even fellow politicians — this administration is instead going after late-night comedians and school teachers who misspoke about Charlie Kirk.
Trump wanted control of Big Tech; he didn’t want freedom of speech. And it’s now clearer than ever. And as for all the promises he has broken, notice that they are only the ones he was never going to gain from directly.
Published: Dec 3, 2025 04:15 pm