After engaging in conspiracy theories regarding mail-in voting during the 2020 campaign, Donald Trump came out in favor of mail-in voting in 2024.
In 2024, Donald Trump opposed legislation calling for a ByteDance divestment from TikTok, but had called to ban TikTok while president in 2020.
In 2023, Donald Trump criticized Ron DeSantis for having the same positions on Social Security that he once did.
In 2022, Donald Trump called for suspending the Constitution, then backtracked.
In 2019, Donald Trump said he would close part of the U.S.-Mexico border, only to later say he would delay that decision for a year.
After claiming Mexico would pay for the wall, Donald Trump shutdown the government for 35 days then signed a bill without wall funding.
In 2016, Donald Trump threatened to sue all the women that accused him of sexual assault, but never did.
In 2016, Donald Trump flipped on abortion rights when he ran for president.
Donald Trump attacked President Obama repeatedly for golfing then spent over 300 days golfing while president.
Donald Trump flip flopped on the unemployment rate.
Donald Trump praised Tim Walz for his handling of the 2020 George Floyd protests, but then attacked him for it during the 2024 election cycle.
In 2024, Donald Trump promised, then took back, to cut energy and electricity prices in half.
Donald Trump asked his supporters to vote early, then called early voting “stupid.”
Trump Became A Proponent Of Early And Mail-In Voting After Previously Spreading Conspiracies About Them
June 2024: Trump Reversed Himself In Supporting Early Voting And Main-In Ballots. According to the New York Post, “Former President Donald Trump officially embraced early voting, mail-in ballots and absentee voting Tuesday — reversing course from his prior criticism and questioning the legitimacy of those methods. The non-traditional voting methods are encompassed in the Swamp The Vote USA initiative and are promoted by Trump Force 47, the grassroots organizing program sponsored by the Republican National Committee. ‘Republicans must win and we will use every appropriate tool to beat the Democrats because they are destroying our country. Whether you vote absentee, by mail, early in-person or on election day, we are going to protect the vote. We make sure your ballot is secure and your voice is heard,’ Trump said in a statement.” [New York Post, 6/4/24]
2020: Trump Stated Mail-In Voting Would Lead To “Massive Fraud And Abuse.” According to the Washington Post, "Trump, however, has taken aim much more broadly at the practice of voting by mail, making sweeping and unfounded claims that it will lead to ‘MASSIVE FRAUD AND ABUSE,’ as he tweeted Thursday." [Washington Post, 6/1/20]
2020: Trump: “We Don’t Want Anyone To Do Mail-In Ballots.” According to PBS, “‘We don’t want anyone to do mail-in ballots,’ Trump told reporters before leaving for Michigan. That state drew the president’s ire announcing this week it was sending ballot request forms to all voters to encourage safe voting during the coronavirus pandemic.” [PBS, 5/21/20]
2020: Trump Claimed Mail-In Votes Were Stolen From Mailboxes, Had Signatures Forged, And Ballots Were Illegally Printed. According to CNN, “Specifically, and without evidence, Trump has claimed that mail-in voting is particularly susceptible to fraud, casting it as a lawless, unregulated exercise where ballots are stolen from mailboxes, voter signatures are routinely forged and even the ballots themselves are illegally printed.” [CNN, 5/28/20]
August 2020: Trump Signed An Executive Order Giving ByteDance, TikTok’s Parent Company, 90 Days To Divest The U.S. Operations Of TikTok Or Banning The App. According to Reuters, “TikTok is preparing to mount a legal challenge as early as Monday to President Donald Trump's executive order prohibiting transactions with the popular short video app and its Chinese parent ByteDance, according to people familiar with the matter. Trump issued an executive order on Aug. 14 that gave ByteDance 90 days to divest the U.S. operations of TikTok. ByteDance has been making progress in talks with potential acquirers, including Microsoft Corp and Oracle. Some of ByteDance's U.S. investors could also join the winning bid.” [Reuters, 8/22/20]
March 2024: Trump Reversed His Position On Forcing Divestment From TikTok Or Banning The App While Still Calling It A National Security Threat
