Not long after taking office in 1969 as Richard Nixon’s tough law-and-order attorney general, a dour and taciturn John Mitchell told the press, “watch what we do, not what we say.” They did, and he and a record number of his administration colleagues wound up in the federal slammer for their leading roles in the Watergate scandal that led to Nixon’s resignation. And Democrats won the next two congressional elections and the presidency.
Like Mitchell, Trump is a convicted felon – 34 counts in New York and under indictment on 11 separate felony charges in a Georgia case on hold – but he has evaded prison, so far. Only two first-term Trump aides and several campaign staffers have gone to prison.
Taking AG Mitchell’s advice, here is a brief and incomplete look at what the incumbent has said and what he’s doing about it.
What Trump says vs the reality
• He took an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.”
That’s what he said, but not what he’s doing. He is trying to tear down the First Amendment wall of religion-state separation, the 22d Amendment presidential term limits, the 14th Amendment on birthright citizenship, and the Article I emoluments and habeas corpus clauses, among assaults on our democracy’s founding document. But he loves the Second Amendment, at least as interpreted by the nation’s vast army of gun worshipers.
• “I’m going to surround myself only with the best and most serious people,” he promised.
Fox News is his preferred source of appointees, but it seems he’s mostly interested in how they appear on television, not by their experience, competence or intelligence. By any reasonable standard, this may be the most unqualified cabinet in history. His defense secretary is an accused drunk and sex abuser who is purging top ranking blacks and women for being “woke,” a euphemism for lacking racial, gender, and ethnic biases.
The secretary of education can’t handle simple math. The Health and Human Services secretary is, to be charitable, an anti-science vaccine skeptic with dangerous quack medical theories, and likely to cause many deaths. The head of the Homeland Security Department’s counterterrorism center is an inexperienced 22-year-old former intern just out of college.
• Trump said he would “do everything in [his] power to protect our LGBTQ citizens.”
Quite the opposite. He is removing all transgender people serving in the military and is threatening to withhold funds from states that permit transgender athletes to compete in school sports. The Pentagon is changing the names of ships honoring gay and civil rights leaders.
• “We’re not going to let our country be torn apart… It’s about law and order.”
Trump said he sent troops to quell demonstrations in Los Angeles to support federal law enforcement officers facing protests against his mass deportation roundups. But when law enforcement was under assault on January 6, 2001, he backed the violent attackers, calling them heroes and pardoning convicted criminals and gang members who beat cops and desecrated the US Capitol in defense of his lies about a stolen election.
• He promised to fight antisemitism.
But his administration is chock full of appointees with long records of antisemitic speech, and he granted clemency to the January 6 rioter who sported a “Camp Auschwitz” hoodie.
• “Medicare, Medicaid – none of that stuff is going to be touched.”
His Big Beautiful Billionaire Tax Cut bill slashes about $600 million for Medicaid, which means about 10.9 million people could lose their coverage over the next decade. Many may die as a result. Another $230 million is cut from SNAP (food stamps), according to ABC News.
• “I can solve it on day one.”
He was confident he could end the Gaza and Ukraine wars with a single phone call or two. We’re waiting on both, and no closer to ceasefires, much less peace deals. Russian President Vladimir Putin made a fool of Trump, who thought he could depend on their “friendship” and his own force of personality to cut a quick deal. That’s probably because to all the world, Trump sounds like he’s on Putin’s side and willing to sell out Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still dragging out his war against Hamas and abandoning the hostages at the behest of his extreme nationalist and religious allies. Trump appears helpless to stop it and shows signs of losing interest. He cut a separate deal with the Houthis in Yemin: They can continue attacking Israel and he won’t interfere if they leave US shipping alone.
• Iran “won’t be enriching” any uranium in any deal with the US.
He says that publicly but privately may be telling the Iranians something different. The New York Times quotes Iranian and European officials saying the US is “proposing an arrangement” for low-level enrichment and would leave the country with a civilian nuclear energy program. Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said no enrichment, no deal.
Netanyahu is threatening to attack unilaterally if Trump allows Iran to continue enrichment. He’s likely bluffing because he knows that will harm his already troubled relationship with Trump and the president won’t back Israel if it jeopardizes his deal.
• Make America safe.
The man who thinks he can change weather patterns with the stroke of a Sharpie is making drastic cuts in the National Weather Service and FEMA at the beginning of the tornado and summer hurricane seasons. Has anyone told him red states tend to suffer more damage from those storms than blue ones?
• “I’ve proven to be one of the most honest and innocent people ever in our country.”
The Washington Post monitored what Trump was saying during his first term and came up with a list of 309,573 false or misleading claims he made as president.
He has unabashedly used the power of the presidency to take revenge against his critics, reward his friends and enrich himself and his family. Peter Baker wrote in the Times that Trump “looks at the government as his personal instrument for dispensing favors to friends and penalizing those who cross him.”
• “I’m not going to have time to play golf. I just want to stay in the White House and work my ass off.”
He has spent 33 of his first 139 days in office this year playing golf, nearly one out of every four days, according to trumpgolftrack.com. That cost taxpayers over $26 million and counting. In his first term, he played 293 days just at his own courses, costing taxpayers $151.5 million. Some went into his own pockets because he charged Secret Service for room and board and golf carts to ride around protecting him.
• Trump insisted he had “nothing to do with Project 2025.”
This is the right-wing manifesto for expanding presidential power and dismantling the federal workforce and that he knew “nothing” about it. Not so. He gave Russel Vought, the man behind plan, the job of implementing it as his director of management and budget, and execution is in full swing to autocracy.
What Trump says is often meant to distract attention from what he’s actually doing. He keeps a stack of executive orders handy and supply of Sharpies to pull out whenever he needs a diversion.
The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and a former legislative director at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.