WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump loves offering outlandish ideas and then repeating them until they start to become mainstream — even if they don’t always come to fruition.
Some notions that once felt far-fetched are now the norm, like insisting his government has a Department of War, imposing global tariffs at rates unseen since the Gilded Age and pardoning members of the mob that overran the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
But other musings force him to find ways to save face without keeping his word. And many disappear as simply unworkable.
A look at the latest round of Trump’s especially jaw-dropping recent statements and where they stand:
50-year mortgages
WHERE IT STANDS: Still talking about it.
BACKSTORY: Trump posted on his social media site an image of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt under the heading “30-Year Mortgage” alongside one of himself under a “50-Year Mortgage” title. Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, posted that longer mortgages would be “a complete game changer,” while the White House says it could ease housing affordability pressures. Extending loan terms by two decades would lower monthly payments, but it’d also leave mortgage-holders waiting significantly longer to build home equity. After the idea was panned by economists and even some in the GOP, Trump tried to downplay his own suggestion. “All it means is you pay less per month,” he told Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt nonetheless said Wednesday that Trump’s economic advisers are “seriously looking into” proposals to make it happen.
Tariff revenue checks
WHERE IT STANDS: Still talking about it.
BACKSTORY: Trump suggested online that the tariffs he’s imposed could result in “a dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!).” Experts scoff at the idea, noting that American consumers already are stuck paying high import levies passed onto them by exporters. Even Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has since said the idea may not mean Americans get a check. The administration has collected more than $225 billion in tariff revenue, short of what it would cost to cover so many $2,000 checks, no matter how it defines “high income people.” Still, Leavitt said the White House “is committed to making” revenue checks a reality.
Air traffic controller bonuses
WHERE IT STANDS: In limbo.
BACKSTORY: Trump floated the idea of sending $10,000 bonus checks to air traffic controllers who stayed on the job without pay during the government shutdown. But when asked how he’d pay for it on “The Ingraham Angle,” the president replied, “I don’t know” before adding, “I always get the money from someplace, regardless. It doesn’t matter.”
Death penalty in DC
WHERE IT STANDS: Faded away.
BACKSTORY: Trump issued a September statement directing “the enforcement of death penalty laws in the District of Columbia.” That followed earlier suggestions that those convicted of murder in Washington should be put to death. But the D.C. City Council repealed capital punishment starting in 1981. In a Congress-mandated referendum 11 years later, city voters rejected reinstating the death penalty. The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and Justice Department report to Trump, but most crimes committed in Washington, even murder, don’t qualify as federal offenses.
Creating a US sovereign wealth fund
WHERE IT STANDS: Political off-ramp found.
BACKSTORY: Trump signed a February executive order directing his administration to develop a plan to create a government-owned investment fund. Sovereign wealth funds are typically state-run investment pools derived from surpluses generated by oil wealth in places like Saudi Arabia and Norway. The U.S. has no surplus funds, though, and instead runs up towering budget deficits that have grown since Trump took office. As a workaround, the government has been directing funding to acquire stakes in firms like U.S. Steel, Intel and mineral and rare earth companies — moves the Trump administration says have national security implications — without necessitating declaring a more formal investment pool of money.
Changing NFL kickoff rules
WHERE IT STANDS: Still talking about it — but maybe resigned to it not changing.
BACKSTORY: Trump hates the dynamic kickoff, which has placed coverage players and blockers close together to eliminate injury-inducing, high-speed collisions. “I think it’s so demeaning, and I think it hurts the game. I think it hurts the pageantry,” Trump told ESPN’s Pat McAfee, repeating a complaint he’s expressed numerous times. He called the rule change “unromantic” and “demeaning,” while suggesting to McAfee, “I don’t think they have the right to do that to the game.” But Trump also noted that the NFL will “do what they want to do” and admitted: “I don’t think they’ll change.”
Changing the Commanders’ name/naming their new stadium after him
WHERE IT STANDS: Still talking about it.
BACKSTORY: The White House said recently that it’d be “ beautiful ” to name the Washington Commanders’ new stadium for Trump — an idea the team hasn’t endorsed. The president also has decried the name “Commanders,” suggesting Washington’s NFL team should return to being called the Redskins, a name that was considered offensive to Native Americans. Trump previously suggested he’d look to block construction of a new Commanders stadium unless the team went back to its old name, and he’s not said if a venue named for him might change his mind.
Suspending habeas corpus
WHERE IT STANDS: Faded away.
BACKSTORY: White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said in May that the administration was “actively looking at” suspending habeas corpus in an effort to speed up deportations. But asked about it during an October event with right-wing influencers, Trump was nonplussed, offering only, “Suspending who?” He then punted to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who said she hadn’t “been a part of any discussions on that.”
US retaking
Bagram Airfield
in Afghanistan
WHERE IT STANDS: In limbo.
BACKSTORY: Trump suggested in September, “We’re trying to get it back,” seemingly hinting that the U.S. might renew hostilities with the Taliban to take back Bagram. He subsequently posted online that if the Taliban didn’t give back what was once the largest U.S. military hub in Afghanistan: “BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!” The Taliban has rejected that idea, suggesting instead that the U.S. adopt a policy of “realism and rationality.”
Arrests
for ‘sinister’ behavior at the UN
WHERE IT STANDS: Faded away.
BACKSTORY: Trump demanded an investigation into three “sinister events” against him during September’s U.N. General Assembly. There was the escalator coming to a “screeching halt” with the president on it, which Trump called “absolutely sabotage.” A U.N. spokesperson said an investigation — including a readout of the machine’s central processing unit — later showed a videographer from the U.S. delegation who ran ahead of Trump triggering the escalator’s stop mechanism. Trump still insisted, “The people that did it should be arrested.” The president also said that a malfunctioning teleprompter went “stone cold dark” during his U.N. address, and that the sound didn’t work as he spoke. Trump said the Secret Service was involved, but no arrests have been made.
