Throughout 2017, the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, promises of the “Great America” that he used as a campaign tactic engulfed the media. Throughout his first year, we have heard innumerable hollow statements about his successes and ideas for change in the future.     

At his first State of the Union address on Jan. 30, Trump listed his campaign promises, boasted of his accomplishments from the past year and confirmed his goals for the future.

He is either completely confused or is flat-out lying.

Overall, his speech was light on policy and offered vague statements about making change. His claims seemed inconsistent with his cabinet and were mostly left unelaborated upon.

While explaining his opinions on the opioid epidemic, a hotly discussed topic in Washington, he only demanded a tougher approach be taken with the “drug dealers” failing to answer the how?’s, when?’s, and why?’s. He tried to side with his daughter, Ivanka Trump, on the issue of paid leave but moved on without any attempt to elaborate on the subject. President Trump even took credit for rising wages in the employment world, a change that actually occurred during President Obama’s term.

There is a pattern to what we hear about Trump in the media. He spreads lies. And if they aren’t blatantly incorrect statements, they are just vague enough for his voters not to question them. Because I believe in mostly the opposite of what Trump and his cabinet stand for, it has become increasingly hard for me to listen to his opinions and hear what others have to say about him. The news is consistently off at my house and I don’t plan on downloading Twitter any time soon.

But listening to his State of the Union address and later analyzing it, I find it hard to believe that others are not more concerned with the lies he tells. These are not the mindless statements released from his Twitter account during the middle of the night. These are the promises of his campaign and the ideas that have the power to influence the future of America. Facts should not be disregarded while we hear about the state of our nation.

I do not believe any of these promises will be kept. He has already struggled with keeping the few he based his campaign on. I don’t know if his voters agree that he has not fulfilled his promises, but to me it seems as if he isn’t pleasing anyone. Whether it be from Twitter or speeches broadcasted across the United States, I predict 2018 will be filled with the same constant stream of hollow pacts and lies to the nation. Unless the campaign attempts to accomplish what they’ve agreed upon, we can add these unfulfilled promises to the large pile he has already created.