After a year of campaigning, hundreds of interviews, stadium
rallies, speeches and press conferences, it is still difficult to glean a
platform from the Republican nominee's powerfully incoherent rhetoric
and constantly evolving views.
Donald Trump changes his mind so frequently and
so dramatically that a compilation of his current policies would not
tell the whole story, nor would it be up to date for very long (he once
offered up three different views on abortion in eight hours). By mixing
facts with exaggerations and outright falsehoods in hundreds of
interviews while simultaneously refusing to offer specifics — insisting
that unpredictability is an advantage he'll use to cut better deals —
Trump and the Republican Party that's nominated him are putting forward
the most elusive presidential platform in modern history.
To wit: This list features 117 distinct policy
shifts on 20 major issues, tracking only his reversals since he
announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015
Consider the Muslim ban. Every time Trump and his team describes one of
his most polarizing and defining policy positions, it is couched
differently, making it impossible to determine how and to what degree
Trump would implement such a thing if elected president. Initially, it
was a full and complete ban on all Muslims; later, it was described as a
ban that excluded citizens, members of the U.S. military, and Trump's
good friends.
These days, it's often described a ban on Muslims and
people coming from countries with a history of terrorism —
more than a third of the world,
including major U.S. allies like France. In late July, Trump said he
hadn't actually limited his initial ban — he'd expanded it — but just
didn't want to say it was about Muslims. Meanwhile, his campaign insists
that the policy has not changed at all.
Many of the policies the candidate has put forward conflict with the
party's own platform, leaving supporters and down-ballot candidates to
do verbal gymnastics around them in order to present a unified front
behind their candidate. Take Trump's flip-flop on how to approach the
national debt. A desire to rapidly pay down the national debt is one of
the only issues the divided Republican Party can agree on, but their
nominee made a bold argument for prioritizing infrastructure investment
over the debt this spring, though he later changed his mind on that too.
"You have to have a certain degree of
flexibility," the nominee said in a March debate when confronted on his
evolving policy platform, taking a stance on immigration he'd reverse
hours later. "You can't say, it's OK, and then you find out it's not OK
and you don't want to do anything. You have to be flexible, because you
learn."
In order to better understand what the
Republican Party nominee believes today — and yesterday — this list
offers a look at the billionaire real estate mogul's views since he
announced his candidacy a year ago, along with any explanation the
candidate has offered on the changes.
IMMIGRATION
1. Build a wall, deport all undocumented immigrants.
Trump's campaign began with a
promise to build a wall across the United States' southern border and deport the country's 11 million undocumented immigrant.
2. Deport all undocumented immigrants but bring the 'good' ones back legally.
In a CNN interview in July
2015, Trump said, "I want to move them out, and we're going to move
them back in and let them be legal, but they have to be in here
legally."
3. Build the wall, deport criminals, triple the number of ICE officers, end birthright citizenship.
In August 2015, Trump released a detailed, sprawling
immigration plan
that included a wide variety of ideas: Build the wall, make Mexico pay
for it, deport criminal aliens, enhance penalties for overstaying visas,
triple the number of ICE officers, pause immigration to try and employ
unemployed Americans, cut worker visas and more. Trump's plan didn't
detail how he'd enact most of his proposals, or how he'd pay for them.
He's walked back or modified much of it since.
4. Use a deportation force to implement policy.
In November 2015, Trump said he'd use a mass deportation force in order to remove the 11 million people.
"You're going to have a deportation force. And your going to do it humanely," Trump said in November on MSNBC.
5. Trump might be flexible on actually deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants.
BuzzFeed reported in February 2016 that in off-the-record talks with
The New York Times,
Trump admitted this was just bluster and a starting point for
negotiations, saying he might not deport the undocumented immigrants as
he's promised. Trump has refused calls to release the transcript,
despite furious requests from his rival candidates.
6. Deport undocumented immigrants, but don't call it "mass deportations."
"President Obama has mass deported vast numbers
of people — the most ever, and it's never reported. I think people are
going to find that I have not only the best policies, but I will have
the biggest heart of anybody," Trump told Bloomberg News in June 2016
when pressed about his immigration policies.
When asked more about how he'd characterize the
deportations at the center of his immigration policy, Trump said he
"would not call it mass deportations."
7. A deportation force is "TBD."
Trump's newly hired campaign manager dodged
questions on the deportation force in August 2016 before saying that Trump's much-talked about deportation force from the primary was "to be determined."
8. "I'm gonna do the same" as past presidents.
Trump championed President Obama's immigration
strategy — deporting criminals first — in an interview with Fox News on
Monday, August 22 when asked about how he'd deport 11 million illegal
immigrants. He declined to answer questions of how he'd handle those who
aren't criminals.
9. I'm open to "softening."
The next day, Trump told attendees of a town
hall hosted by Fox News in Texas that he was open to "softening" laws to
help immigrants already living in the United States peacefully.
However, he followed that by saying that those who had overstayed visas —
one of the key ways undocumented immigrants get into the U.S. — had to
leave. "You have to get them out. You have to get them out," Trump said.
It's unclear what or how he's softening his policy.
10. "There's no amnesty" but "we work with them."
In an interview with Fox News'
Sean Hannity that aired Wednesday, August 24, Trump outlined an
immigration plan that sounded an awful lot like the kind of path to
legalization championed by Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio — the very
people Trump excoriated for weak immigration plans while he campaigned
on a promise of mass deportations.
"No citizenship. Let me go a step further —
they'll pay back-taxes, they have to pay taxes, there's no amnesty, as
such, there's no amnesty, but we work with them," Trump said.
11. Deport "criminal illegal immigrants" within one hour of being sworn in.
Trump worked to sound strong on illegal
immigration at an event in Iowa on Saturday, August 27 — even if he was
simply presenting a warp-speed version of current policy.
"On day one, I am going to begin swiftly removing criminal illegal immigrants from this country," he
said. "We are going to get rid of the criminals, and it will happen within one hour" of being sworn in.
Trump did not discuss how he would approach the
millions of other undocumented immigrants, nor did he explain how he
could accomplish implementing current policy so quickly.
12. What's the plan again?
On Sunday, August 28, three Trump surrogates
took to the airwaves to insist that Trump's immigration plan hadn't
changed. But their answers on what that plan actually was — and is —
only added to the confusion.
Running mate Gov. Mike Pence said there would be
no path to citizenship, while Gov. Chris Christie said there would be
no legalization at all. Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway dodged
answering the question completely — simply saying he'd be humane.
"The question is what to do," she said.
13. A deportation force is not currently being discussed.
Conway built on her interview from a week ago
when she said a deportation force was to be decided by saying it wasn't
presently being discussed.
"He is not talking about a deportation force," she said.
14. The plan — whatever the plan is — has never changed.
"Absolutely consistent," said Pence.
"Completely consistent," said Christie.
"Pretty consistent," said Conway.
15. Deport all undocumented immigrants in due time, using a deportation force.
Two more surrogates muddled Trump's immigration policy on Tuesday.
