54Score
Current role · President of the United States
23 tracked promises
ActionOverWords Index tracks 23 promises by Donald Trump as President of the United States: 6 in progress, 3 stalled, 6 compromise, 6 completed and 2 broken. The AOW Score (0 to 100, based on 23 tracked promises) is 54. 21 of the 23 are listed below with their sources.
6 in progress · 3 stalled · 6 compromise · 6 completed · 2 broken
21 of 23 are listed on this page; the rest do not yet meet the three-publisher sourcing standard for publication here and appear only in the interactive tracker.
CompromiseTaxes & IRS
Eliminate federal taxes on tips.
Now implemented, not just proposed: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act created a deduction of up to $25,000 in reported tips through 2028, income-capped above $150,000 and limited to occupations on a Treasury-published list. The IRS issued final rules and a filing worksheet for the 2025 tax year — real savings for many tipped workers, but still a capped, time-limited deduction rather than tips going untaxed outright.
CompletedImmigration & border
Secure the southern border and reduce illegal crossings.
Holding steady well into the second year: CBP's own data show nationwide encounters at their lowest levels in more than 50 years, and the agency marked a full year of what it called 'the most secure border in history.' Pew Research independently confirms the trend using the same government data. Worth noting for context: the decline began in mid-2024, under a Biden-era asylum crackdown, before accelerating further after Trump took office.
CompromiseTrade & economy
Impose sweeping tariffs on imports, including a universal baseline and steep "reciprocal" tariffs on major trading partners.
The broad "Liberation Day" reciprocal tariffs, imposed under emergency economic powers (IEEPA), were ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court in February 2026, 6-3. Trump replaced them within days with a smaller global 10% tariff under a different, time-limited authority (Section 122); that replacement drew fresh court challenges of its own by May 2026. Tariffs remain a major part of trade policy, just not at the scope or on the legal footing first claimed.
In progressImmigration & border
Carry out the "largest deportation operation in American history."
DHS and ICE reported roughly 600,000 removals within the first 18 months of the term, including more than 350,000 in fiscal year 2026 alone — a real enforcement surge. Independent researchers, including TRAC at Syracuse University, say the pace has not clearly exceeded the modern annual record of over 400,000 removals in a single year under the Obama administration, and have questioned how DHS calculates its own cumulative total.
BrokenImmigration & border
End automatic birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents unlawfully present or on temporary visas, by executive order.
The Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship as a 14th Amendment guarantee and ruled against the administration's Day 1 executive order on June 30, 2026, ending its attempt to narrow citizenship unilaterally. Changing it now would require a constitutional amendment, which no one in Congress has formally proposed.
StalledGovernment reform
Create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut trillions of dollars in wasteful federal spending.
Musk's initial $2 trillion target was cut to a $150 billion-a-year goal within his first few months running it, and he left the effort altogether by mid-2025. A Government Accountability Office audit released in August 2026 found DOGE's own 'Wall of Receipts' overstated its claimed $110 billion in savings and could not verify the great majority of the grant-cancellation savings it reviewed. DOGE no longer has centralized leadership as of late 2025, per federal personnel officials, though scattered modernization projects continue.
CompletedEnergy & environment
Withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement.
Signed as an executive order on Inauguration Day, 2025. The formal one-year withdrawal notice period under the agreement's own rules ran out in January 2026, making the exit final. It is the second time Trump has pulled the U.S. out of the accord, after doing the same in his first term.
CompletedPublic safety
Pardon those charged and convicted in connection with the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
Signed on Inauguration Day, granting clemency to roughly 1,500 people charged over Jan. 6, including some convicted of assaulting police officers. It was one of the fastest-delivered promises in this entire dataset, from either party.
CompletedTaxes & IRS
Make the 2017 tax cuts permanent and cut taxes further through a major reconciliation bill (the "One Big Beautiful Bill").
Signed into law July 4, 2025 after passing Congress by reconciliation with no Democratic votes. It permanently extends the 2017 individual tax brackets, adds new deductions for tips, overtime, seniors, and auto-loan interest, and raises the SALT cap. It is paired with cuts to Medicaid and SNAP that independent analyses project will leave many lower-income households worse off on net, even as most households see a tax cut.
In progressHealth care
Lower prescription drug prices by tying U.S. prices to the lowest price paid by other wealthy nations ("Most Favored Nation" pricing).
Signed as an executive order in May 2025. By April 2026 the administration had announced 17 separate pricing agreements with drugmakers, including Pfizer and Regeneron, covering a claimed 86% of the branded drug market, plus a TrumpRx.gov direct-purchase site. The deals are voluntary and company by company rather than one uniform rule, run for a limited term (about three years for some), and, per health-policy reporting, light on public detail about how the price cuts are calculated. The "Most Favored Nation" policy promised as a single economy-wide rule is still not in place.
In progressEnergy & environment
Declare a national energy emergency and "unleash" American oil and gas drilling.
Declared by executive order on Inauguration Day. The Interior Department reports federal drilling permits up roughly 55% and touts record domestic energy production; independent trade coverage confirms the permit surge but notes U.S. oil output was already near record levels before Trump took office, so how much of the increase reflects the emergency declaration versus a preexisting market trend is disputed.
In progressForeign policy
Broker a lasting peace deal to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
A 20-point "Board of Peace" framework and Hamas disarmament agreement were announced in late July 2026, which Trump called a "historic" and "monumental" breakthrough. Within days Israel said it would not withdraw troops until Hamas actually disarms, and fighting resumed, including Israeli strikes on Gaza in early August 2026. A real diplomatic framework exists, but on-the-ground implementation remains unresolved.
