Remember when Trump said…checking accuracy

As I scrolled through Facebook the other day, I saw this “copy and paste” status a few times. I’m always wary of messages like this, regardless of whether I’m initially in agreement with them or not. So I decided to take each item, line-by-line, to determine its accuracy. If you’ve seen this post going around Facebook, feel free to post my response to help clarify things. Please note that just because I’m clarifying these “accusations” of Trump, doesn’t mean that I support him blindly. I just want accurate claims to be made, and honestly, I’m tired of inaccurate, misleading claims that people are blindly assuming are truths.

Here’s the original post:

“Remember when the President said he wasn’t going to take a salary? He just accepted his second paycheck.
Remember when he said Mexico was going to pay for the wall? He has asked Congress to appropriate the $25 billion of taxpayer money to cover costs.
Remember when he said he wasn’t going to go on vacation or play golf? 5 of the last 7 weekends he went on vacation and played golf, costing taxpayers $11.1 million.
Remember when he said he was going to use American steel to build these dangerous pipelines? Russian steel arrived last week for the Keystone Pipeline XL.
Remember when he said he wasn’t going to cut social security and Medicare? The Republican bill does just this.
Remember when he said that nobody on his campaign had any communications with the Russian government? 7 of his people have now admitted they spoke and/or met with Russian officials, after they lied and got caught.
Remember when he said he was going to divest from his businesses? Changed his mind.
Remember when he said he was going to release his tax returns? Changed his mind.
Remember when he said he was going to drain the swamp of Washington insiders? His cabinet is filled with lobbyists, oil and Wall Street executives.
Remember when he said would defeat ISIS in 30 days? He doesn’t have a plan.
Remember when he said that the Obamacare replacement would cover more people at lower cost? The AHCA that the GOP and 45 are now pushing; they now admit will cover fewer people at a higher cost.
If you voted for him, please hold him accountable to what he promised you – for the sake of us all.
Feel free to copy and paste, as I have.”

Here’s what I found:

Remember when the President said he wasn’t going to take a salary? He just accepted his second paycheck.

Yes, he did just accept his second paycheck. However, he’s donating his salary at the end of the year. Instead of letting the government keep his money, he’s opting to get his salary, and then donate it to a worthy cause. See THIS article for more info. 

Remember when he said Mexico was going to pay for the wall? He has asked Congress to appropriate the $25 billion of taxpayer money to cover costs.

Trump initially put the price of the wall at between $8 billion and $12 billion. Others have suggested it could be higher, between $15 billion and $25 billion. Either way, the full cost would be more than covered in one or two years by the $13 billion in annual revenues we would collect from Mexico, due to new taxes established on Mexican products imported into the U.S. Read more HERE.

Remember when he said he wasn’t going to go on vacation or play golf? 5 of the last 7 weekends he went on vacation and played golf, costing taxpayers $11.1 million.

Trump said in November that he wouldn’t go on any “big” vacations. While he was naive in making this claim, apparently so was Obama. He made a similar claim before being elected president in 2008: “You give me this office and in turn, my fears, doubts, insecurities, foibles, need for sleep, family life, vacations, leisure is gone,” Obama said in 2008. “I am giving myself to you.” But by September 2016, Obama had gone on 28 vacations (including long weekends) spanning all or part of 217 days. Read more on that HERE.

Not that this means Trump didn’t misrepresent himself. However, I could see how any person running for office might say the same thing (case in point: Obama). This one isn’t a big deal to me–work hard, play hard, I say. Obama deserved breaks, and I believe Trump does, too. In fact, I think anyone running the free world should get breathers on the weekends. I would imagine they’re not really on “vacation” those days, anyway.

Remember when he said he was going to use American steel to build these dangerous pipelines? Russian steel arrived last week for the Keystone Pipeline XL.

This statement is misleading. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders noted that American steel is not being used for the pipeline: “The way that executive order is written, it’s specific to new pipelines or those that are being repaired, Sanders said. “And since this one is already currently under construction, the steel is already literally sitting there, it would be hard to go back. But I know that everything moving forward would fall under that executive order.” {source}

However, the claim that “Russian steel arrived last week for the Keystone Pipeline XL” is not accurate. See Snopes for more info.

Remember when he said he wasn’t going to cut social security and Medicare? The Republican bill does just this.

As of March 16: “The Trump proposal covers only a quarter of the roughly $4 trillion federal budget — representing the “discretionary” portion that Congress passes each year. It doesn’t address taxes, 仮想 通貨 カジノ, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, or make predictions about deficits and the economy. Those big-picture details are due in mid-May, and are sure to show large — probably permanent — budget deficits. Trump has vowed not to cut Social Security and Medicare and is dead set against raising taxes.” {source}

Remember when he said that nobody on his campaign had any communications with the Russian government? 7 of his people have now admitted they spoke and/or met with Russian officials, after they lied and got caught.

I haven’t been able to find solid evidence of this yet, but did find THIS timeline of the Trump/Russia connection that may be helpful if this issue is important to you. 

Remember when he said he was going to divest from his businesses? Changed his mind.

Once again, maybe a naive claim from Trump, but HERE’s why it’s not as simple as one may think to unload all of Trump’s businesses. 

Remember when he said he was going to release his tax returns? Changed his mind.

True. Although they did end up getting partially released, and Trump paid $38 million in taxes on income of more than $150 million in 2005,

Remember when he said he was going to drain the swamp of Washington insiders? His cabinet is filled with lobbyists, oil and Wall Street executives.

While I believe Trump has gone against the “norm” on many of his appointments, 11 of his 19 Cabinet and Cabinet-level appointments have sat on the boards of corporations or organizations that have lobbied the federal government. You can read more HERE.

Remember when he said would defeat ISIS in 30 days? He doesn’t have a plan.

Looks like there’s a plan HERE.

Remember when he said that the Obamacare replacement would cover more people at lower cost? The AHCA that the GOP and 45 are now pushing; they now admit will cover fewer people at a higher cost.

I think this is one will need to “wait and see” about. You can read more about the unveiling of AHCA and what it includes HERE.

As always, I encourage you to check facts and sources before assumptions are made. It’s worth taking a few extra moments to check the reliability of claims before sharing! And really, are we all that surprised that ANY politician made campaign promises he couldn’t keep??