Son Donald Trump, Jr. told CNN on August 30 that his father hoped to deport everyone.
"That's been the same, correct. But again, you
have to start with baby steps. You have to let ICE do their job, you
have to eliminate sanctuary cities, you have to get rid of the criminals
certainly first and foremost, you have to secure the border. These are
common sense things, Anderson," he said.
Meanwhile, Trump surrogate Jack Kingston told
MSNBC that a deportation force "is part of it. We are going to learn
more Wednesday."
16. Don't worry, hardliners. There's no amnesty and Mexico will pay!
In a speech in Phoenix on September 1 Trump
eased base concerns and re-upped his harsh immigration rhetoric by
insisting that he would create a deportation task force, and there would
be no "amnesty."
Mere hours after meeting with the Mexican
president who later said he'd told Trump that Mexico wouldn't pay for
the wall, Trump reiterated that he still planned to make Mexico pay for
the wall.
17. But "there's really quite a bit of softening."
Later the day, Trump was
pressed by conservative commentator Laura Ingraham about what had
happened to "the softening" of his policy. He said "there's softening,"
but didn't indicate what, exactly, was softening.
"Look, we do it in a very humane way, and we're
going to see with the people that are in the country. Obviously I want
to get the gang members out, the drug peddlers out, I want to get the
drug dealers out. We've got a lot of people in this country that you
can't have, and those people we'll get out," Trump said. "And then we're
going to make a decision at a later date once everything is stabilized
... I think you're going to see there's really quite a bit of
softening."
18. I won't rule out a path to citizenship.
Asked September 6 if he'd rule out a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, Trump declined.
"I'm not ruling out anything," Trump said. "We're going to make that decision into the future. OK?"
Current position: Trump says he
will deport millions, but he has not ruled out creating a pathway to
citizenship. Despite immigration being the GOP nominee's signature
issue, his policy position is still extremely unclear.
YOUNG UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS AND CHILDREN OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
1. Dreamers can maybe stay.
Trump wavered on what to do with the Dreamers —
young undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country by their
parents as children who are now afforded limited protection from
deportation via the DREAM Act but no path to citizenship.
When asked if Dreamers would have to go back, he said, "It depends."
2. Nope, they can't stay.
By August 2015, that ambiguity was gone: "They have to go," he said on "Meet the Press."
3. End birthright citizenship.
Trump first proposed ending the 14th Amendment —
the Constitutional provision that grants citizenship to those born in
the country — last August. This is something few in his party agree on,
and it's even more unclear how it would be applied: Does it apply to
children of mixed status parents, where one parent is illegal? Or simply
those with two undocumented immigrant parents? Would he revoke the
citizenship of the estimated 4.5 million children born to illegal
immigrants already here?
The Trump campaign did not answer questions from reporters
at the time.
3. "American children" also deserve dreams.
"Where is the sanctuary for American children?" Trump asked during a late August rally while alluding Dreamers.
"The dreamers we never talk about are the young
Americans. Why aren't young Americans dreamers also? I want my dreamers
to be young Americans," he said, offering up a rhetorical device in
place of policy.
Current position: Deport children benefiting for the DREAM Act and repeal the 14th Amendment to end birthright citizenship.
PROPOSED MUSLIM BAN
1. No Muslims should be allowed to enter the United States —as immigrants or visitors.
Donald Trump called for "a total and complete
shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" in a statement about
"preventing Muslim immigration" in December.
2. Ban Muslims from entering but make an exception for friends and Muslims serving in the US military.
He later amended his stance in an interview with
Fox News, saying the 5,000 Muslims serving the United States military
would be exempt from the ban and allowed to return home from overseas
deployments. He also suggested that current Muslim residents — like his
"many Muslim friends" — would be exempt, too, and able to come and go
freely.
3. The Muslim ban was just an suggestion.
"We have a serious problem, and it's a temporary
ban - it hasn't been called for yet, nobody's done it, this is just a
suggestion until we find out what's going on," Trump said on in mid-May,
softening for the first time in months on the ban.
4. Ban Muslims as a matter of policy, as well as people from countries with a history of terrorism.
In a national security address after the terror
attack in Orlando, Trump said that if he's elected he would "suspend
immigration from areas of the world where there's a proven history of
terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies until we fully
understand how to end these threats."
5. Ban people from countries with a history of terrorism.
When a reporter asked Trump how he'd feel about a
Muslim Scot entering the U.S. while on a trip to visit his golf courses
in Scotland, Trump said it "wouldn't bother me." He then went on to
emphasize that he did not want "people coming in from the terror
countries." When asked, Trump would not name one such country.
6. Ban Muslims from countries with a history of terrorism, and potentially also other Muslims.
That same day, when pressed about how this
statement in Scotland jived with Trump's proposal to ban all Muslims
from entering the country, spokesman Hope Hicks said that the ban would
just apply to Muslims from countries with a history of terrorism. She
would not, however, confirm that Muslims residing in peaceful countries
would be exempt. NBC News has asked for further clarification.
7. The Muslim ban was never about Muslims.
The next week, one spokesperson wrongly said the initial ban was not about Muslims.
"I know the news media has been reporting that
the initial ban was against all Muslims, and that simply was not the
case. It's simply for Muslim immigration, and Mr. Trump is adding
specifics to clarify what his position is," Katrina Pierson told CNN,
though advisers at the time said it
was indeed about religion exclusively.
8. Nothing has changed, nothing to see here.
"This is not accurate," spokesperson Hope Hicks
said when asked if the policies were changing and removing the word
"Muslim." "There has been no change from the exchanges over the
weekend."
9. The ban is negotiable.
Campaign manager Paul Manafort in late May said
the Muslim ban was negotiable, and how Trump initially articulated it
was not what it would turn out in the end. Manafort said the policy is
currently that "where there is terrorist activity — Syria or Iraq — we
will temporarily suspend immigration until we can establish a vetting
system in which we can identify who people are who are coming in."
The government already has a rigorous,
nine-step vetting process
in place for refugees. Trump has previously included all Syrian
refugees, including children and non-Muslims, in the ban.
10. The ban would call for "extreme vetting."
Mid July,
Trump told
"60 Minutes" that people from suspicious "territories" would receive "a
thing called 'extreme vetting.'" He did not describe how "extreme
vetting" would differ from the current vetting process.
"Call it whatever you want," Trump told CBS when asked if he was changing his previously released policy.
11. The ban hasn't changed, I just don't like saying the word "Muslim."
On Fox News
in late July, Trump told Sean Hannity his position hadn't changed from his initial ban on Muslims entering the country.
"I think my position's gotten bigger, I'm
talking about territories now. People don't want me to say Muslim—I
guess I'd prefer not saying it, frankly, myself. So we're talking about
territories."
12. There's a ban, plus "extreme vetting" that includes an ideological test.
"The time is overdue to develop a new screening
test for the threats we face today," Trump said in a speech in
mid-August that reiterated his call for "extreme vetting" and reiterated
that he'd temporarily ban immigration from some countries that he
declined to identify.
