<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>notgop — the record</title><description>The 2024 Republican platform, checked against what was done. New entries and corrections.</description><link>https://notgop.com</link><item><title>Court lets DHS resume voter citizenship checks with a tool that has wrongly flagged citizens</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/save-database-revived</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/save-database-revived</guid><description>Said: “Secure our elections, including same day voting, voter identification, paper ballots, and proof of citizenship” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 19). In DHS v. League of Women Voters (No. 26A308), the Supreme Court granted an unsigned stay on September 25, 2026, by a 6-3 vote, letting states resume using DHS&apos;s modified SAVE database, now linked to Social Security records, to check voters&apos; citizenship while the underlying case proceeds, reversing a June 2026 district court injunction. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, joined by Justices Kagan and Sotomayor, warning the majority disregarded the harm of letting a flawed tool keep operating. Local test runs have found high error rates: a St. Louis County, Missouri check flagged 691 voters as noncitizens, of whom at least 81% were later confirmed to be citizens, and Texas reinstated 20% of the voters SAVE had flagged.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 19: Elections</category><category>Mixed</category></item><item><title>They promised peace in Europe and an “Iron Dome.” The war goes on, and the shield has barely moved.</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/ukraine-golden-dome</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/ukraine-golden-dome</guid><description>Said: “Prevent World War Three, restore peace in Europe and in the Middle East, and build a great Iron Dome missile defense shield over our entire country -- all made in America” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 8). As of September 2026 there is no peace agreement in Ukraine; only limited truces have been tried, and the Secretary of State has said the war must end in a negotiated settlement. The “Golden Dome” missile shield was announced in May 2025 at $175 billion, and the July 2025 tax law gave it about $25 billion. In April 2026, National Defense Magazine reported the program was “spinning its wheels” because of internal disagreement over its design.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 8: War &amp; peace</category><category>Mixed</category></item><item><title>They promised Congress would pass a tariff law. They imposed tariffs by decree, and the Supreme Court struck them down 6–3.</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/ieepa-tariffs</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/ieepa-tariffs</guid><description>Said: “Republicans will support baseline Tariffs on Foreign-made goods, pass the Trump Reciprocal Trade Act, and respond to unfair Trading practices.” (2024 Republican Platform, Chapter Five). The platform promised Congress would pass a Reciprocal Trade Act. Instead, the broad 2025 tariffs were imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. In Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump (Feb. 20, 2026), the Court held that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs, and those tariffs ended February 24, 2026. The tariffs were a promise kept; the method bypassed Congress and did not survive court review.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 5: Manufacturing &amp; trade</category><category>Mixed</category></item><item><title>Promise kept: EV tax credits ended and California’s clean-car rules revoked</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/ev-mandate</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/ev-mandate</guid><description>Said: “Cancel the electric vehicle mandate and cut costly and burdensome regulations” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 15). Congress used the Congressional Review Act to overturn California’s Clean Air Act waivers, including Advanced Clean Cars II, and the President signed the resolutions on June 12, 2025. The $7,500 new-EV credit and $4,000 used-EV credit ended September 30, 2025. In February 2026, EPA finalized the rescission of the 2009 greenhouse-gas endangerment finding for motor vehicles. Legal challenges are pending.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 15: EVs &amp; regulation</category><category>Kept</category></item><item><title>They promised to rebuild cities. They sent troops, and courts blocked several deployments.</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/guard-deployments</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/guard-deployments</guid><description>Said: “Rebuild our cities, including Washington DC, making them safe, clean, and beautiful again” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 11). On September 2, 2025, Judge Charles Breyer ruled that the use of troops in Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act. A federal judge in Oregon permanently blocked the deployment to Portland in November 2025. On December 23, 2025, the Supreme Court declined to allow Guard troops to deploy in the Chicago area. We have found no new federal program to rebuild cities.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 11: Cities &amp; D.C.</category><category>Mixed</category></item><item><title>Record U.S. oil output, while every offshore wind farm under construction was ordered to stop</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/energy-output-and-wind</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/energy-output-and-wind</guid><description>Said: “Make America the dominant energy producer in the world, by far!” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 4). EIA says U.S. crude production averaged a record 13.6 million barrels a day in 2025, extending a lead the U.S. has held since 2018. In December 2025, Interior paused the leases and halted construction at all five offshore wind projects then being built, about 5.8 gigawatts of capacity, citing national-security reviews. That came on top of a January 2025 freeze on new offshore wind permits.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 4: Energy</category><category>Mixed</category></item><item><title>Their tax law triggered a $491 billion Medicare cut. Congress waived it.