March 2024: Trump Opposed Legislation Moving To Ban TikTok Without Divestment From Its Parent Company, Citing The Potential Benefit To Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. According to Variety, “TikTok, the massively popular video app owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance, apparently has an ally in Donald Trump. The former U.S. president expressed opposition to a national ban of TikTok not for, say, First Amendment reasons but because such a move would likely boost the fortunes of Meta’s Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Trump, in a post Thursday evening on Truth Social, the social-media service he is affiliated with, called the CEO of Meta ‘Zuckerschmuck,’ using the vulgar Yiddish word for penis. ‘If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social. ‘I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!’” [Variety, 3/8/24]
Trump’s Flip On Forcing TikTok To Divest Or Banning The App Followed A Meeting With Republican Megadonor Jeff Yass. According to ABC News, “As Donald Trump reverses his position on potentially banning TikTok ahead of an expected House vote this week on legislation that could lead to it being blocked in the U.S., the former president has been rebuilding his relationship with a GOP megadonor who reportedly has a major financial stake in the popular social media platform. Trump met with the donor, hedge fund manager Jeff Yass, earlier this month at a Club for Growth donor retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 1.” [ABC News, 3/11/24]
Yass Had A Significant Stake In TikTok’s Parent Company, ByteDance. According to ABC News, “Yass, who did not respond to a request for comment on Monday, owns a significant stake in in TikTok's China-based parent company ByteDance, The Wall Street Journal reported last year. ‘I've supported libertarian and free market principles my entire adult life,’ Yass told the Journal then. ‘TikTok is about free speech and innovation, the epitome of libertarian and free market ideals. The idea of banning TikTok is an anathema to everything I believe.’” [ABC News, 3/11/24]
June 2024: Trump Joined TikTok Four Years After He Tried To Ban It. According to the BBC, “Donald Trump has joined TikTok, despite attempting to ban it on national security grounds during his presidency. In 2020 he signed a presidential executive order attempting to ban the platform for its links to China, which was ultimately blocked by US courts. He has since criticised recent attempts to curtail it, saying this would empower Facebook-owner Meta. Mr Trump, who has amassed more than 3.6 million followers since launching his account on Saturday, said he will use ‘every tool available to speak directly with the American people.’” [BBC, 6/3/24]
Trump Attacked DeSantis For Calling Social Security A “Ponzi Scheme.” According to CNN, “Former President Donald Trump once backed raising the retirement age to 70 and called for privatizing Social Security which he called a ‘Ponzi scheme’ – two positions he has hammered Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for supporting as a former member of Congress and congressional candidate.” [CNN, 4/27/23]
Trump Called Social Security A “Ponzi Scheme” And Said He Would Consider Privatizing Social Security. According to CNN, “Trump made the comments in 2000 in a book he authored called ‘The America We Deserve,’ when he was considering a third-party run for president as a member of the Reform Party. […] In his book, Trump lamented big cuts the program would need without changes, and said he would consider privatization. ‘The truth is undeniable, the workers of America have been forced to invest a sixth of our wages into a huge Ponzi scheme,’ Trump wrote. ‘The solution to the Great Social Security Crisis couldn’t be more obvious: Allow every American to dedicate some portion of their payroll taxes to a personal Social Security account that they could own and invest in stocks and bonds.’” [CNN, 4/27/23]
Trump Attacked DeSantis For Supporting Raising The Retirement Age To 70. According to CNN, “Former President Donald Trump once backed raising the retirement age to 70 and called for privatizing Social Security which he called a ‘Ponzi scheme’ – two positions he has hammered Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for supporting as a former member of Congress and congressional candidate.” [CNN, 4/27/23]