He then proposed an ideological test for immigration.
"In addition to screening out all members or
sympathizers of terrorist groups, we must also screen out any who have
hostile attitudes toward our country or its principles ― or who believe
that Sharia law should supplant American law," he said.
13. There's no way to really do an ideological test.
"We don't know if they have love or hate in
their heart," Trump said in September, articulating the problem many
onlookers have expressed about his ban. "There's no way to tell."
13. Only people who love America are allowed.
Later, despite acknowledging the impossibility
of the task, Trump maintained that an ideological test is key to the
nation's immigration system.
"We want to make sure we're only admitting those
into our country who support our values and love - and I mean love -
our people," he said.
Current position: Without
disavowing his past positions, we have to assume Trump's plan will ban
all Muslims, plus people from countries with a history of terrorism and
people who have hostile attitudes towards America. Trump's plan would
admit only people who love America, through Trump himself has indicated
that he knows that "there's no way to tell" such a thing.
WHETHER PRESIDENT OBAMA WAS BORN IN AMERICA
1. I don't know.
"I really don't know. I mean, I don't know why
he wouldn't release his records. But you know, honestly, I don't want to
get into it,"
Trump said
in July 2015, asked about his inaccurate, years-long insistence that
the president wasn't born in the United States. (President Obama had
released
his long form birth certificate in 2011.)
2. I don't want to answer the question.
"I don't talk about that anymore," Trump said on
MSNBC in December 2015 in response to a question about whether or not
he believed President Obama was born in the United States.
3. I'll explain my theory one day.
"Who knows [if Obama is a natural-born citizen]?
Who knows? Who cares right now? We're talking about something else, OK?
I'm going to have my own theory on Obama. Someday I'll write a book,
I'll do another book that will do successfully," Trump said in January
2016.
4. I'll only answer that question at the "right time."
"I'll answer that question at the right time," Trump said in mid-September of 2016. "I just don't want to answer it yet."
5.
The president was born in the United States. "Period."
"President Barack Obama was born in the United
States, period," Trump said after a lengthy press conference boasting
his new hotel and veteran support.
6. But she started it.
In his dismissal of the conspiracy theory he'd championed, Trump inaccurately said that Clinton started the conspiracy theory.
7. I only said it to "get on" with the campaign
Asked what changed to prompt his reversal after
nurturing a conspiracy theory for five years, Trump said he acknowledged
the president's birthplace to "get on with — I wanted to get on with
the campaign."
Current position: Trump said he believes Obama was born in the United States after promoting the opposite view for years for political gain.
DEFEATING ISIS
1. Maybe send troops in. Definitely go after the oil fields.
In Trump's first interview after announcing his
bid, he signaled that he'd both send in ground troops to Iraq and not
send in ground troops.
"You bomb the hell out of them, and then you
encircle it, and then you go in," he told Bill O'Reilly, who remarked
that the plan necessitated ground forces. "I disagree, I say that you
can defeat ISIS by taking their wealth — their wealth is the oil."
2. Bomb the oil fields. Send some troops in.
On CNN, Trump said, "I would bomb the hell out
of those oil fields. I wouldn't send many troops because you won't need
them by the time I'm finished."
3. Send troops to defeat ISIS. Don't forget about the oil fields.
In a single August interview on NBC's "Meet the Press,"
he offered three solutions for what to do with the oil field profits:
keep them, give them to veterans and their families, or, when pressed,
perhaps give some to the Iraqi people.
Months later, in a March debate,
Trump ballparked the number of troops he would need to send in to defeat ISIS.
"We really have no choice, we have to knock out
ISIS," Trump said. "I would listen to the generals, but I'm hearing
numbers of 20,000-30,000."
4. I've got this! I know more than the generals.
"I know more about ISIS than the generals do," Trump said in November in Iowa. "Believe me."
5. Destroy the oil. Let our regional allies send ground troops. If they don't, stop buying their oil.
In a foreign-policy focused interview with the
New York Times published March 26, Trump said that the U.S. should
"take" ISIS' oil, but then said the U.S. should "knock the hell out of
the oil and do it because it's a primary source of money for ISIS."
Trump also ruled out sending in U.S. troops, saying that other countries
in the region — "regional Arab partners" such as Saudi Arabia — should
provide the ground troops. If these countries did not, the United States
would stop buying their oil and withhold "protection" in the region.
6. Declare war, send in some troops.
"We're going to declare war against ISIS. We have to wipe out ISIS," Trump said
in his first interview
with running mate Gov. Mike Pence. "I am going to have very few troops
on the ground. We're going to have unbelievable intelligence, which we
need; which, right now, we don't have. We don't have the people over
there."
Trump said he'd involve NATO, despite the fact
that he has said the U.S. should withdraw from NATO, and the surrounding
states, as well. He added that Hillary Clinton created ISIS. (
PolitiFact deemed this statement to be false.)
7. I'm going to ask the generals.
Months after saying he knew more than the
generals, Trump said in early September that he'd ask them to map out a
plan for defeating ISIS.
"Immediately after taking office, I will ask my
generals to present to me a plan within 30 days to defeat and destroy
ISIS," he said. "This will require military warfare, but also cyber
warfare, financial warfare, and ideological warfare."
8. He's got a plan, and he'll tell you if asked.
"I've heard it," Trump campaign manager
Kellyanne Conway said on MSNBC. "He'll tell you if that question is
asked. He'll be happy to offer specifics without telling the enemy
exactly what we're going to do."
Current position: It's still unclear what Trump's plan to defeat ISIS is.
MINIMUM WAGE
1. Against raising the minimum wage. Jobs would move to China.
During the thick of the primaries, Trump
repeatedly argued that raising the minimum would move jobs to countries
like China. Speaking in the cold language of a businessman looking at
his bottom line, Trump even seemed to indicate overall American wages,
regardless of the law, were too generous already.
"Taxes too high, wages too high, we're not going
to be able to compete against the world," Trump said in a November
debate hosted by Fox Business. Trump
clarified afterwards
that he did not believe American wages were too high, but he did make
crystal clear he was fundamentally opposed to a minimum wage increase.
2. Wages should be raised through economic growth.
Trump in an interview with CNBC in May said he
would prefer to try to raise wages through economic growth. His abrupt
move toward a possible increase that he opposed in tough terms is a
significant general election shift.
3. Raise the minimum wage.
"I am looking at it, and I haven't decided in
terms of numbers. But I think people have to get more," Trump said on
ABC on May 8, acknowledging that his statement was a shift when pressed.
"Sure, it's a change. I'm allowed to change," he
said. "But my real minimum wage is going to be — I'm going to bring
companies back into this country, and they're going to make a lot more
than the $15 even."
4. Get rid of the federal minimum wage, leave it to the states.
On NBC on the same day, Trump said more specifically that he wanted states to mandate wages.
"Let me just tell you, I've been traveling the
country for many months. Since June 16, I'm all over," he said. "I have
seen what's going on. And I don't know how people make it on $7.25 an
hour. Now, with that being said, I would like to see an increase of some
magnitude. But I'd rather leave it to the states. Let the states
decide. Because don't forget, the states have to compete with each
other."