CompromiseTaxes & IRS
Eliminate federal taxes on Social Security benefits.
What passed is a temporary $6,000 deduction for filers 65 and older (2025–2028, phasing out above $75,000/$150,000 income) rather than an elimination of taxation on Social Security benefits — the underlying provision taxing benefits is unchanged. The administration says this eliminates SS-benefit tax liability for about 88% of current beneficiaries; the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and other analysts warn it accelerates Social Security trust fund depletion by roughly a year, since it reduces the revenue that benefit taxation feeds into the trust funds. Real, substantial relief for most current recipients — narrower and more temporary than the pledge as stated, and not free of tradeoffs.
CompromiseTechnology
Save TikTok from being banned in the United States.
The app has remained continuously available to U.S. users, which is what the promise most literally required — delivered via a first-day executive order and four subsequent extensions. But the underlying divest-or-ban law, unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court, permitted only one 90-day extension; the administration has issued five. Republican senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts said publicly there was "no legal basis" for the additional extensions, and National Review described the approach as flouting a bipartisan law upheld by the Court. A nonprofit sued the administration in 2026 over the continued non-enforcement. Kept in the narrow sense that TikTok stayed online; the legal mechanism used to keep it that way remains disputed, including within the president’s own party.
StalledEducation
Shut down the federal Department of Education and return schooling to the states.
Tracked separately from Sec. McMahon's own promise on this (see her entry) since the two are distinct commitments. Pursued through executive action and staffing reductions, but abolishing a cabinet department requires an act of Congress, which has not passed. In July 2026 the House Education and Workforce Committee advanced a package to codify the shift, but it still needs Senate Democratic votes to pass. Independent tracking places this among the roughly one-third of second-term promises stalled by congressional inaction.
In progressEnergy & environment
Roll back federal environmental and climate regulations.
The EPA’s February 2026 repeal of the 2009 "endangerment finding" — the legal foundation for most federal greenhouse-gas rules — is the single largest action here, eliminating vehicle emissions standards the agency says cost $1.3 trillion. Zeldin has called it the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history; health and environmental groups sued within days to block it, so it is being counted as in progress rather than completed pending that litigation.
CompromiseTaxes & IRS
Eliminate the federal income tax on overtime pay.
Same structure as the tips provision: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act created a deduction — up to $12,500 single/$25,000 joint — for the "premium" portion of overtime pay, through 2028 and phased out above $150,000/$300,000 income, not a blanket exemption. Nearly 20 million filers claimed it in the 2025 tax year per Treasury. Real relief, but narrower and shorter-lived than "eliminate the tax," and payroll taxes still apply.
CompletedForeign policy
Withdraw the United States from international organizations and agreements seen as harmful to U.S. interests.
Distinct from the Paris Agreement withdrawal (tracked separately). In January 2026, Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing withdrawal from 66 international organizations — 31 UN entities and 35 non-UN bodies — building on earlier 2025 exits from the World Health Organization and the UN Human Rights Council. Secretary of State Rubio called the bodies "wasteful" and "captured" by agendas contrary to U.S. interests. One of the more unambiguously delivered second-term promises, though critics argue it cedes influence in forums like UNESCO to China and the EU.
In progressHousing
Deliver the most aggressive housing reform plan in American history and make housing affordable again.
A mixed record so far. The headline idea — a 50-year mortgage — was floated in late 2025, drew immediate MAGA-aligned backlash over lifetime debt concerns, and FHFA Director Pulte signaled the administration was moving away from it by January 2026. What has advanced further: a January 2026 executive order restricting large institutional investors from buying single-family homes, which is now working through Congress as part of broader bipartisan housing legislation (the Housing for the 21st Century Act / ROAD to Housing Act) rather than standing alone. The White House points to falling mortgage rates and rising affordability indices as evidence of progress; the underlying supply shortage that drives most of the affordability crisis remains largely unaddressed.
CompletedTrade & economy
Tariff foreign-made automobiles to bring car manufacturing back to the U.S.
Proclamation invoking Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 imposed a 25% tariff on imported automobiles and auto parts starting April 2025 — a different legal authority than the broader "reciprocal" tariffs, so it survived the Supreme Court’s February 2026 ruling against those. CBS News reporting found the tariffs raising consumer prices by thousands of dollars per vehicle even for domestically-assembled cars, since no vehicle is built with 100% U.S. content; Commerce Secretary Lutnick has pointed to Ford’s move to end Lincoln imports from China as evidence the policy is working. The tariff itself is in place as promised; its net effect on reshoring versus consumer cost is genuinely disputed.
CompromiseGovernment reform
Direct the Justice Department to release the Epstein files in full.
Real disclosure at real scale: DOJ released hundreds of thousands of pages starting in early 2025 and, under a February 2026 letter, said "all" required files had been released, including a list of over 300 "politically exposed persons" named in them. That claim didn’t hold up on its own terms — a bipartisan House Oversight vote subpoenaed Bondi in March 2026 after continued pressure, and DOJ subsequently released previously-withheld documents including material describing an allegation against Trump himself, which oversight Democrats called evidence of an ongoing "cover-up" rather than completeness. The administration attributes gaps to victim-identifying redactions required by law, not concealment. Genuine, large-scale disclosure; whether it is actually complete remains contested and litigated in real time.