President Donald Trump said this week that he has “kept all my promises and much more,” addressing a Detroit audience as his administration approaches the one-year mark of his second term. An Associated Press review published Friday traced the status of his most prominent commitments, finding outcomes that span partial execution, legal obstacles and quiet withdrawal from public discussion.
Among the pledges still in progress: acquiring Greenland, which Denmark has said it will not cede; reopening Alcatraz as an immigration detention facility; and completing a Qatari-donated Boeing 747 for use as Air Force One, a project the Air Force says may run past Trump’s departure from office. Among those that have faded: sending tens of thousands of migrants to Guantanamo Bay, a commitment that reached roughly 500 detainees before declining and at times reaching zero; and transforming Gaza into what Trump called a “Riviera of the Middle East,” a proposal Arab nations rejected and one Trump no longer raises publicly.
The AP review comes as the administration approaches its one-year anniversary, providing a public accounting of where more than a dozen major presidential pledges stand against Trump’s own claim of total fulfillment.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said this week he has “kept all my promises and much more,” speaking in Detroit as his administration approaches the one-year mark of his second term. An Associated Press review published Friday assessed the status of his most prominent commitments, finding a record that spans partial execution, legal obstacles and withdrawal from public discussion.
The AP accounting comes as the administration nears its one-year anniversary and shortly after Trump told the Detroit audience he had fulfilled all his commitments.
In progress
Trump has continued to press for U.S. acquisition of Greenland after the American military operation that removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power. Trump said the United States will “have” Greenland “one way or another” and tapped Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana as a special U.S. envoy to the territory, invoking the 1803 Louisiana Purchase as a historical parallel. Denmark has said it will not cede the world’s largest island and has warned that any invasion would carry geopolitical implications given Denmark’s NATO membership.
Trump has said he wants to reopen Alcatraz, the San Francisco Bay prison closed for more than six decades, to house immigration detainees. William K. Marshall III, director of the Bureau of Prisons, toured the island in July. The agency said engineers and planners are developing design concepts, preliminary budgets and logistical models.
A luxury Boeing 747 accepted from Qatar by U.S. defense officials in May is being retrofitted in Texas for Trump’s eventual use as Air Force One. The Air Force estimates the work will cost about $400 million; outside experts put the figure closer to $1 billion. Completion may not occur until after Trump leaves office in January 2029, the AP reported.
Trump has continued to raise the possibility of seeking a third presidential term, despite a constitutional prohibition on serving more than two terms. He acknowledged in October, “I would say that if you read it, it’s pretty clear I’m not allowed to run.” White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair that Trump “knows he can’t run again.” Trump said this month, “I’m not sure,” and suggested a “constitutional movement” could alter his situation.
What’s been accomplished
Trump signed an executive order in September directing the Department of Defense to rename itself the Department of War. Carrying out the change would require an act of Congress.
The board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, stocked with Trump loyalists, voted in December to add Trump’s name to the Washington performing arts venue. The Kennedy Center is named by statute; Congress would need to approve any formal change. The move drew show cancellations and a lawsuit.
Trump’s administration pressured China to have a Hong Kong-based company operating ports at both ends of the Panama Canal sell those interests to a U.S. consortium, though the process has faced delays. Panama withdrew from China’s Belt and Road investment program in Latin America. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Panama in April and agreed to bolster security coordination.
A Trump “gold card” program, announced in December, offers legal status and a pathway to U.S. citizenship for individuals paying $1 million — or corporations paying twice that per foreign-born employee — along with an upfront $15,000 fee. The program is designed to replace EB-5 visas, which offered permanent residency in exchange for foreign investment that created U.S. jobs.
Construction crews have been working on a White House ballroom since Trump ordered the East Wing demolished. His cost estimate has risen from $200 million to $400 million. The White House has released only a partial list of private donors contributing to the project and has described portions of its plans as “top secret.”
What’s faded
Trump regularly discussed making Canada the 51st state before and during the early months of his second term. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told Trump during a White House visit that his country “won’t be for sale, ever.” Carney said in June that Trump appeared to have lost interest. Trump has continued to raise the idea, including in a September speech to military personnel in Virginia, though less frequently.
Between February and June, about 500 immigrants were held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, under Trump’s pledge to send up to 30,000 of the “worst criminal aliens” there. Those numbers have since declined and at times reached zero, according to the AP. Housing migrants at Guantanamo has proven more expensive than traditional detention facilities and has drawn legal challenges.
Trump repeatedly proposed that the U.S. take over war-torn Gaza and allow developers to build what he called a “Riviera of the Middle East.” Arab nations rejected the proposal. Trump no longer raises it publicly, the AP reported.
More to watch
Trump has proposed a Golden Dome missile defense system — a $175 billion, multilayered program that would place U.S. weapons in space for the first time — with a goal of full operation by January 2029. Defense officials said initial capability by that date is the more realistic outcome.
Trump said he spoke with Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred before Manfred reinstated Cincinnati Reds slugger Pete Rose in May. Rose, who died in 2024 with a record 4,256 career hits, had been banned from baseball over gambling. Trump now says he wants Rose in the Hall of Fame. That decision rests with the Hall’s Classic Baseball Committee, which likely will not meet until at least December 2027.