5. I want to increase it!
In a May 11 tweet criticizing Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Trump argued that he was "asking for increase" of the federal minimum wage.
6. States should change it, but it will hurt them.
"I actually think that the states should make
the decision," Trump said in an interview with a Seattle radio station,
but argued that "In some cases, states are going to become
noncompetitive, and they're going to start losing maybe jobs and losing
business, and they're going to have to readjust. Otherwise, they're just
not going to have anything."
7. Let's make it $10 dollars an hour.
As the Washington Post notes, Trump's
shift here are lengthy and significant: He says he would support
raising it to $10 an hour, argues he never wanted to abolish the federal
minimum wage, which he did.
8. It should go up, but states should call the shots here.
In a June news conference, Trump said "the
minimum wage has to go up. People are — at least $10, but it has to go
up. But I think that states — federal — I think that states should
really call the shot."
Current position: Raise it to $10 an hour, ignore what I said before.
TAXES
1. The wealthy should pay more.
"I would take carried interest out, and I would
let people making hundreds of millions of dollars a year pay some tax,
because right now they are paying very little tax and I think it's
outrageous," Trump
told Bloomberg last August, noting that he'd be OK paying more taxes. "I want to lower taxes for the middle class."
2. Cut taxes for the wealthy big time.
In September, Trump released a plan that
silenced anti-tax critics with a proposal that slashed taxes for the
wealthy by making the top marginal tax rate 25 percent. He radically
simplified the tax plan by proposing just three brackets, 10 percent, 20
percent, and 25 percent. A whopping 67 percent of the overall cost of
his individual tax cuts would go to the top 20 percent of earners, while
35 percent of it would go to the top 1 percent, according to the Tax
Policy Center's analysis.
His plan is estimated to cut $10 trillion in tax
revenue, which would be added to the national debt and deficit over a
decade (more on Trump's flip-flopping position on paying off the
national debt below). It's unclear how Trump would pay for such drastic
cuts, but Trump insisted he could do it by offering the vague promise of
striking better deals and cutting government waste.
3. People like me should pay more.
Trump was asked again in April during a "TODAY"
town hall if he believed in raising taxes on the wealthy. Despite the
big tax cuts for the wealthy outlined in his own tax plan, he said:
"I do, I do, including myself. I do."
In a series of interviews in early May, he
claimed that his tax proposal was a starting point for negotiations and
the taxes on the rich would go up.
On Sunday, May 8, Trump told ABC that taxes on
the wealthy would "go up a little bit" in negotiations and that, as a
wealthy person himself, he is personally OK with higher taxes. "I am
willing to pay more. And you know what? Wealthy are willing to pay more.
We've had a very good run," he said.
He told NBC's Chuck Todd something similar: It's all negotiable.
"Under my proposal, it's the biggest tax cut by
far, of any candidate by far. But I'm not under the illusion that that's
going to pass. They're going to come to me. They're going to want to
raise it for the rich. Frankly, they're going to want to raise it for
the rich more than anybody else," Trump said. "But the middle class has
to be protected. The rich is probably going to end up paying more. And
business might have to pay a little bit more. But we're giving a massive
business tax cut."
Pressed on that last, confusing point - that
business might pay more but also get a tax cut - Trump said he meant
more than his existing proposal: "Excuse me. I said they might have to
pay a little bit more than my proposal."
He didn't offer such a qualification for the wealthy until the next day.
4. I never said that! Cut everyone's taxes!
On Monday, May 9, he went on CNN to refute what he'd said the day before.
"I said that I may have to increase on the
wealthy — I'm not going to allow it to be increased on the middle class —
now, if I increase it on the wealthy, that means they're still going to
be paying less than they're paying now. I'm not increasing it from this
point, I'm talking about increasing from my tax proposal," Trump told
CNN, insisting that overall there would be a tax decrease for the rich
and middle class alike.
5. Maybe don't slash taxes by $10 trillion — slash taxes by $3 trillion, instead.
Trump senior economic adviser Larry Kudlow said
Wednesday at an RNC event that the tax plan had been revised to only
slash taxes by $3 trillion — a third of what was initially proposed —
and lower the top individual tax rate to between 30-33 percent, up from
the 25 percent initially proposed but below the current top tax rate of
39.6 percent. The campaign did not confirm this.
6. Scrap the earlier plan entirely. Here are new tax brackets.
Trump took his earlier tax plan offline before a
major economic policy address in early August, where he hiked his
initially proposed tax brackets from 10 percent, 20 percent and 25
percent to 12 percent, 25 percent and 33 percent. These brackets more
closely mimic his party's past views on taxes.
7. Maybe ditch, maybe keep a $1 trillion tax cut for small businesses (depending on who is asking).
Trump publicly backed
away from a trillion-dollar tax cut aimed at small businesses in order
to optimistically claim that his tax plan won't add to the debt. But his
campaign privately told a leading small business group he'd keep it.
His campaign then reiterated to the Tax
Foundation, a nonpartisan group that analyzes tax plans, that he'd
definitely get rid of it, according to a
report by the New York Times on what they called a "trillion-dollar lie."
Current position: Despite
Trump's frequent talk about helping working people, his tax plan so far
seems to mostly benefit the wealthy. It's unclear whether or not his
plan will include that small business tax cut.
VOTING FOR THE IRAQ WAR
1. Clinton voted for the war, so she has bad judgment.
Trump slammed Clinton in late June for her vote authorizing the invasion of Iraq.
"It all started with her bad judgment in
supporting the War in Iraq in the first place. Though I was not in
government service, I was among the earliest to criticize the rush to
war, and yes, even before the war ever started," he falsely stated in
his June 22 speech. (There is no evidence he opposed the invasion, but there is ample evidence that he supported it.)
2. It doesn't matter, people make mistakes.
Pressed on his running mate Pence's vote for the
Iraq war in an interview on 60 Minutes, Trump said in July he didn't
"care" because "it's a long time ago, and he voted that way and they
were also misled."
"He's entitled to make a mistake every once in a
while," Trump declared, telling CBS' Lesley Stahl of Clinton that "no,
she's not" allowed to make a mistake herself.
Current position: It's OK that Trump's running mate voted for the Iraq war, but it's not OK that Clinton did.
GUNS
1. Get rid of gun-free zones
In a speech at the National Rifle Association
convention on May 20, where Trump was endorsed by the country's most
powerful gun group, Trump promised again to do away with gun-free zones,
which include schools and military bases. At a campaign stop in
Vermont, he had previously vowed to get rid of gun-free zones on his
"first day."
2. No guns in classrooms, except maybe some guns in classrooms.
In an interview on May 22, the presumptive nominee advocated against, and then for, and then against, and then for guns in classrooms.
"I don't want to have guns in classrooms,
although in some cases, teachers should have guns in classrooms,
frankly," Trump said, offering up two distinct views in an interview
days after he was endorsed the NRA. "Because teachers, you know — things
that are going on in our schools are unbelievable."
