Breaking news: The Valley News has uncovered evidence of massive voter fraud. This information strongly suggests that President Trump engaged in a scheme last fall to fleece unsuspecting voters by making promises and promoting policies that he knew he could not, or never intended to, implement once in office. To be sure, the evidence is circumstantial and political cynicism is not a crime. But if it were, here’s the indictment.

 Count One: Trump pledged during the campaign to immediately repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, with “something great” that not only would be better and cheaper and but would also cover everybody. No such plan has been forthcoming from the White House. We surmise that’s probably because he can’t figure out how to retain the popular features of the ACA, such as coverage for pre-existing conditions, without also keeping the unpopular ones, such as the mandate for everyone to purchase insurance. The law’s interlocking parts depend on each other. Indeed, if such a replacement could have been easily devised, it would have been developed long before now, given that Republicans have been advocating repeal ever since the law was enacted in 2010. The president now claims that his plan will be ready in March. Even if it is, Republicans in Congress are sharply divided on the elements of a replacement and wary of being blamed should millions of people lose coverage. 

Count Two: Trump promised to build a wall along the nation’s border with Mexico for $12 billion and make Mexico pay for it, although he did not explain how that would be accomplished. The Department of Homeland Security now estimates that such a barrier to deter illegal immigration would actually cost $21.6 billion, and Mexico has made it plain that it has no intention of footing the bill. Congressional Republicans have suggested, and Trump is considering, an import tax on goods made in Mexico to finance the wall. In that case American consumers, not Mexicans, would be paying to erect it. 

Count Three: Trump railed against Wall Street during his billionaire-populist campaign for president, describing “a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth, and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations.” Since then, he has installed wealthy veterans of big Wall Street banks and hedge funds and super-rich investors in key economic roles in his administration, including at the Treasury Department, the National Economic Council, the Commerce Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, the administration has taken initial steps to dismantle the regulatory structure put in place following the near collapse of the banking system and the economy in 2008. No wonder the stock markets are giddy.

Count Four: While a candidate, the president called the nuclear agreement with Iran negotiated by his predecessor a “really, really bad deal” and threatened to tear it up immediately. Now he is talking about renegotiating it, while The New York Times reports that aides have assured the European Union that the United States will fully carry out its obligations under the agreement.

As we noted, this evidence is circumstantial, but at least there is some, which is more than Trump and his associates have adduced to support his claim that he was deprived of victory in the popular vote for president by millions of people who voted illegally. Of course, Trump would hardly be the first president to fail to deliver when faced with the realities of governing. But what is extraordinary about this series of prevarications is that the pretense of carrying out campaign promises has been dispensed with so thoroughly and so soon.