Trump Said The Retirement Age Could Be Raised To 70. According to CNN, “In his book, Trump lamented big cuts the program would need without changes, and said he would consider privatization. […] ‘We can also raise the age for receipt of full Social Security benefits to seventy,’ he wrote.” [CNN, 4/27/23]
The Trump Campaign Cited DeSantis’ Support For The Ryan Budget And Comments That Supported Privatizing Social Security. According to CNN, “Trump, his campaign and a supporting PAC have repeatedly cited votes from DeSantis in Congress for nonbinding budget resolutions that would have raised the retirement age to 70. The campaign has also cited DeSantis’ praise of Paul Ryan’s budget plans during his 2012 congressional campaign with comments that expressed support for privatizing Social Security and Medicare – but a CNN KFile review found Trump himself also once praised Ryan on Medicare, along with the 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, without praising their specific policy proposal, which called for similar changes to Ryan’s plan.” [CNN, 4/27/23]
Trump Said He Would Consider Privatizing Social Security. According to CNN, “In his book, Trump lamented big cuts the program would need without changes, and said he would consider privatization. […] ‘The solution to the Great Social Security Crisis couldn’t be more obvious: Allow every American to dedicate some portion of their payroll taxes to a personal Social Security account that they could own and invest in stocks and bonds.’” [CNN, 4/27/23]
2022: Trump Called For Suspending The U.S. Constitution. According to Yahoo News, “Former President Donald Trump on Monday attempted to clarify his call for suspending parts of the U.S. Constitution or the ‘termination’ of rules and regulations to allow himself to return to the White House, after drawing rebuke from other Republicans. Initially, Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Saturday that the role of social media companies limiting and removing misinformation and content that violated its policies in 2020 ‘allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.’” [Yahoo News, 12/5/22]
Trump Clarified That He Did Not Want To Terminate The Constitution, But That “Steps Must Be Immediately Taken To Right The Wrong.” According to Yahoo News, “In his newest post, Trump indicated he didn’t say he wanted to terminate the Constitution, stating Monday that ‘steps must be immediately taken to RIGHT THE WRONG,’ referring to what he describes as widespread fraud and deception involving ‘Big Tech’ — of which he provided no evidence — in the 2020 election.” [Yahoo News, 12/5/22]
2019: Trump Proposed Closing Part Of The U.S.-Mexico Border, Then Announced He Would Wait A Year. According to Yahoo News, “And, in the spring of 2019, Trump proposed closing part of the border with Mexico, but said shortly after that he would wait a year to do so, according to research compiled by the Democratic opposition research group American Bridge.” [Yahoo News, 12/5/22]
January 6, 2017: Trump Stated Mexico Would Pay For “Any Money Spent On Building The Great Wall.” According to a tweet from @realDonaldTrump, “The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!” [Twitter, 1/6/17]
December 22, 2018: The Federal Government Partially Shutdown After Trump Did Not Get The $5 Billion In Wall Funding He Wanted. According to CNBC, “President Donald Trump threatened a government shutdown for weeks. He got one when the clock turned to Saturday. Congress missed a Friday midnight deadline to fund nine departments, or about a quarter of the government, and the Senate adjourned for Christmas without voting on a deal to bridge the impasse […] Lawmakers failed to reach a funding agreement as Trump demanded $5 billion for his proposed wall along the border with Mexico. Democrats refused. Then House Republicans dug in, declining to pass a bill to keep the government running into February after the president threatened to veto it Thursday.” [CNBC, 12/22/18]
Trump Threatened Lawmakers With “A Long Stay” Until He Got Funding For The Border. According to a tweet from @realDonaldTrump, “I am in the White House, working hard. News reports concerning the Shutdown and Syria are mostly FAKE. We are negotiating with the Democrats on desperately needed Border Security (Gangs, Drugs, Human Trafficking & more) but it could be a long stay. On Syria, we were originally...” [Twitter, 12/22/18]