3. I'm not advocating for guns in classrooms, but wait, yes I am.
Trump walked back his view that teachers should have guns a second later, then reiterated that some teachers should have guns.
"I'm not advocating guns in classrooms," he
continued. "But remember, in some cases … trained teachers should be
able to have guns in classrooms."
4. Let's put trained gunmen in schools.
Forty-eight hours later, Trump sought to clarify
his muddled remarks, saying he wanted "school resource officers" to
have guns in schools while slamming rival Hillary Clinton's criticism of
his stance.
"The way she said it meant like every student should be sitting there carrying guns," Trump said on CNN
on May 24. "If trained people had guns, you wouldn't have the carnage that you've had."
5. We should only get rid of some gun-free zones.
While he decried gun-free zones as "offering up
candy to bad people," he backed away from axing all of them, telling CNN
in the May 24 interview that they would only be eliminated "in some
cases."
6. More guns would save lives.
Trump has repeatedly said that he wished there were other armed individuals present during terror attacks to fight back.
"I think it would've been a lot better if they
had guns in that room, somebody could protect," Trump said after the San
Bernardino shooting in December. "They could've protected themselves if
they had guns."
In the wake of the deadly shooting in Orlando, Florida at a gay nightclub in June, Trump reiterated this view.
"It's too bad that some of the young people that
were killed over the weekend didn't have guns, you know, attached to
their hips, frankly, and you know where bullets could have flown in the
opposite direction," he said on the "Howie Carr Show" on June 13, one
day after the attack. "It would have been a much different deal. I mean,
it sounded like there were no guns. They had a security guard. Other
than that there were no guns in the room. Had people been able to fire
back, it would have been a much different outcome."
(Despite Trump's assertions, there was an armed guard at the club who tried to stop the gunman, but he was unable to do so.)
At a rally in Atlanta on June 15, Trump declared
that the outcome would have been different if "some of those great
people that were in that club that night had guns strapped to their
waist or strapped to their ankle."
7. I didn't actually mean arming clubgoers.
After he spent a week advocating for arming more
of the victims (who were predominantly clubgoers, in addition to
several club employees), Trump tweeted on June 20 that he didn't mean he
wanted to arm clubgoers. Trump changed his stance just hours after the
National Rifle Association pushed back against the idea of allowing
people to bring weapons into nightclubs.
"I was obviously talking about additional guards or employees," Trump
tweeted.
Current position: More guns are better, though the details are murky and evolving on how many gun-free zones would be abolished.
2011 INTERVENTION IN LIBYA
1. The intervention in Libya by the U.S.-led coalition was a terrible idea.
Asked in October 2015 if he felt the Middle East
would be more stable with Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi and Iraq's
authoritarian leader Saddam Hussein still in power, Trump told NBC News'
Chuck Todd, "Of course it would be. You wouldn't have had your Benghazi
situation, which is one thing which was just a terrible situation…But
of course, it would. Libya is — is not even — nobody even knows what's
goin' on over there. It's not even a country anymore."
A few weeks later, he was pressed again on CNN
to say whether he felt the two leaders of brutal regimes should have
been left in power.
"100 percent," Trump said. "I mean, look at
Libya. Look at Iraq. Iraq used to be no terrorists. [Hussein] would kill
the terrorists immediately, which is like now it's the Harvard of
terrorism."
He continued: "If you look at Iraq from years
ago, I'm not saying he was a nice guy, he was a horrible guy, but it was
a lot better than it is right now. Right now, Iraq is a training ground
for terrorists. Right now, Libya, nobody even knows Libya - frankly,
there is no Iraq and there is no Libya. It's all broken up. They have no
control. Nobody knows what's going on."
2. I've never offered a different opinion on Libya.
When then-rival Sen. Ted Cruz brought up Trump's
2011 support for the intervention, which Trump offered at the time via a
video blog, during a February debate, Trump denied having ever
supported Gadhafi's ouster.
"He said I was in favor in Libya," he said. "I
never discussed that subject. I was in favor of Libya? We would be so
much better off if Gadhafi would be in charge right now."
3. I guess I did support an intervention.
When CBS actually played the video of Trump
discussing the subject — and supporting an intervention — in front of
Trump in early June 2016, the presumptive nominee changed his mind and
acknowledged the past video.
"That's a big difference from what we're talking
about," Trump said. "I was for something, but I wasn't for what we have
right now."
4. I wanted a surgical intervention, not a "strong" intervention.
When pressed during the CBS interview, Trump said he was for "surgical" intervention, not a "strong intervention."
"I didn't mind surgical. And I said surgical.
You do a surgical shot, and you take him out. But I wasn't for what
happened. Look at the way - I mean, look at with Benghazi and with all
of the problems that we've had. It was handled horribly," he said.
"I think since then you've said you were never for intervention, so it's confusing," CBS's John Dickerson countered.
"I was never for strong intervention. I could have seen surgical where you take out Gadhafi and his group," Trump responded.
Current position: As Trump put it, "I was for something, but I wasn't for what we have right now."
JAPAN AND NUKES
1. Japan should have nuclear weapons.
In March, Trump said the U.S. should reconsider
its policy of not allowing Japan to have nuclear weapons. He reiterated
that view in April.
"It's not like, gee whiz, nobody has them. So,
North Korea has nukes. Japan has a problem with that. I mean, they have a
big problem with that. Maybe they would in fact be better off if they
defend themselves from North Korea,"
Trump said on Fox News in April.
Host Chris Wallace followed up, asking, "With nukes?"
"Including with nukes, yes, including with nukes," Trump said.
2. I never said that!
But at a Sacramento rally in June, Trump accused
Clinton of lying when she repeated his view as an example of his
unfitness when it comes to matters of national security.
Clinton "made a speech, she's making another one
tomorrow, and they sent me a copy of the speech. And it was such lies
about my foreign policy, that they said I want Japan to get nuclear
weapons. Give me a break," Trump said. "See they don't say it: I want
Japan and Germany and Saudi Arabia and South Korea and many of the NATO
states, nations, they owe us tremendously, we're taking care of all
those people and what I want them to do is pay up."
Current position: It's unclear
whether Trump would reverse U.S. policy to allow Japan to have nuclear
weapons, but it's clear Trump doesn't like being reminded of positions
he took eight weeks ago
CLIMATE CHANGE
1. I don't believe in it.
"I don't believe in climate change," he told CNN
in September after
a long history of calling it both a hoax and a Chinese invention to
undermine U.S. business interests. In May 2016, he vowed to "renegotiate
… at a minimum" the Paris climate agreement, one of the Obama
administration's landmark achievements.
2. Global warming is threatening one of my golf courses.
A statement of environmental impact filed by the
Trump International Golf Links & Hotel Ireland, owned by the
presumptive Republican nominee, cited rising sea levels and extreme
weather due to global warming as the reason the company needed to build a
seawall to protect its coastal resort,
Politico reported Monday. The sea wall is necessary protect the course from "global warming and its effects."
