Trump passes the Veterans Choice Act
Trump completed a brand new wall at the border that Mexico funded
Trump completely eliminated the ISIS Caliphate in 30 days
Trump secured an Insulin Price Cap for all Americans
Trump saved Tic Tok from being banned
Trump completely eliminated the Social Security tax for seniors
Trump brought American manufacturing back to America and reshored all the jobs
Trump created the stronger economy in the history of the world
Trump forced NATO allies to pay billions to the US
Trump replaced Obamacare with a cheaper, better healthcare system
Trump got rid of taxes on tips
Trump stopped businesses from taxing overtime
Trump cut taxes for the middle class
Trump increased the federal minimum wage
Trump created $1,000 ‘Trump Accounts’ for all American babies
Trump is a mastermind! And this list is just about a few things he has done.
Whether the problem is taxes, poorly designed trade deals, or creating jobs for Americans and making things affordable, Trump certainly makes the headlines!
It’s hard to think anyone could possibly do everything he has…
Except he hasn’t done any of these things. Trump takes credit for the good things others have done and blames others for the things he has done that somehow always has the opposite result he was trying to get.
People are sometimes astonished at how he can possibly get away with such blatant lies. Trump’s trick is that he thinks his supporters are stupid. He depends on his supporters lacking the knowledge, education, capacity and resources to check what he says. He also floods the media with so many things at once, it is impossible for anyone to fact check everything and when something does get fact checked, there are a hundred new things to address and everyone forgets about the lie he told the day before.
The list above is the common things MAGA supporters list when asked what Trump has done. Let’s look at them.
Trump passes the Veterans Choice Act
This act allows veterans to see private doctors, something Trump claims nobody but him could have gotten it done for decades. The date on the actual legislation was in 2014, and the signature on the bill is Obama’s.
Trump did, however, sign the VA Mission Act which made some changes to it, but he only added to what was already there.
Trump completed a brand new wall at the border that Mexico funded
Trump added about 50 miles of new wall to the existing 400 miles, and replaced some areas of the existing wall. Mexico never said they would pay for it and never did, billions of tax payer’s money was diverted from the US military budget to pay for it.
Trump completely eliminated the ISIS Caliphate in 30 days
The mission ended during Trump’s term, however the military strategy was launched under Obama as Operation Inherent Resolve, our military had already been deep into the mission for years before Trump took office . The only part Trump had in the operation was allowing it to continue after he was elected.
Trump secured an Insulin Price Cap for all Americans
In 2020, Trump introduced a voluntary model that capped the cost of insulin for a specific subset of Medicare beneficiaries, who choose a very specific plan.
In August 2022, Biden signed the ‘Inflation Reduction Act that included a mandatory provision that ALL Medicare plans are legally required to cap the out-of-pocket cost of all covered insulin products at no more than $35 per month. This immediately applied to all 6,000+ Medicare Part D and Part B plans across the country, providing predictable, low-cost insulin to over 3.3 million seniors.
In fact, Republicans and Trump voted against the provision, claiming it was “socialist price-fixing” and tried everything they could to stop the bill and when they realized they couldn’t stop the bill, they tried to have the provision removed from the bill.
Trump saved Tic Tok from being banned
First of all, it needs to be clarified that Trump was initially the one who tried to ban TikTok through executive orders during his first term. Then a bill was passed enforcing the parent company to sell TIKTOK to an American company or face a ban. When Trump saw Democrats joined onto the bill making it bipartisan, Trump started talking about saving TikTok. The company’s restructuring moved through a system driven by law and corporate maneuvers, completely unrelated to Trump. Trump took no protective action except publicly offering support for reconstruction.
Trump completely eliminated the Social Security tax for seniors
Trump made a tiny change to the tax code, temporarily granting an income deduction that expires at the end of 2028. The tiny change only affected a small group of low income individuals. It did not get rid of taxes on social security and only gave a deduction.