After A 35 Day Partial Government Shutdown, Trump Signed A Stopgap Spending Bill To Reopen The Government Without Funding For His Wall. According to the Hill, “The 35-day partial government shutdown appears on the verge of ending -- for now. President Trump on Friday announced he is agreeing to sign a stopgap spending measure to reopen the government without funding for his proposed border wall. ‘I am very proud to announce today that we have reached a deal to end the shutdown and re-open the federal government,’ Trump said during a speech in the Rose Garden.” [The Hill, 1/25/19]
2016: Trump Threatened To Sue All Women Accusing Him Of Sexual Assault, Then Did Nothing. According to Yahoo News, “Trump’s latest explanation Monday continues a long-running trend of the former president making stunning statements and then walking them back — often without publicly determining a course of action. Near the end of the 2016 election, Trump said he would sue all the women accusing him of sexual assault, then rescinded the threat.” [Yahoo News, 12/5/22]
October 24, 1999: Trump Claimed He Was Pro-Abortion Rights But Hated “The Concept Of Abortion.” According to ABC News, “October 24, 1999: Pro-Choice But ‘Hates It’ During an interview with Tim Russert on ‘Meet the Press,’ Trump shared his thoughts on a number of social issues, including abortion. He declared that he was ‘very pro-choice,’ but went on to decry the idea of the procedure. ‘I hate the concept of abortion. I hate it. I hate everything it stands for, I cringe when I listen to people debating the subject, but still I just believe in choice,’ he said in the televised interview.” [ABC News, 3/31/16]
May 3, 2011: When Trump First Toyed With Idea Of Running For President, He Claimed That He Was “Pro-Life.” According to ABC News, “When Trump was toying with the idea of running for president in 2011, he told The Times that he was pro-life. ‘There are certain things that I don't think can ever be negotiated. Let me put it this way: I am pro life, and pro-life people will find out that I will be very loyal to them, just as I am loyal to other people. I would be appointing judges that feel the way I feel,’ he told the paper in May 2011.” [ABC News, 3/31/16]
August 6, 2015: Trump: “I Am Very, Very Proud To Say That I Am Pro-Life.” According to ABC News, “When he finally decided to take the plunge and run for the presidency this upcoming term, Trump explained that he had had a change of heart, coming out strongly as pro-life and giving a specific explanation. During the first debate, Trump was asked about his comments from 1999 and said that ‘since then, I’ve very much evolved’ […] ‘I am very, very proud to say that I am pro-life,’ he added. Trump has repeated this personal story and reiterated his pro-life stance many times over the course of his campaign.” [ABC News, 3/31/16]
Politico: “Trump Regularly Assailed President Barack Obama For Playing Golf.” According to Politico, “Donald Trump regularly assailed President Barack Obama for playing golf, then spent the first weekends of his own presidency doing just that. He attacked Obama for using Air Force One to campaign, and did it over the weekend just a month into the job. He mocked Obama for heading out of Washington at taxpayer expense, but appears to have no qualms about doing so himself.” [Politico, 2/21/17]
Trump Spent 307 Days Golfing During His Presidency. According to the Seattle Medium, “President Donald Trump has spent 307 days, almost a full year, golfing during his presidency. The total is likely to be the most golf outings of any president in history.” [Seattle Medium, 1/4/21]
Trump Played At Least 150 Rounds Of Golf While In Office. According to Trump Golf Count, “Daytime visits to golf clubs since inauguration, with evidence of playing golf on at least 150 visits.” [Trumpgolfcount.com, accessed 2/23/24]
August 2016: Trump Called The Unemployment Rate “One Of The Biggest Hoaxes In Modern American Politics.” According to US News & World Report, “In an August speech before the Detroit Economic Club, Trump declared the unemployment rate as ‘one of the biggest hoaxes in modern American politics.’ He even speculated the real number could be as high as 42 percent when it was really just about 5 percent.” [US News & World Report, 4/13/17]