Current position: Global warming isn't real, unless it's threatening a Trump property.
NATIONAL DEBT
1. Get rid of the national debt in 8 years.
On March 31, Trump told the Washington Post that
the country needed to eliminate the national debt and that he could do
it "fairly quickly" without raising taxes.
"I would say over a period of eight years," he
said, arguing he could do it simply by renegotiating the country's trade
deals. "I'm renegotiating all of our deals, Bob. The big trade deals
that we're doing so badly on. With China, $505 billion this year in
trade. We're losing with everybody."
2. Only pay down a little. Invest in infrastructure first.
Three weeks later, he told Fortune "you could
pay off a percentage of it" in a decade but he wouldn't advise being too
aggressive because the country's infrastructure needs to be rebuilt and
it's a good time to borrow.
"It depends on how aggressive you want to be.
I'd rather not be so aggressive," he said. "Don't forget: We have to
rebuild the infrastructure of our country. We have to rebuild our
military, which is being decimated by bad decisions. We have to do a lot
of things. We have to reduce our debt, and the best thing we have going
now is that interest rates are so low that lots of good things can be
done that aren't being done, amazingly."
It's an argument progressive liberal economists like Paul Krugman
could have (and actually have) made. Not only is it far from his original position, it's far from his party's view on the issue.
3. Pay off the debt by getting America's creditors to accept less.
Despite the U.S. economy being fundamentally
grounded in its ability to borrow at very low interest rates, Trump told
CNBC that he would negotiate with creditors to get them to accept less
than the full amount owed.
"I would borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal," Trump said.
Experts
say this idea is pure fantasy,
no matter how good Trump's deal-making skills are. In addition to
imperiling the economy, the proposal could also be unconstitutional.
4. Don't worry about it — the U.S. can't default because we "print the money."
A week after suggesting that he could get U.S.
creditors to accept less than the full amount, Trump defended his stance
on CNN by calling himself "the king of debt" and railing against
publications that reported his earlier proposal.
"People said I want to go and buy debt and
default on debt, and I mean, these people are crazy. This is the United
States government," he said on CNN on May 9." "First of all, you never
have to default because you print the money, I hate to tell you, OK?"
He then advocated for buying back some of the
government's debt at a discount, using interest rates to save the
country money. It's a strategy that works may work for businesses but
would be more difficult, if not impossible for the U.S. government,
economists told the Washington Post.
"I understand debt better than probably anybody.
I know how to deal with debt very well. I love debt — but you know,
debt is tricky and it's dangerous, and you have to be careful and you
have to know what you're doing," Trump said.
5. I won't try to renegotiate the national debt.
"We have to start chopping that debt down,"
Trump told CBS in June. "I wouldn't renegotiate the debt. I'd negotiate,
if I do a deal in a corporation, as an example, and if the economy goes
bad, I'll oftentimes renegotiate that debt. But that's a different
thing. That's just a corporate thing. And other people like me, very big
people in the world of business, they do that."
6. Take out new loans and pay back debt with new debt.
"I think it could be a good time to borrow and
pay off debt, borrow debt, make longer-term debt," he said in the same
June CBS interview.
7. My plans are deficit neutral.
"It will be deficit neutral," Trump said of his
economic plan released in September. "It will be accomplished through a
complete overhaul of our tax, regulatory, energy and trade policies."
8. Maybe borrow $10 trillion.
One of Trump's advisers echoed the skepticism
many had of Trump's plans: that it would cost a lot more than Trump's
tax plan would bring in.
Tom Barrack, an advisor, said Trump's policies
would increase the national debt by $10 trillion -- money the nation
would have to borrow to accomplish Trump's plans.
Current position: "Chop" the national debt using an approach that is still unclear. Maybe borrow $10 trillion
ABORTION
1. Criminalize women who have abortions.
Though Trump said in 1999 that he was "very
pro-choice," Trump has consistently claimed that he's against abortion,
except for in cases of rape, incest, or to save the mother's life, since
starting his bid last June.
But during an exclusive interview with MSNBC's
Chris Matthews just after 1 p.m., Trump struggled to define his views on
abortion aside from describing himself as "pro-life." When continually
pressed for how he'd handle women who violated a theoretical ban on
abortion, Trump said the "answer is that there has to be some form of
punishment, yeah."
2. Let the states decide what to do about criminalizing abortion.
At 3:36 p.m., Trump put out a statement saying
the issue is "unclear and should be put back into the states for
determination."
3. Never mind. Don't punish the women.
He fully walked back his position that women
should be punished for violating a theoretical abortion ban 80 minutes
later, releasing a statement saying "the doctor or any other person
performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally
responsible, not the woman. The woman is a victim in this case as is the
life in her womb."
Current position: Ban abortion. Women won't be criminalized
MONEY IN POLITICS
1. Accepting donations means a candidate is controlled by special interests.
Trump announced that he'd self-fund his campaign
when he announced his presidential bid. This, he said, time and time
again would help him better serve the country against the corrupting
force of money in politics.
"By self-funding my campaign, I am not
controlled by my donors, special interests or lobbyists. I am only
working for the people of the U.S.!" he wrote in a September 5
Facebook post.
2. People can donate to me as long as they don't want anything in return.
Despite the self-funding promise, the Trump campaign
quietly sent out fundraising emails,
put a glossy donate option on its website and raked in millions. Still,
Trump insists, it's about investment in the campaign — not the cash
itself.
"I actually like the idea of investing in a campaign, but it has to be no strings attached," he said in a CBS interview.
3. The Trump campaign will not fully self-fund.
As the presumptive nominee, Trump has said he won't self-fund like he did in the primary.
"I'll be putting up money, but won't be completely self-funding," he told the Wall Street Journal
in a May 4 interview,
noting that he's created a finance committee and will tap his base for
money going into the general election. He's hired Steven Mnuchin, a
former Goldman Sachs partner who has a history of political donations
across both sides of the aisle, to head up the committee.
This is a reversal, but only in rhetorical
terms, since Trump isn't exactly self-funding his primary campaign,
despite his loud protestations to the contrary.
PolitiFact dubs his
claim "half true" because Trump is pulling in big bucks from donors and
most of his own contributions are technically loans or in-kind
contributions, signaling that he may want to recoup those costs
eventually.
Current position: Political donations are fine when those donations benefit the Trump campaign
VIOLATING U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL LAWS WITH REGARD TO TORTURE, TERRORISM
1. The military will obey potentially illegal orders.
In December, Trump started demanding that the US
target the families of ISIS members in addition to "bombing the sh*t"
out of the terrorist organization. He went further in February,
advocating for torture as a method of interrogation.
"I would bring back waterboarding, and I'd bring
back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding," Trump declared in the
February debate just ahead of the New Hampshire primary. Calls for
bringing torture back became a regular applause line at rallies, despite
the likelihood that both of these ideas would require the American
military to obey orders that violate international laws and federal
anti-torture statutes.
