Donald Trump said a lot of crazy things over the course of his campaign—some of which he probably believed, and some of which were most likely political posturing, platitudes, and the kind of delusions of grandeur that tend to come out of the mouths of megalomaniacs like Trump. But now that he’s actually going to be President (for the record, that will never not feel weird to write), it’s time to see which of his promises he plans on keeping.
For instance, last October, during a campaign rally in Rochester, New Hampshire, Trump told his supporters that if he’s elected, he’ll forgo the annual $400,000 salary that every President is entitled to. “The first thing I'm going to do is tell you that if I'm elected president, I'm accepting no salary, okay? That's not a big deal for me,” Trump said at the time.
During a Twitter Q&A that followed, Trump was once again asked if he planed on collecting a salary if he was elected President. “As far as the salary is concerned—I won't take even one dollar,” he reiterated. “I am totally giving up my salary if I become president.”
Now that Trump will actually be faced with that decision, it’s anybody’s guess on whether or not he’ll actually go through with it. But, based on what we know about the businessman and his shady history of evading taxes, cheating contractors, and running get-rich-quick schemes masquerading as institutions of higher learning, it’s hard to imagine the President-elect not milking this gig for every penny it’s worth.