January 15, 2021: Trump Cited The Unemployment Rate. According to an archived version of the Trump White House website, “Before the Coronavirus spread from China across the globe, President Trump helped America build its strongest economy in history. Median household incomes rose to their highest level ever in 2019, while the poverty rate hit an all-time low. Under the Trump Administration, more Americans were employed than ever before—160 million—and the unemployment rate fell to a 50-year low. The unemployment rates for African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, and Americans without a high-school diploma all hit record lows, while the Trump ‘Blue-Collar Boom’ saw wages grow faster for workers than for managers or supervisors.” [Trump White House website via archive, 1/15/21]
Trump Claimed That The Unemployment Numbers Were Made Up. According to the Washington Post, “But now that Trump is running for president again, he is again sowing doubt about the unemployment numbers. In New Hampshire on Sunday, he said the numbers during his presidency ‘were real unemployment, not like you have today where nobody’s working and they consider it to be.’ He didn’t go into detail — saying it was ‘too complicated to explain’ — which appears to be code for ‘trust me.’ […] Trump has no basis to suggest that the unemployment numbers are being cooked. The career professionals at the BLS are collecting the data the same way they did before he was president, when he was president and after he was president. But now that views on the economy have shifted toward a more positive note, Trump is cynically suggesting the numbers can’t be trusted. It was ever thus. Four Pinocchios.” [Washington Post, 1/24/24]
Trump Lauded Walz For His Handling Of The George Floyd Protests In 2020, Then Attacked Him For It In 2024 When He Was The Democrat Vice President Nominee. According to ABC News, “In the hours after Vice President Kamala Harris announced Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, allies of former President Donald Trump rushed to denigrate the Minnesota Democrat, seizing on criticism of his handling of the riots in the wake of George Floyd's murder in May 2020. ‘He allowed rioters to burn down the streets of Minneapolis,’ Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican candidate for vice president, said Tuesday. But at the time, Trump expressed support for Walz's handling of the protests, according to a recording of a phone call obtained by ABC News -- telling a group of governors that Walz ‘dominated,’ and praising his leadership as an example for other states to follow. ‘I know Gov. Walz is on the phone, and we spoke, and I fully agree with the way he handled it the last couple of days,’ Trump told a group of governors on June 1, 2020, according to a recording of the call, in which he also called Walz an ‘excellent guy.’ ‘I was very happy with the last couple of days, Tim,’ Trump continued. ‘You called up big numbers and the big numbers knocked them out so fast it was like bowling pins.’” [ABC News, 8/7/24]
Trump Committed To Cutting Energy And Electricity Prices In Half, Then Almost Immediately Backed Away From The Promise. According to the New York Times, “Yet even as Mr. Trump has knocked Ms. Harris for shifting political positions and making promises he says she does not intend to keep, Mr. Trump committed to ‘slashing energy and electricity prices by half’ if elected, then almost immediately backed away from committing to that figure. ‘If it doesn’t work out, you’ll say, ‘Oh well, I voted for him. I still got it down a lot,’’ he said.” [New York Times, 8/14/24]
Trump Told Pennsylvania Voters To Vote Early, Then Called Early Voting “Stupid.” According to Politico, “Donald Trump urged voters Monday in Pennsylvania to vote early in the crucial swing state. Then, he quickly reversed course. Early voting, the former president said, is ‘stupid’ — even if it might help him as polls show him in a close race with Vice President Kamala Harris. ‘We’re here today because early voting begins in Pennsylvania over the next two weeks, and we need each and every one of you to go out,’ he told the crowd in Indiana, Penn. ‘Just don’t take anything for granted.’ Trump’s contradictory statements about what has become a common method of voting throughout the U.S. — and now embraced by many Republicans — reflects his hatred of a practice he says is vulnerable to fraud and helped cost him the 2020 election. Minutes after urging people to vote early, he repeated his baseless claims of fraud in the 2020 election to several thousand supporters. ‘What happened the last time was disgraceful,’ he said.” [Politico, 9/23/24]