Pressed at a debate on March 3 over whether the
American military would obey his order to violate international laws and
the Geneva Convention to do such things, Trump insisted they'd listen
to him, despite condemnation from military leaders and conservatives.
"Frankly, when I say they'll do as I tell them, they'll do as I tell them," he said.
2. The military shouldn't break the law, after all.
He then reversed this position the very next day, on March 4,
in a statement to the Wall Street Journal, saying he "will not order military or other officials to violate those laws and will seek their advice on such matters."
3. The laws forbidding torture should be changed so no one has to break them.
Not long after terrorist attacks in Brussels
killed at least 28 people and injured dozens more on March 22, Trump
called in to CNN to expand on his call to legalize waterboarding.
"Look, I think we have to change our law on the
waterboarding thing, where they can chop off heads and drown people in
cages, in heavy steel cages and we can't water board," Trump told CNN's
Wolf Blitzer. "We have to change our laws and we have to be able to
fight at least on almost equal basis."
When Blitzer reminded Trump that military
leaders don't support torture and that it violates international
agreements that the United States has signed, Trump called opposition to
torture a "political decision."
"I would say that the eggheads that came up with
this international law should turn on their television and watch CNN
right now, because I'm looking at scenes on CNN right now as I'm
speaking to you that are absolutely atrocious," Trump said. "And I would
be willing to bet, when I am seeing all of the bodies laying all over
the floor, including young, beautiful children laying dead on the floor,
I would say if they watched that, maybe, just maybe they'll approve of
waterboarding and other things."
Current position: Trump says
he's against violating international laws or ordering others to do so,
but wants to change the laws to legalize, at minimum, waterboarding.
VISAS FOR HIGH-SKILLED WORKERS
1. H-1B visas are bad for American workers.
Trump's immigration plan was published on his
website in August 2015: it opposed the H-1B program, which allows
non-immigrant visas for specialty occupations, arguing then that it was
bad for American workers.
2. H-1B visas are good.
At the CNBC debate in October, Trump denied that
he'd been critical about the program. "I am all in favor of keeping
these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley," he
said.
3. H-1B visas are still bad, according to Trump's unchanged website.
At the Fox News debate on March 3, some five
months later, Fox News host Megyn Kelly pressed Trump on which of these
conflicting views he supports.
4. H-1B visas are necessary: 'I'm changing.'
"I'm changing. I'm changing. We need highly
skilled people in this country. If we can't do it, we will get them in.
And we do need in Silicon Valley, we absolutely have to have. So we do
need highly skilled," he said.
5. H-1B visas are definitely bad.
His campaign later released a statement reversing this shortly after the March 3 debate ended.
"Megyn Kelly asked about highly skilled
immigration. The H-1B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration:
These are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the
explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay,"
Trump wrote in a statement. "I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a
cheap labor program and institute an absolute requirement to hire
American workers first for every visa and immigration program. No
exceptions."
He
reaffirmed this position in the GOP debate on March 10, one week later, vowing to end the program that he noted he uses himself as a businessman.
Current position: Back where he started — against the H-1B visa program
BORDER CONTROL AND THE REFUGEE CRISIS
1. The U.S. has a 'humanitarian' obligation to take in some Syrian refugees.
Trump initially said the country should absorb Syrian refugees.
"I hate the concept of it, but on a humanitarian
basis, you have to," Trump told Bill O'Reilly on Fox News on a Tuesday
night in September. "But you know, it's living in hell in Syria. There's
no question about it. They're living in hell, and something has to be
done."
2. The U.S. cannot and should not accept Syrian refugees.
The next day, Trump said the country couldn't welcome refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war.
"Look, from a humanitarian standpoint, I'd love to help. But we have our own problems," he said on Fox.
During the March debate, Trump defended his changing view.
"First time the question had been put to me, it
was very early on. The migration had just started. And I had heard that
the number was a very, very small number. By the second day, two or
three days later, I heard the number was going to be thousands and
thousands of people. You know, when they originally heard about it, they
were talking about bringing very, very small numbers in, and I said,
begrudgingly, well, I guess maybe that's OK," Trump said. "By the time I
went back and studied it, and they were talking about bringing
thousands and thousands, I changed my tune. And I don't think there's
anything wrong with that."
3. Close the border.
"I'd close up our borders to people until we
figure out what is going on," Trump said on Fox News the morning of the
Brussels attacks claimed by ISIS that killed at least 28 and injured
more than 270.
4. Don't close the border, just be careful.
"I didn't say shut it down — I said you have to
be very careful, you have to be careful on who's coming into our
country," he said the same day as the Fox News interview on CBSN,
reiterating that people from Syria without papers shouldn't be allowed
in.
Current position: Against closing the borders entirely. Against accepting Syrian refugees in the United States.
KU KLUX KLAN AND DAVID DUKE
1. 'I disavow, OK?'
After former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard and white
nationalist David Duke began encouraging his followers to vote for the
Republican front-runner, including making a plea on his radio show on
February 25, Trump initially disavowed Duke's support in a press
conference on February 26.
"I didn't even know he endorsed me. David Duke endorsed me? OK, all right. I disavow, OK?" Trump said.
2. 'I don't know anything about David Duke. OK?'
After disavowing David Duke on a Friday, Trump
was asked about the Ku Klux Klan and Duke by CNN's Jake Tapper on
Sunday. Trump claimed to know nothing of Duke or the KKK.
"I don't know anything about David Duke. OK? I
don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white
supremacy or white supremacists. So I don't know. I don't know, did he
endorse me or what's going on, because, you know, I know nothing about
David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists. And so you're
asking me a question that I'm supposed to be talking about people that I
know nothing about," Trump said, refusing three times to unequivocally
condemn the support of white supremacists until he knew more about them.
3. 'I disavow, OK?' — part two.
After that cagey song and dance-like interview
sparked outrage on Sunday, Trump took to Twitter to clarify, tweeting a
video of his Friday press conference in which he did disavow Duke.
That Monday on NBC's "Today," Trump blamed his
refusal to condemn Duke and the KKK on a lousy earpiece but continued to
hedge against disavowing the support of "groups" he doesn't know
anything about, despite Savannah Guthrie's reminder that in the
interview in question, Trump had been only been asked about the KKK and
Duke.
Current position: Trump has disavowed Duke, despite a lengthy back-and-forth about whether he knows about him or not.
THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
1. Keep the current deal with Iran, police it.
Trump was one of the few Republicans who didn't
immediately promise to rip up the Iranian nuclear deal. The author of
"The Art of the Deal" told his supporters that while it was the worst
deal ever, they'd probably have to live with it.
"It's very hard to say, "We're ripping it up.'
And the problem is by the time I got in there, they will have already
received the $150 billion," Trump said, referring to a high estimate of
how many of Iran's assets will be unfrozen as part of the deal (the
White House says after Iran's debts are paid, it's closer to $56
billion).
"But I will police that deal," he said, touting
his handling of business contracts. "I would police that contract so
tough that they don't have a chance. As bad as the contract is, I will
be so tough on that contract."
