"Dreamers can maybe stay."

November 11, 2016 4:04 AM

Trump Tracker fact checks and tracks the President-elect's promises.
posted by Foci for Analysis (7 comments total)

Not impressed with their judgment of what they consider a "promise."

On the "Environment" tab: "Global warming is real, but it's not man-made." That's just a statement, not a promise. What would possibly constitute Trump fulfilling that "promise?" What would possibly constitute Trump breaking that "promise?"

On the "International" tab: "The unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel is based upon shared values of democracy, freedom of speech, respect for minorities, cherishing life, and the opportunity for all citizens to pursue their dreams." and " It's OK that Trump's running mate voted for the Iraq war, but it's not OK that Clinton did." Neither of which are promises. Among several others on that tab I could also mention.

Etc.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:17 AM on November 11, 2016

I applaud the effort, and any little thing we can do to hold him accountable and shine a light on his duplicity is welcome.

But, will it matter? We've been doing that for 16 months, and yet here we are. His supporters won't even look at critical sources - and, moreover, they don't seem to give two shits about policy. As long as Trump is hurting and horrifying the right scapegoats, they don't care what else he does. It's classic, textbook fascism.

Anyway, I don't think many of them are smart enough to understand any policy concern more complex than "build the wall" or "lock her up". That's elitist Washington insider stuff to them.

I hope I'm wrong.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 4:20 AM on November 11, 2016 [4 favorites]

I see this as a clever ironic take on political fact checking that we've gotten used to in the past years. Because with Trump, true or false doesn't matter, facts don't matter. So I think it's fitting that some of these promises aren't promises and some are barely coherent ideas.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 4:23 AM on November 11, 2016

It is interesting to me to see it all laid out like this. I agree with Foci for Analysis, this sorts of makes transparent just how much the Don was all about ratings - he knows how to push buttons and he reacts to reaction but he's never actually had to be accountable before. It'll be interesting to see how having 'flexible' policy works when his day-to-day is spent with people who actually administer the system. How do you organise a decision-making framework around someone who cannot engage with complexity? Oh to be a fly on that wall.
posted by freya_lamb at 4:57 AM on November 11, 2016

I see this as a clever ironic take on political fact checking that we've gotten used to in the past years. Because with Trump, true or false doesn't matter, facts don't matter.

It used to be that US politics was a lot like a baseball game. The batter smacks a line drive and a spectator could say it was foul or fair, depending on their point of view. All were watching the same game. Today, nobody can agree what game is being played down on the field, let alone talk about the foul/fair ball.

What has changed in US political discourse that reality is essentially an opinion, despite any evidence to the contrary?
posted by dr_dank at 5:01 AM on November 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

Aren't there some contradictory statements already though?
posted by jeffburdges at 5:03 AM on November 11, 2016

jeffburdges - of course! on that front page alone, Trump stated he would simultaneously halt all hiring of government jobs, and also somehow increase the number of investigations into companies shipping jobs over seas.
posted by rebent at 5:11 AM on November 11, 2016