Is Trump the most honest president in modern history?

WASHINGTON >> Donald Trump may be remembered as the most honest president in modern American history.

Don’t get me wrong, Trump lies all the time. He said that he “enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history” (actually they’re the eighth largest) and that “our economy is the strongest it’s ever been in the history of our country” (which may one day be true, but not yet).

But when it comes to the real barometer of presidential truthfulness — keeping his promises — Trump is a paragon of honesty. For better or worse, since taking office Trump’s done exactly what he promised he’d do.

Trump kept his promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, something his three immediate predecessors also promised yet failed to do. He promised to “crush and destroy ISIS,” and two years later he’s on the verge of eliminating the Islamic State’s physical caliphate. He promised to impose a travel ban on countries he saw as posing a terrorist threat, and after several false starts the final version of his ban was upheld by the Supreme Court. He promised to punish Syria if it used chemical weapons on its people, and, unlike Obama, he followed through — twice.

Trump pledged to nominate Supreme Court justices “in the mold of Justice Scalia,” and now Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh sit on the high court. Trump also pledged to fill the federal appellate courts with young, conservative judges, and so far the Senate has confirmed 29 — more than any recent president at this point in his administration.

Trump vowed to pass historic tax reforms, and signed the first major overhaul of the tax code in three decades. He vowed an unprecedented regulatory rollback. In his first year, he achieved $8.1 billion in lifetime regulatory savings and is on track to achieve an additional $9.8 billion.

During the campaign, he told African-American voters, “I’ll bring jobs back.” On his watch, African-American unemployment reached the lowest level ever recorded, and his tax reform included creating “Opportunity Zones” to try to revitalize struggling towns and inner-city communities.

Trump promised to cancel President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, withdraw from the Paris climate accord, approve the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, and open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to exploration. And he did.

On trade, he kept his promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, committed to renegotiating NAFTA and the U.S.Korea Free Trade Agreement — and recently signed new deals with Mexico, Canada and South Korea. He committed to imposing tariffs on China to force it to open its markets and stop its theft of intellectual property — and is following through.

The president pledged historic increases in defense spending and delivered; to bring back manufacturing jobs and they’re growing at the fastest pace in over 20 years; to give dying Americans access to experimental treatments and did.

Where Trump has failed to keep promises, such as building the wall or repealing Obamacare, it’s not been for a lack of trying. Only in a few rare instances has he backtracked on a campaign pledge — such as when he admitted he was wrong to promise a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and reversed course. I’m glad he did.

But whether one agrees or disagrees with what he’s done is not the point. When Trump says he will do something, you can take it to the bank. Yes, he takes liberties with the truth. But unlike his predecessor, he didn’t pass his signature legislative achievement on the basis of a lie (“If you like your health care plan, you can keep it”) — which is clearly worse than falsely bragging that your tax cut is the biggest ever.

The fact is, in his first two years, Trump has compiled a remarkable record of presidential promise-keeping. He’d probably say it’s the best in history — which may or may not end up being true. It’s too soon to tell. Marc Thiessen writes for the Washington Post.