2. Renegotiate the nuclear deal with Iran.
In September, he went further.
"When I am elected president, I will renegotiate
with Iran — right after I enable the immediate release of our American
prisoners and ask Congress to impose new sanctions that stop Iran from
having the ability to sponsor terrorism around the world," he wrote in
an op-od for USA Today.
Current position: Renegotiate the deal.
BORDER CONTROL AND THE REFUGEE CRISIS
1. The U.S. has a 'humanitarian' obligation to take in some Syrian refugees.
Trump initially said the country should absorb Syrian refugees.
"I hate the concept of it, but on a humanitarian
basis, you have to," Trump told Bill O'Reilly on Fox News on a Tuesday
night in September. "But you know, it's living in hell in Syria. There's
no question about it. They're living in hell, and something has to be
done."
2. The U.S. cannot and should not accept Syrian refugees.
The next day, Trump said the country couldn't welcome refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war.
"Look, from a humanitarian standpoint, I'd love to help. But we have our own problems," he said on Fox.
During the March debate, Trump defended his changing view.
"First time the question had been put to me, it
was very early on. The migration had just started. And I had heard that
the number was a very, very small number. By the second day, two or
three days later, I heard the number was going to be thousands and
thousands of people. You know, when they originally heard about it, they
were talking about bringing very, very small numbers in, and I said,
begrudgingly, well, I guess maybe that's OK," Trump said. "By the time I
went back and studied it, and they were talking about bringing
thousands and thousands, I changed my tune. And I don't think there's
anything wrong with that."
3. Close the border.
"I'd close up our borders to people until we
figure out what is going on," Trump said on Fox News the morning of the
Brussels attacks claimed by ISIS that killed at least 28 and injured
more than 270.
4. Don't close the border, just be careful.
"I didn't say shut it down — I said you have to
be very careful, you have to be careful on who's coming into our
country," he said the same day as the Fox News interview on CBSN,
reiterating that people from Syria without papers shouldn't be allowed
in.
Current position: Against closing the borders entirely. Against accepting Syrian refugees in the United States.
KU KLUX KLAN AND DAVID DUKE
1. 'I disavow, OK?'
After former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard and white
nationalist David Duke began encouraging his followers to vote for the
Republican front-runner, including making a plea on his radio show on
February 25, Trump initially disavowed Duke's support in a press
conference on February 26.
"I didn't even know he endorsed me. David Duke endorsed me? OK, all right. I disavow, OK?" Trump said.
2. 'I don't know anything about David Duke. OK?'
After disavowing David Duke on a Friday, Trump
was asked about the Ku Klux Klan and Duke by CNN's Jake Tapper on
Sunday. Trump claimed to know nothing of Duke or the KKK.
"I don't know anything about David Duke. OK? I
don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white
supremacy or white supremacists. So I don't know. I don't know, did he
endorse me or what's going on, because, you know, I know nothing about
David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists. And so you're
asking me a question that I'm supposed to be talking about people that I
know nothing about," Trump said, refusing three times to unequivocally
condemn the support of white supremacists until he knew more about them.
3. 'I disavow, OK?' — part two.
After that cagey song and dance-like interview
sparked outrage on Sunday, Trump took to Twitter to clarify, tweeting a
video of his Friday press conference in which he did disavow Duke.
That Monday on NBC's "Today," Trump blamed his
refusal to condemn Duke and the KKK on a lousy earpiece but continued to
hedge against disavowing the support of "groups" he doesn't know
anything about, despite Savannah Guthrie's reminder that in the
interview in question, Trump had been only been asked about the KKK and
Duke.
Current position: Trump has disavowed Duke, despite a lengthy back-and-forth about whether he knows about him or not.
THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
1. Keep the current deal with Iran, police it.
Trump was one of the few Republicans who didn't
immediately promise to rip up the Iranian nuclear deal. The author of
"The Art of the Deal" told his supporters that while it was the worst
deal ever, they'd probably have to live with it.
"It's very hard to say, "We're ripping it up.'
And the problem is by the time I got in there, they will have already
received the $150 billion," Trump said, referring to a high estimate of
how many of Iran's assets will be unfrozen as part of the deal (the
White House says after Iran's debts are paid, it's closer to $56
billion).
"But I will police that deal," he said, touting
his handling of business contracts. "I would police that contract so
tough that they don't have a chance. As bad as the contract is, I will
be so tough on that contract."
2. Renegotiate the nuclear deal with Iran.
In September, he went further.
"When I am elected president, I will renegotiate
with Iran — right after I enable the immediate release of our American
prisoners and ask Congress to impose new sanctions that stop Iran from
having the ability to sponsor terrorism around the world," he wrote in
an op-od for USA Today.
Current position: Renegotiate the deal
HEALTH CARE
1. Repeal Obamacare. Look to Canada for inspiration.
In August, Trump was asked repeatedly if he
still supported the single-payer health care he'd touted in the past. He
said America should have a private system but repeatedly praised Canada
and Scotland's socialized system.
"As far as single-payer, it works in Canada. It
works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different
age, which is the age you're talking about here," Trump said. "What I'd
like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around
every state … Get rid of the artificial lines, and you will have
yourself great plans. And then we have to take care of the people that
can't take care of themselves. And I will do that through a different
system."
2. Repeal Obamacare. Cover everybody.
"I am going to take care of everybody," Trump
told CBS in September. "I don't care if it costs me votes or not.
Everybody's going to be taken care of much better than they're taken
care of now."
3. Repeal Obamacare, but 'I like the mandate'
During a CNN town hall on February 18, Trump
started to answer a question about how he'd replace the Affordable Care
Act with health savings accounts, "which are great," but interrupted
himself to talk at length about how he's "a self-funder." When pressed
by interviewer Anderson Cooper about what would happen when Obamacare is
repealed and the mandate disappeared, therefore allowing insurance
companies to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, Trump
said:
"Well, I like the mandate. OK. So here's where
I'm a little bit different. I don't want people dying on the streets and
I say this all the time."
4. Repeal Obamacare. Replace it with something.
Trump was mocked in the February 25 debate for being vague about how he would replace Obamacare.
"You'll have many different plans. You'll have
competition, you'll have so many different plans," he said at the
debate, earning derision from Sen. Marco Rubio.
5. Repeal Obamacare. Not everyone will be covered.
His health care plan, finally released online in
March, has far more in common with the kind of boilerplate health care
proposals the rest of the Republican party touts than his earlier praise
for Canada suggested it might.
It would likely cause 21 million people to lose
their health insurance and cost about $270 billion over 10 years,
according to the nonpartisan budget advocacy group Committee for a
Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB).
It offers up unspecified amounts of grants to
states to replace Medicaid, but it's not clear how or what those would
look like, or how they would cover the millions of people that Trump's
plan lets fall through the cracks. CRFB noted that block grants "could
generate a wide range of savings" to the federal budget, but without
details on them, it is "impossible to score any savings" from his plan.
Current position: Repeal Obamacare. Replace it with something.
