Trump's biggest U-turns since the election, from China to Nato

On some major issues he brought up during the campaign, Mr Trump has reversed course

The President has reversed his thinking on several big issues

Donald Trump campaigned as the anti-establishment, anti-Washington candidate who could break the mould on some of America’s most pressing issues, but, one year after his surprise election, the President has been forced to roll back on some major promises he made to pioneer a new way forward.

While the President has chipped away at an array of his predecessor’s achievements, the realities of the Oval Office have forced Mr Trump to reevaluate the best course forward on some of the biggest issues the nation faces.

Here’s a round up of those U-turns.

Nato

Mr Trump railed hard against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization during the 2016 campaign, calling the alliance that many cite as one of the cornerstones of today’s political world order “obsolete”, lamenting America’s outsized tab in funding the effort, and saying he would like to see the group focus more on counter-terrorism efforts.

But, just months into his presidency, Mr Trump began to sing a different tune. Referencing unnamed changes to the group’s organization, the President said that Nato was no longer the pariah he had made it out to be.

“I complained about that a long time ago, and they made a change — and now they do fight terrorism,” Mr Trump said in April. “I said it was obsolete. It's no longer obsolete.”

Nato fought terrorism for years in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks, when a US-led coalition invaded to cripple groups like the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Afghanistan

The President had long said that his “instinct” was to immediately withdraw troops from Afghanistan, where America has been mired in conflict for 16 years. But, Mr Trump came around to a different way of thinking in August, just after one of the most outspoken nationalists in the White House who had urged completely withdrawing from the country, Steve Bannon, was pushed out.

Mr Trump said that he had met with US military leaders to discuss the strategy in the region, and had come to understand that an immediate withdrawal could leave it vulnerable to becoming a failed state, and vulnerable to terrorist group dominance.

“My original instinct was to pull out. And historically, I like following my instinct,” Mr Trump said in August, announcing his change in heart.

He also acknowledged that making decisions in the Oval Office is a much different ballgame than anyone can ever know before hand.

“All my life, I've heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk of the Oval Office,” he said.

Syria

Mr Trump, as a private citizen, was sceptical of bombing Syria, and struck a looser tone toward the crisis there (suggesting at one point that bombing the country would only result in more debt for the US, for example).

But, after reported chemical attacks were approved by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Mr Trump performed an about-face on the issue. Just 72 hours after his administration seemed to be hinting that Mr Assad could do whatever he wanted in his country, Mr Trump authorized missile strikes there. In doing so, Mr Trump called Mr Assad a “butcher” for the chemical attacks.

Russia

Mr Trump had mused as a candidate that it would be great to improve the relationship between Russia and the US, and fancied himself the candidate to do just that. It was a dream that many among the Washington elite were skeptical of, and one that many said flew in the face of geopolitical realities.

But, after labeling Mr Assad a “butcher” for his reported chemical attacks on civilians — a move that was sure to anger the Russians — and amid heightened military tensions between the US and Russia near Syria, the President changed his outlook.

“Right now we are not getting along with Russia at all. We may be at an all-time low in terms of relationship with Russia,” he said during a White House press conference signalling his departure from the promise to chill the tension.

China

As a candidate for president, Mr Trump repeatedly pointed to China as one of America’s most significant foes, and said that China was rigging the game. He repeatedly said that the Asian country should be labelled as a currency manipulator, and promised he would do so as President.

But, as tensions with North Korea heightened this year, Mr Trump struck a more conciliatory tone toward its major international rival.

“Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem?” Mr Trump tweeted in April. “We will see what happens!”

Washington politics

While Mr Trump still promises to "drain the swamp" in Washington, a euphemism for ridding it of the shady, elitist, money-driven reputation of the US capital, he has so far failed to do so. Instead, his administration has been scandalised by the misuse of funds. That includes the former Secretary of the Department of Health and Services Tom Price, who was forced to resign after it was determined that he had chartered luxury jet travel on the taxpayer's dime, as well as others in Mr Trump's cabinet who have used government travel options for personal reasons.

In addition to those perceived misuses of funds, the Trump administration has hired more than 100 lobbyists to work in the executive branch this year. Of those, the majority of the hires had lobbied on behalf of the companies that are regulated by the government agency the former lobbyist was joining.

Obamacare

Mr Trump promised during the campaign that he could repeal and replace Obamacare as president, and he took over a party that had made that same promise for seven years. While Republicans claimed during that time that all they needed was a majority in both the House and the Senate, alongside a sympathetic president, Mr Trump has claimed, as he does about most anything, that he is uniquely qualified to fix America's healthcare system.

But the Republicans have failed so far to leverage those majorities and executive branch dominance into any major legislative change to federal law. Mr Trump, perhaps sensing his long-shot chances of a major legislative victory on the front has repeatedly changed his tune. At one point, after failed legislative attempts, he said that he was content to simply watch the healthcare law fail, and then pick up the pieces. At other times he's championed only repealing the legislation, even without a sensible replacement plan. Most recently, he signed a controversial executive order that allows small businesses to band together to secure cheaper rates for coverage, and allows people to shop for insurance out-of-state (critics say that the program would lure young, healthy people away from markets, making them vulnerable).

The travel ban

On the campaign trail, Mr Trump was pretty blunt when describing the type of ban he'd like to see the federal government put in place: A Muslim ban.

But, once he was sworn into office, the Trump administration had to change its outward focus, and fine tune the countries it wanted to target.

Soon after becoming President, the administration issued a highly controversial travel ban, which was quickly stayed by US judges, and then abandoned by the administration. They took a second crack at the travel ban just months later in March, but were similarly met by opponents who were able to get the measure blocked pending judicial review.

The ban was later upheld by the Supreme Court, allowing the Trump administration to begin halting travel from six Muslim-majority countries, and to put a temporary halt on US refugee admissions for a time. The administration was forced to fine-tune which countries the ban would target during that process. A third attempt at the ban has been blocked and will be subject to appeal, which is likely to end up back in front of the Supreme Court.