Trump brought American manufacturing back to America and reshored all the jobs
Total manufacturing job growth during Trump’s first term was nearly identical to the trajectory of Obama’s second term. Major industrial sectors actually entered a technical recession in 2019 due to the fallout from Trump's own trade wars. Prominent factories he promised to protect—like GM plants in Ohio or the heavily hyped Foxconn facility in Wisconsin—either closed or failed to produce the thousands of jobs he promised.
Trump created the stronger economy in the history of the world
GDP growth under Trump peaked at around 3% in 2018. While good, this didn't even rank in the top 10 of post-WWII American economic booms. Presidents Clinton, Reagan, Johnson, and Kennedy all presided over eras with significantly higher sustained GDP growth (often matching 4% to 5% or higher). Trump inherited a steadily growing economy and maintained it, but it was historically average.
And during his second term, due to his misunderstanding of tariffs and clouded idea that the country should be ran like a business, has left the US economy in shambles, with high inflation, gas prices, higher prices due to businesses passing high tariff costs onto customers, and all around mismanagement of the economy.
Trump is responsible for adding more to the debt than any other single president in the history of the country and continues increasing it with vanity projects and unnecessary spending. Since Trump took office in 2025, the country has been teetering on the verge of recession with some economists warning of a probable depression.
Trump forced NATO allies to pay billions to the US
Trump frequently tells audiences that he walked into NATO meetings, told allies they were delinquent, and forced them to cut giant checks directly to the United States to pay for their defense.
That is not how NATO fundamentally works. Member nations do not pay dues to the United States or to a central NATO bank account. Instead, they pledge to spend a minimum of 2% of their own GDP on their own national defense. While European nations did increase their internal defense budgets over the last decade, it was a continuation of a target set at the 2014 NATO Summit under Obama, and none of that money goes into the U.S. Treasury.
Trump misunderstands that NATO is a defense alliance not a military contract committing allies to join forces in any action a country decides to take. NATO does NOT apply to any offensive actions taken by a NATO member. NATO is an agreement between the countries that if an adversary attacks one of the NATO countries, ALL NATO countries will DEFEND the NATO country that was attacked.
Trump replaced Obamacare with a cheaper, better healthcare system
Trump has never provided a plan to replace Obamacare, despite doing everything he can to dismantle the healthcare it is still available. During his second term, he made changes to funding and subsidies that resulted in millions of people losing access to the health plan. Many Republican voters supported the end to Obamacare before they realized Obamacare and the ‘affordable care act’ was the same program.
Trump increased the federal minimum wage
Trump actually was against raising the minimum wage. Some states decided on their own to raise the minimum during Trump’s first term, but Trump did NOT have anything to do with the raise.
Trump created $1,000 ‘Trump Accounts’ for all American babies
The federal government provides a one-time $1,000 deposit, but the money is heavily restricted. It cannot be touched until the child turns 18, it must be invested exclusively in specific stock-market index funds, and the program is only funded through 2028. It essentially uses taxpayer money to inject billions into the stock market under the guise of a populist handout, with his own name literally branded onto the account.
See my complete explanation for this in another blog about affordability here: https://wycduncommonsense.blogspot.com/2026/05/a-f-f-o-r-d-b-i-l-t-y-or-not.html
Trump got rid of taxes on tips
Trump stopped businesses from taxing overtime
Trump cut taxes for the middle class
When you stop to think about the type of things he lies about, you see a distinct pattern. They revolve around existing laws that are too complex for most people to understand without actually reading the policies and they are difficult to read. He realizes that he doesn’t have to replace knowledge with his lies, the average person doesn’t have any real knowledge of these things and generally people accept information as fact, and in good faith, if they are not experts on the topic. This is why it is so important to do your own research and unfortunately many people do not know how to determine whether a source is credible or not.
Here are some things to consider when doing your own research.
