There are six 8.5 by 11 pieces of paper lined up and adhered to the wall of White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon's West Wing office. Each, sorted by category, contains a list of the various promises that then-candidate Donald Trump made on the campaign trail.
It serves as both visual reminder and actual checklist for the president’s agenda.
“One by one, we're checking off the promises we made to the people of the United States,” Trump said Friday in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “One by one. A lot of promises. And we will not stop until the job is done.”
After months of pundit hand-wringing about whether to take Trump at his often outrageous and outspoken word — whether to take him “literally” or “seriously” — the White House is coming down firmly on the side of both. And with Trump’s first prime-time address Tuesday to the nation and Congress, they hope to reframe Trump’s turbulent first 40 days neatly into the context of promises made, promises kept.
“The era of empty talk is over. It’s over,” Trump said at CPAC, testing out some potential themes of the congressional speech. “Now is the time for action.”
But Trump will step onto the dais Tuesday night with historically weak approval ratings for a new president, battling leaks both from within and about the White House and a heavy chip on his shoulder about media coverage of his early presidency that he has decried repeatedly as “fake news.”