</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/medicare-paygo</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/medicare-paygo</guid><description>Said: “President Trump has made absolutely clear that he will not cut one penny from Medicare or Social Security.” (2024 Republican Platform, Chapter Six). Under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, laws that add to deficits set off automatic cuts, and Medicare is among the programs hit. In August 2025 CBO estimated the resulting Medicare cuts would total $491 billion over 2027–2034. Congress cleared the PAYGO scorecard in the November 12, 2025 funding law (H.R. 5371), so the cut did not take effect. CBO notes the law will keep adding to deficits every year, so the same trigger will come up again unless Congress waives it again.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 14: Social Security &amp; Medicare</category><category>Kept</category></item><item><title>The proof-of-citizenship voting order was permanently blocked in court</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/proof-of-citizenship</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/proof-of-citizenship</guid><description>Said: “Secure our elections, including same day voting, voter identification, paper ballots, and proof of citizenship” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 19). Executive Order 14248 (March 2025) told the Election Assistance Commission to require documentary proof of citizenship on the federal registration form. On October 31, 2025, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly permanently barred that, and in January 2026 she blocked two further citizenship provisions. The ruling rested on who has the power to act; it did not decide whether proof of citizenship is good policy.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 19: Elections</category><category>Mixed</category></item><item><title>Promise kept: border apprehensions fell to their lowest level since 1970</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/border-apprehensions</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/border-apprehensions</guid><description>Said: “Seal the border, and stop the migrant invasion” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 1). CBP reports 237,565 southwest border apprehensions in fiscal year 2025, the lowest total since 1970 and about 87% below the average of the four years before. According to CBP, 72% of that year’s apprehensions happened in the first 111 days, before January 20. By this measure, the promise has been kept.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 1: The border</category><category>Kept</category></item><item><title>“Largest deportation operation in American history”? What the numbers say so far</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/deportation-scale</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/deportation-scale</guid><description>Said: “Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 2). Estimates of ICE removals in fiscal year 2025 run from about 320,000 to about 340,000 in analyses of ICE’s own data, and some later tallies are higher. The previous peak, in fiscal year 2012, was about 410,000. DHS has cited much larger figures that include people it says left on their own, which independent analysts dispute. We will update this entry as ICE’s locked annual data is published.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 2: Deportations</category><category>Mixed</category></item><item><title>They froze $2 billion at Harvard. A judge ruled it illegal retaliation for speech.</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/harvard-freeze</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/harvard-freeze</guid><description>Said: “Deport pro-Hamas radicals and make our college campuses safe and patriotic again” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 18). The administration said the freeze was about antisemitism on campus. Judge Allison Burroughs struck it down in full on September 3, 2025. She found that it violated the First Amendment and skipped the notice and hearing steps required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. She wrote that the actions were “much more about promoting a governmental orthodoxy” than about fighting antisemitism.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 18: Campuses</category><category>Mixed</category></item><item><title>Promise kept: school funding order signed, Education Department staff halved</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/k12-education-dept</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/k12-education-dept</guid><description>Said: “Cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, radical gender ideology, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on our children” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 16). Executive Order 14190 (January 29, 2025) directs agencies to plan cutting off federal funds to K-12 schools that teach what it calls “discriminatory equity ideology” or “gender ideology.” A March 2025 order began closing the Department of Education, and on July 14, 2025 the Supreme Court allowed layoffs of nearly half its staff to proceed. Several lawsuits over the funding conditions are still pending.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 16: Schools</category><category>Kept</category></item><item><title>They promised to slash spending. Their tax law adds $3.4 trillion to deficits.</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/deficit-p-l-119-21</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/deficit-p-l-119-21</guid><description>Said: “Republicans will immediately stabilize the Economy by slashing wasteful Government spending and promoting Economic Growth.” (2024 Republican Platform, Chapter One). Public Law 119-21 (the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”) was signed July 4, 2025. CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimate it raises deficits by $3.4 trillion over 2025–2034 before interest, and by $4.1 trillion once added debt-service costs are counted. It cuts about $1.4 trillion in spending, mostly Medicaid, SNAP and student loans, while reducing revenue by about $4.5 trillion.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 3: Prices</category><category>Broken</category></item><item><title>“No tax on tips” became law, but it’s temporary, capped, and payroll tax still applies</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/no-tax-on-tips</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/no-tax-on-tips</guid><description>Said: “Large tax cuts for workers, and no tax on tips!” