Trump's wildest unfulfilled White House ideas

In the early days of his second term in office, President Donald Trump continues to propose wild ideas. At his core, Trump is a salesman — one whose primary offering is himself, whether in name, ideology or commercial opportunism. His attitude of dealmaking uber alles can, at times, feed into a sense that there is no sales pitch too wild or outrageous to at least be floated. For Trump, that often means making proposals as unfeasible as they are extreme. And unsurprisingly, many of those proposals stay that way — as rhetoric detached from even the possibility of being put into action.

In Trump's shotgun-blast style of governance, the scattershot of actionable ideas may result in one or two that actually hit their mark. These are some of the most extreme ideas Trump has presented throughout his time in politics, all sharing one element: Each of them never stood a chance of happening.

'Freedom Cities' with flying cars

Shortly after officially launching his third bid for the White House ahead of the 2024 election, Trump proposed creating a series of "freedom cities" as part of a "quantum leap in the American Standard of Living." The proposed metropolises would occupy "federal land that is undeveloped and not part of any of our country's magnificent national parks or other natural treasures," Trump said, and would be created alongside a program to develop "vertical takeoff-and-landing vehicles to lead the next generation in air mobility."

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Trump's futuristic, Jetsons-esque vision continues his "long history of outlining audacious new initiatives that are heavy on imagery and light on details," Politico said. Moreover, cities do not "develop" simply by "waving a magic wand," said Forbes.

Since resuming office in the last month, Trump has largely ignored his "freedom city" campaign promise.

A promise to 'end crime' and 'restore law and order'

Falsely accusing former President Joe Biden of having "defunded, defamed and dismantled police forces," candidate Trump in February 2023 unveiled a seven-part plan to transform "our once great cities" that are now "cesspools of bloodshed and crime." The proposal, which features a mix of conservative hobbyhorses such as increased police funding, easier access to concealed weapons and the federalization of National Guard troops as domestic crime fighters, is billed on his website as a plan to "end crime" entirely.

To date, crime in the United States remains un-ended and resilient.

A moon base and a mission to Mars

Trump has long been obsessed with outer space and American dominance thereof, going so far as to create a dedicated "Space Force" during his first term in office. Trump's other space-related promises have been decidedly less tangible — to the point of straining current scientific capabilities.

For his second term, Trump has vowed not only to establish a permanent base on the moon but also to send the first human beings to Mars. Those are two developments that, while seismic in their potential impact, are well beyond what is scientifically feasible at the moment.

The Artemis missions, which Trump approved in 2017, were "expected to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon's surface" sometime this coming year, PBS News said, but have run "over schedule and billions of dollars over its anticipated budget." Internal NASA documents show the "earliest emplacement of a lunar surface habitat not coming until 2034," Ars Technica said in 2022. A manned mission to Mars, meanwhile, is planned for "as early as the 2030s," NASA says on its website — well beyond the end of Trump's current term.

End the Russia-Ukraine war in '24 hours'

Trump's alleged ties to Russia and interest in Ukraine were perhaps the two largest scandals of his first term in office, so it is fitting that one of his widest unrealized promises involves both countries, which have been at war with one another for years. "I want them to stop dying," Trump said during a CNN Town Hall in May 2023. "I'll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours."

Even Keith Kellogg, Trump's envoy for the still ongoing conflict, said to "set it at 100 days" in an interview with Fox News. Trump himself contradicted his claim, insisting a six-month timeline was "more realistic for ending the war," The Kyiv Independent said. Trump advisors have attributed the shift to a "combination of campaign bluster and a lack of appreciation of the intractability of the conflict and the time it takes to staff up a new administration," The Associated Press said.

O' Canada, a 51st state?

While Trump's bellicose posturing over Greenland raised red flags and rolled eyeballs during his first, and now second, administrations, the president's recent feints toward Canada have dominated the latest talk about American imperialism. "I think Canada would be much better off being the 51st state because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada," Trump said in a pre-Super Bowl interview with Fox News' Bret Baier. "I’m not going to let that happen."

Trump's repeated insistence that Canada become an American state has unnerved Canadian officials, including outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump wants access to Canadian natural resources and "has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing," Trudeau said in a moment caught on mic recently, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported. While not strictly impossible, Trump's expansionist agitation is deeply unlikely thanks to a number of mitigating factors. Acquiring Canada "could only happen by drafting a treaty demonstrating that a process of cession, purchase or occupation is legal," said Dalhousie University International Development Studies Professor Robert Huish at The Conversation. "Only then could Congress approve it and only with a two-thirds majority of the Senate," and "Trump does not have two-thirds of the Senate."