After 100 days, Trump keeps up his enthusiasm but ignores reality

Fired up and full of swagger, Donald Trump held an energetic rally to make his 100 days in office where he glossed over the turmoil engulfing his administration.

The US president was amped up by the crowd in his first rally since taking office for a second time and touted the “most successful first 100 days of any administration in the history of our country”.

There was little mention in Trump’s tsunami of superlatives about the polls which show rising anxiety about the economy due to his worldwide tariffs.

Instead the rally in Macomb Community College in Warren felt like a reunion with Trump singling out his most ardent followers in the crowd as he seemed to enjoy being back in front of them.

Pointing out a group of die hard Trump supporters known as the “Front Row Joes”, Trump said: “I miss you guys, I miss the campaign”.

Michigan holds a special place in Trump’s heart and his presidential campaigns in 2016, 2020 and 2024 all ended in the state.

Last election his final campaign event was after midnight in Grand Rapids as his victory over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris was already becoming clear.

The speech was vintage Trump: relentless bragging about his achievements, brutal takedowns of Democrats – and even a protester being thrown out midway through.

The difference this time is that reality is growing ever more distant from Trump’s rhetoric.

He claimed that car makers were “coming in at levels you’ve never seen before” to Michigan, which is seen by many as the centre of America’s car industry.

Yet earlier in the day Trump moved to soften the blow of the 25 per cent tariffs on foreign-made cars that came into effect earlier this month.

Trump claimed that since he took office the cost of eggs was down 87 per cent. 

Maybe, but there was no mention of consumer confidence being at its lowest level since 2011 amid the chaos caused by his tariffs.

The president came close to criticising Federal Reserve chairman Jermone Powell but thought better about it: the last time he threatened to fire Mr Powell the stock market tanked.

Trump complained he had a “Fed person who is not doing a good job, but I won’t say that”.

“I want to be very nice and respectful to the Fed,” he said: “You’re not supposed to criticise the Fed”.

Trump was on safer ground – as is often the case – when looking into the past.

Reflecting on Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race in 2024 and being replaced by Harris, Trump said that “nothing ever happens that happened to me”.

He said: “You’re in a fight and you’re beating the guy so badly and they said put in another fighter, that’s what happened”

“If we hadn’t won the 2024 election: Oh does that sound good”, prompting huge applause from the crowd.

He got a huge cheer when he announced that illegal migrant crossings were down 99.999 percent since he took office, and joked about castigating his officials for allowing three people into the country.

The crowd also loved the impromptu poll on whether to call Biden “Sleepy Joe” or “Crooked Joe” – “Crooked Joe” won by a large margin.

The reality show continued for 90 minutes, reality be damned.Yet the statistics tell a different story: Trump has indeed concluded his 100th day in office with more executive orders signed than any other president over the same period since President Franklin D Roosevelt.

But he has only signed five bills, the fewest in modern history, and his party faces enormous challenges passing its budget which could see unpopular cuts to Social Security.

His administration has been hit with more than 200 lawsuits and polls show voters are souring on Trump, who has the lowest 100-day job approval of any President in the past 80 years.

Just 39 percent of respondents told ABC News this week that they approve of how he is doing his job.

The numbers on the economy are worse and 73 per cent said it is not doing well, while some 53 per cent said it had gotten worse since Trump took office.

During the speech Trump promised that “we’ve just gotten started, you haven’t seen anything yet”.

That may be the case – only not in the way he means.