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 6). P.L. 119-21 lets eligible workers deduct up to $25,000 in qualified tips from federal income tax for tax years 2025 through 2028, with the deduction phasing out at higher incomes. Tips are still subject to Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes. We count this as a promise kept, with those limits noted.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 6: Taxes</category><category>Kept</category></item><item><title>Promise kept: $150 billion more for the military</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/defense-funding</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/defense-funding</guid><description>Said: “Strengthen and modernize our military, making it, without question, the strongest and most powerful in the world” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 12). P.L. 119-21 appropriated about $150 billion for defense priorities, including shipbuilding, missile defense, space systems and munitions. It was paid for with borrowing, as the deficit entry above shows. Separately, in September 2025 an executive order let the Pentagon use “Department of War” as a secondary name; a permanent change would need Congress.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 12: Military</category><category>Kept</category></item><item><title>The dollar stayed the world’s reserve currency, after its worst half-year since 1973</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/dollar-slide</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/dollar-slide</guid><description>Said: “Keep the U.S. dollar as the world&apos;s reserve currency” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 13). The U.S. Dollar Index fell about 10.8% in the first half of 2025, its biggest first-half drop since 1973, as markets reacted to tariff and fiscal policy. In July 2025 the GENIUS Act (P.L. 119-27) created the first federal rules for dollar-backed stablecoins, which supporters argue will increase demand for the dollar.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 13: The dollar</category><category>Mixed</category></item><item><title>Social Security benefits are untouched, but the agency lost 7,000 staff</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/ssa-staffing</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/ssa-staffing</guid><description>Said: “Fight for and protect Social Security and Medicare with no cuts, including no changes to the retirement age” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 14). In February 2025 the Social Security Administration announced it would cut about 7,000 jobs, roughly 12% of its workforce. It also said it would consolidate its ten regional offices into four. Benefit formulas and the full retirement age have not changed. Advocates and the employees’ union warned that the cuts would slow claims and field-office service.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 14: Social Security &amp; Medicare</category><category>Mixed</category></item><item><title>They promised to defend free speech, then barred the AP over “Gulf of Mexico”</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/ap-access</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/ap-access</guid><description>Said: “Defend our constitution, our bill of rights, and our fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to keep and bear arms” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 7). The White House cut the AP’s access because of the AP Stylebook’s editorial choice. On April 8, 2025, Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, ruled the exclusion was viewpoint discrimination “contrary to the First Amendment.” In June 2025 an appeals panel let the ban stand while the case continues.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 7: Rights &amp; free speech</category><category>Broken</category></item><item><title>Promise kept: an executive order bars transgender women from women’s school sports</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/womens-sports</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/womens-sports</guid><description>Said: “Keep men out of women&apos;s sports” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 17). Executive Order 14201 threatens federal funding for schools that let transgender women and girls compete on women’s teams. On February 6, 2025, the NCAA limited women’s competition to athletes assigned female at birth.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 17: Women&apos;s sports</category><category>Kept</category></item><item><title>They promised to end government weaponization. They fired 17 watchdogs, and a judge ruled it unlawful.</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/inspectors-general</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/inspectors-general</guid><description>Said: “End the weaponization of government against the American people” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 9). On January 24, 2025, at least 17 agency inspectors general were dismissed by two-sentence emails citing “changing priorities.” The Inspector General Act requires 30 days’ notice to Congress with case-specific reasons. On September 24, 2025, Judge Ana C. Reyes ruled that the firings violated the Act but declined to reinstate the officials.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 9: Weaponization</category><category>Broken</category></item><item><title>They promised to lock up violent offenders, then granted clemency to 169 who pleaded guilty to assaulting police</title><link>https://notgop.com/record/j6-pardons</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://notgop.com/record/j6-pardons</guid><description>Said: “Stop the migrant crime epidemic, demolish the foreign drug cartels, crush gang violence, and lock up violent offenders” (2024 Republican Platform, Promise 10). Pardons, commutations and orders to drop pending cases covered everyone charged in the Capitol riot. Among them were 169 people who had pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers, and more than 170 people accused of using a deadly or dangerous weapon against officers, such as bear spray or a fire extinguisher.</description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT</pubDate><category>Promise 10: Crime &amp; cartels</category><category>Broken</category></item></channel></rss>