Trump Denies Campaign Pledges to Avoid New Wars

In a recent interview, President Donald Trump stated he did not promise Americans there would be no new wars under his leadership. This statement contradicts multiple explicit promises made during his 2024 presidential campaign.

The Interview

In an interview with NBC's Kristen Welker on Meet the Press, aired January 5, 2025, Welker quoted Trump's first-term pledge to avoid new wars.

Trump responded, "I didn't guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?" He further stated, "I didn't promise anything."

The White House website biography credits Trump with "putting a stop to endless wars."

Campaign Statements

Multiple instances from Trump's 2024 campaign speeches and social media posts indicate he made promises regarding the avoidance of new wars under his leadership. These include:

• June 2024 Social Media Post: Trump described the election as a choice between "peace and prosperity or war and no war."

• July 2024 RNC Address: "With our victory in November, the years of war, weakness, and chaos will be over. I don't have wars."

• August 2024 Pennsylvania Rally: "Under Trump, we will have no more wars, no more disruptions, and we will have prosperity and peace for all."

• August 2024 Interview with Adin Ross: After noting no wars during his first term, he said, "And we won't have wars again."

• August 2024 North Carolina Rally: Trump cited Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as saying, "Make sure that Trump gets re-elected president and you're not going to have any more wars." Trump then reiterated, "No more wars. No more disruptions. We will have prosperity and we will have peace."

• October 2024 Wisconsin Rally: Repeating Orbán's alleged statement, Trump said, "If Trump comes back, you won't have any wars."

• November 2024 Victory Address: "Four years, we had no wars, except we defeated ISIS. ... They said, 'He will start a war.' I'm not going to start a war, I'm going to stop wars."

Nuanced or Inconsistent Statements

During the campaign, Trump occasionally included qualifiers in his statements about war. On October 2024, at a Madison Square Garden rally, he said "You're not going to have a war with me, and you're not going to have a third World War with me," but also mentioned that war is "always a possibility."

In June 2024 remarks in Arizona, he said, "We are going to make sure there's no wars," and added, "We don't want to have wars. I call them endless wars. I call them wars where people don't even want us involved."

Current Context

The US-Israel military campaign against Iran, which was launched under Trump's administration, currently has no clear end date.