Despite an obsession with being punctual, Trump consistently fails to meet his own deadlines

With President Trump, everything is always "two weeks away" — a deadline he never hits

Published June 6, 2017 5:18PM (EDT)

  (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
(Reuters/Lucas Jackson)

If there's one thing President Trump has been consistent at, it's failing to meet his own deadlines.

Trump has often promised big plans or important announcements arriving in the near future, yet he has consistently failed to bring them into fruition, according to Bloomberg. For instance, when Trump promised on February 9 that his administration's landmark tax bill was "way ahead of schedule," 11 weeks passed by before the White House presented the country with a one-page memo.

"We’re going to be announcing something I would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax and developing our aviation infrastructure," Trump said while meeting with airline executives, according to Bloomberg. It took the president 15 weeks to deliver his aviation infrastructure proposal.

In the final days of April, the president said he would deliver his $1 trillion infrastructure construction program in the coming two or three weeks, yet he failed to deliver once again — as of writing, nothing has been filed, according to Bloomberg.

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Bloomberg reported:

Trump’s habit of self-imposing -- then missing -- two-week deadlines for major announcements has become a staple of his administration as it’s struggled to amass policy wins. The president has used two-week timelines to sidestep questions from reporters or brag to CEOs at the White House. But his pronouncements have also flummoxed investors, Congress and occasionally even members of his staff.

The president’s inability to meet his own deadlines highlights his struggle adjusting to the pace of Washington. It also foreshadows the trouble that lies ahead as his administration faces a series of hard deadlines in Congress over the next few months.

Trump often sets the "two week" deadline for his administration, but he has almost never met that standard.

"And I’ll be making a big decision on the Paris accord over the next two weeks," Trump told a crowd in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on April 29, according to Bloomberg. After a month passed, the president was still unsure of his official decision and eventually made the announcement last week, on June 1.

Trump's failure to hit deadlines is ironic given how Trump has written about the value of being punctual. In his 1987 book "The Art of the Deal," Trump expressed disdain for those who make promises they can't keep, according to Bloomberg. Yet Trump's own words — or tweets for that matter — seem to contradict this.

"You can’t con people, at least not for long. You can create excitement, you can do wonderful promotion and get all kinds of press, and you can throw in a little hyperbole,” Trump wrote, according to Bloomberg. "But if you don’t deliver the goods, people will eventually catch on."


By Charlie May

MORE FROM Charlie May


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Art Of The Deal Bloomberg Deadlines Donald Trump Punctuality Trump Administration White House