A: Two possibilities: one, you beat us to it (!), or two, we judged that piece of news to be speculative or not corresponding to a specific policy pledge our site is tracking. We don’t intend to report on each and every rumor or statement, but instead to track progress (or lack thereof) towards specific promises made by the Trump campaign and administration.
A: Track Trump was not created to break news, we are not journalists and there are plenty of excellent outlets doing that already! Before we update our tracker, we are committed to finding and providing you with accurate information sourced directly from the federal government that demonstrates specific steps that have been or will be taken towards one of the policies we are tracking.
A: We see ourselves as just one tool in the toolkit of an informed citizenry. We provide information on the progress made towards specific policies, and we certainly hope that others will take it upon themselves to measure and track their impact if they are implemented.
A: An “update” is posted whenever the administration takes a step towards accomplishing a specific policy promise. It may be accompanied by a change in the color of the icon next to that promise on our site. “Roundups” are posted, tweeted, and emailed every evening and summarize the policy-related events of the day. While updates only occur when concrete policy changes are made, roundups are posted every day and include news and events that could potentially impact policy in the future.
A: When we update the tracker, we link to documents from official government websites whenever possible. If there is a delay in an official document being available, we may link to an unedited transcript or a copy hosted elsewhere. In our roundups, we link to relevant videos, articles, social media posts, or other sources that may help provide context to the events of the day.
A: We try to stick to promises that were made repeatedly or as part of a specific plan or proposal like the Contract with the American Voter. We recognize that campaign rhetoric and actual policy proposals can be difficult to untangle, and we welcome your suggestions if you feel something significant is missing.
A: Not necessarily! But we love this sort of feedback, and we have made certain adjustments based on user suggestions.