Eleven things Donald Trump promised to do in his first year as President - and whether he delivered

Many of Donald Trump‘s campaign promises made international headlines as he made his unorthodox bid for the presidency.

From his controversial ‘Muslim ban’ to the claim that he would be ‘the best jobs president that God ever created’, Trump managed to shock and divide with his plans to ‘Make America Great Again’.

Exactly a year since the divisive POTUS officially entered the White House, Trump has hailed his own ‘tremendous achievement’.

Speaking to his cabinet, he boasted: ‘I don’t think any administration has ever done what we’ve done and what we’ve accomplished in its first year.

But not all of his guarantees have been fulfilled – some are works in progress, some have been thwarted by rivals, and others quietly shelved.

These are how his promises are looking one year on.

Bombing the hell out of ISIS – kept

During a speech in Iowa in November 2015, Trump promised to ‘bomb the hell out of ISIS’. Within the first two months of his term, he followed through. The President dropped the biggest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal on an ISIS-stronghold in Afghanistan.

Statistics released by the Air Forces Central Command show the U.S. and its partners dropped 3,440 weapons in February and 3,878 in March, an increase of 10% on the levels of the Obama administration.

Tax cuts – somewhat kept

Trump promised to lower tax for corporations and working Americans during his presidential campaign. And on 19 and 20 December, the Senate and the House passed the final version of his Tax Bill.

But the President’s assurance that ‘everybody’ would get a tax cut has not been kept. Due to predicted inflation and changes in key tax credits, it’s thought that by 2027, anyone who earns below $75,000 will actually see a tax increase. Only those who earn above this threshold will still be saving.

Trump has claimed the new tax laws will ‘cost him a fortune’ – but in actual fact he is likely to benefit. Rental income, royalty payments and licensing fees were all areas of tax that got favourable treatment.

Deporting all illegal immigrants – not kept

In February 2016, while on the campaign trail, Trump said: ‘We have at least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally. They will go out. They will come back — some will come back, the best, through a process.

‘They have to come back legally. They have to come back through a process, and it may not be a very quick process, but I think that’s very fair, and very fine.’

Trump initially left Obama’s ‘dreamers’ programme alone, which supported immigrants whose children were bought into the States before they were 16 years old, but in September 2017 rescinded it. The Department of Homeland Security said those in the programme would continue to benefit from deportation protection but that benefits would expire on 5 March. It’s uncertain how Trump’s deporting process will continue.

‘Dreamers’ are undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, mostly from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Scrapping the Paris climate deal – kept

A staunch disbeliever in global warming, Trump has previously suggested the concept was made up by the Chinese. At a speech in North Dakota, the President said: ‘We’re going to cancel the Paris Climate Agreement and stop all payments of U.S. tax dollars to U.N. global warming programs’.

At the White House Rose Garden on 1 June, 2017, he promised to leave the agreement, which is held by almost 200 countries. However, it could take anything between one and four years for the US to formally leave the agreement, according to experts.

The States now joins Syria as the only country in the world not to have signed the agreement.

Building the wall – somewhat kept

Not only did Trump promise to build a wall between the US Mexico border, but he repeatedly claimed the Mexican government would pay for it.

‘I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great great wall on our southern border and I’ll have Mexico pay for that wall,’ he said.

Eight prototypes are currently in construction, but with rising costs, it’s still up in the air as to who will fund the 30 foot high wall. Congress has approved $20 million to start wall planning, although Trump is still convinced it will not be coming from his country’s pocket.

Death penalty for killing police officers – not kept

Trump has is an advocate for the death penalty, and promised he would enforce it specifically for so-called ‘cop killers’. He said he would push for an executive order for capital punishment, but it is yet to come to light.

Investigating Hillary Clinton – somewhat kept

At a campaign rally in Florida, Trump indicated he would start an investigation against ‘Crooked Hillary.‘ He said: ‘I will ask, to appoint a special prosecutor. We have to investigate Hillary Clinton, and we have to investigate the investigation’

Trump claims Clinton lied to the FBI after they probed her use of private email while secretary of state. However the head of the FBI at the time, James Comey, told Congress there was ‘no basis to conclude she lied to the FBI.’

Attorney General Jeff Sessions spent some time looking into the alleged claims, but refused to appoint a special counsel specifically to investigate Clinton. Trump has continually pressed the FBI to continue its path of investigation to little avail.

Establish a Muslim ban – not kept

One of the most infamous suggestions made by the now-President was a call to ban Muslims coming into the country. In 2015, following the San Bernardino terrorist attack carried out by a Muslim couple, Trump said: ‘Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.’

In 2016 he tweaked his message to ‘suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism.’ Early in his presidency, Trump signed two executive orders banning travel from several Muslim-majority countries, both of which faced widespread criticism.

Trump successfully implemented a ban of people traveling from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen into America.

However, at the end of January, Trump tweeted saying: ‘To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting. This is not about religion. This is about terror and keeping our country safe.’

Obamacare repeal – somewhat kept

Trump’s mandate rollback of Obamacare hasn’t yet repealed the insurance policies but has made it more difficult for Americans to access cheaper healthcare. The Republicans’ movement, which will come into force from 2019, repeals the penalty on people who might be able to afford health insurance but choose not to buy it.

Legally, the Affordable Care Act still remains in place, but the Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan number crunchers for Congress, estimated that after 10 years, 13 million less people would be covered.

Bringing back torture – not kept

At a Republican debate in New Hampshire, Trump said: ‘I would bring back waterboarding, and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,’

However, rather than pushing for the motion himself, Trump has passed over the laws surrounding torture to his Secretary of Defence, James Mattis, who does not share the same views. Mattis is known to not support waterboarding (which is illegal in America) and Trump has suggested he will leave the decision-making up to him.

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Not taking a salary – kept, so far

Before Trump entered the White House, he promised he would decline to take his presidential salary, and instead would donate it to a government entity. He has stuck to this promise so far, donating his first quarter’s salary to the National Park Service and the second quarter to the Department of Education.

As he receives his salary on a quarter-by-quarter basis, there is no way of knowing quite yet whether he will continue with his donations.