During his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised a series of “Day 1” actions that would change the United States. Yet one month into his presidency, Trump is still working to fulfill the many goals that failed to materialize on his first day.
Lowering food prices
“When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day 1,” Trump repeatedly promised supporters. Many voters cited the price of gas and groceries as reasons they voted for Trump. Instead, grocery prices are up since Trump took office.
Most notably, egg prices have hit a record high—which has been attributed to the spread of the H5N1 bird flu. Trump could make the problem even worse, because in his zeal to purge the federal workforce, his team got rid of the very employees tasked with developing the government’s response to the flu.
Ending the Russia-Ukraine War in a day
During a 2023 CNN town hall, Trump said that he’d put an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine after a single day on the job.
“They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours,” he vowed.
Trump has now been in office for more than 768 hours and the war has not ended. In fact, Trump has inflamed global tensions by lying and blaming the invasion on Ukraine while shilling for his longtime ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and shutting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy out of so-called peace talks. The Trump administration’s fumbling response has generated global condemnation and significantly increased fears among Ukrainians of being overrun by Russia.
Mass deportation
Trump promised that his first day in office would kick off a mass deportation of immigrants, falsely characterizing undocumented people as part of a “crime wave.” To be sure, Trump is trying hard to get this done—but instead of hardened criminals, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents have been harassing families, military veterans, and Native Americans in a ham-handed attempt to meet arbitrary quotas.
At the same time, Trump’s so-called border czar Tom Homan has been a fixture on Fox News and other outlets, whining about Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez using her position to inform the public of their constitutional rights in regards to immigration raids.
Ending gender-affirming care
Instead of defending trans children and their freedom to enjoy equal rights, Trump said he would stop hospitals from providing gender-affirming care. This is yet another area where he and his team are pushing to curtail freedom, but it didn’t happen on Day 1.
Trump’s executive orders and mandates on the issue have instead ended up the subject of court challenges. Multiple federal judges have put temporary blocks in place against the Trump administration’s restrictions.
Ending birthright citizenship
Birthright citizenship has been a part of constitutional tradition stemming from the end of slavery, with the 14th Amendment affirming that human beings who were put in bondage were in fact American citizens. Later Supreme Court decisions affirmed that children born in the United States are entitled to citizenship, but Trump is trying to end that as part of his xenophobic opposition to immigrants.
The federal courts have put the brakes on this Day 1 dream after Democratic attorneys general in multiple states sued to prevent Trump from undermining this core American value. So far, courts in Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire have joined the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in blocking the Trump administration’s bigoted push.
Destroying the Department of Education
Trump has called for the destruction of the Department of Education, which falls in line with his touting of the political support he has received from the “poorly educated.” He even nominated former WWE wrestling boss Linda McMahon to head the department to show just how little he values education. But despite attempts by oligarch Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency to siphon money from the department, it’s still around and counts as one more Day 1 failure.
Trump’s first month in office has generated unprecedented chaos and enshrined bigotry and ignorance throughout the federal government. But the man who saw failure after failure during his first term in office hasn’t become a new person overnight.
It still remains to be seen how much of Trump’s nightmarish vision will come to pass—but he didn’t get it done on “Day 1.”
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