If you can only find one article on the topic, you should be skeptical about that article. Reporters are constantly competing to be the first to break a story. After it breaks, more articles on the same topic are released. It is unlikely that a true story will only have a single article written about it.
Make sure that the information you consume is not based on opinion only. The author should provide links to where they obtained evidence from. While it is not bad to read onion pieces, it is important you know the information is just one opinion and needs evidence to support the opinion.
While exact amounts are not necessarily needed, you want to pay attention that they are reasonable amounts, and there are usually several places to verify them.
Pay attention to dates. People who lie, know that they are more believable when they give specific dates. Trump does this all the time, for example Trump blames Biden for appointing Jerome Powell as the chair of the federal reserve; but Trump appointed him in 2017.
Trump says Biden shut down the Country during COVID, but the shutdown happened in March of 2020, while Trump was president.
While these tips can’t guarantee you have all the facts, you can be confident you are not completely in the dark about what is really going on. The most important information is from how your life is affected by policies. Ask yourself if you are doing better than you were. Just because the president tells you the economy is good, doesn’t change the reality of how your pocket book feels.
Check out my blog post from before Trump started his second term. I include important data to compare with how we are doing now. https://wycduncommonsense.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-u.html
References
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BallotPedia. (2016). Donald Trump. BallotPedia. https://ballotpedia.org/Donald_Trump_presidential_campaign,_2016/Healthcare
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Brewer, S. (2025, January 11). The US Economy : A Look Back and a Glimpse Ahead. unCommon Sense. https://wycduncommonsense.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-u.html
Brewer, S. (2026, May 12). Affordability... or not. unCommon Sense. https://wycduncommonsense.blogspot.com/2026/05/a-f-f-o-r-d-b-i-l-t-y-or-not.html
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Gabbatt, A. (2019, August 23). “It’s devastating”. End of GM in Ohio town as Trump fails to bring back midwest jobs. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/aug/23/general-motors-factory-ohio-lordstown
Gleckman, H. (2025, July 9). Correcting the Social Security Administration about the big budget bill. Tax Policy Center. https://taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/correcting-social-security-administration-about-big-budget-bill
Higgs, M. (2026, February 18). How does the additional senior deduction compare to no tax on Social Security? Tax Foundation. https://taxfoundation.org/blog/no-tax-on-social-security-senior-tax-deduction/
Hussein, F. (2025, July 2). Trump says the Republican mega bill will eliminate taxes on Social Security. It does not. PBS News. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-says-the-republican-mega-bill-will-eliminate-taxes-on-social-security-it-does-not
Jacobson, L. (2026, February 23). Trump says he’s kept all of his campaign promises. PolitiFact’s MAGA-Meter shows otherwise. PBS News. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-says-hes-kept-all-of-his-campaign-promises-politifacts-maga-meter-shows-otherwise
kffjuliettec. (2024, June 12). The facts about the $35 insulin copay cap in Medicare. KFF. https://www.kff.org/medicare/the-facts-about-the-35-insulin-copay-cap-in-medicare/
Liskow. (2025, July 7). President trump signs one big beautiful bill act. Liskow & Lewis, APLC. https://www.liskow.com/insights/president-trump-signs-one-big-beautiful-bill-act-102lz1m/
Ocasio-Cortez, A. (2025, July 23). How Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will impact you. Representative Ocasio-Cortez. https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/legislation/how-trumps-one-big-beautiful-bill-act-will-impact-you
Schneider, J. (2025, August 14). President Trump delivers on Social Security promise: Stronger, faster, and more secure for all Americans. The White House. https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2025/08/president-trump-delivers-on-social-security-promise-stronger-faster-and-more-secure-for-all-americans/
Senate Democrats. (2026, January 20). One year of failed promises: How Trump’s policies are raising costs, ripping away health care, and destroying the economy. The Senate Democratic Caucus. https://www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/one-year-of-failed-promises-how-trumps-policies-are-raising-costs-ripping-away-health-care-and-destroying-the-economy
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