Trump returns to campaign playbook in Michigan to mark 100 days of governing

Trump and his aides at the White House have underscored the president’s accomplishments over the last 100 days this week, including his signing of more than 200 executive actions, the most of any president in history, in addition to the Laken Riley Act and the Take It Down Act.

Trump and his staff pointed to his immigration and economic progress on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, playing a video of illegal immigrant criminals being deported to Venezuela during the event.

“The radical Democrat Party is racing to the defense of some of the most violent savages on the face of the Earth. Who the hell would vote for these people?” he said. “They’re racing to the courts to help them. But this is not what the people want. This is not what they voted for in record numbers.”

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On Thursday, White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller is expected to amplify Trump’s social issue achievements, including regarding DEI and women’s sports.

“We’re ending the inflation nightmare,” Trump said on Tuesday. “Getting woke lunacy and transgender insanity the hell out of our government, we’re stopping the indoctrination of our children, slashing billions and billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse. Above all, we’re saving the American dream.”

At the same time, Trump’s first 100 days have been undermined by the president’s attempts to upend the country’s relationships with its trade partners and security allies, most notably with Ukraine, as well as the federal government through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. He has also prioritized retribution, from pardoning Jan. 6 offenders to preventing the Associated Press from covering him over the news outlet’s refusal to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and repealing funding for Ivy League institutions over allegations of anti-Semitism.

To that end, during the rally, Trump criticized former President Joe Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris, particularly Biden’s use of an autopen, along with Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI), who this week introduced articles of impeachment, and Republicans who have similarly scrutinized him.

“Every once in a while you have a grandstander Republican,” the president said. “We have some grandstanders every once in a while, not many. But, remember who those grandstanders were and vote them the hell out of office.”

He added: “We cannot allow a handful of communist, radical-left judges to obstruct the enforcement of our laws and assume the duties that belong solely to the president of the United States.”

Trump chose Michigan for his 100th-day rally, complete with protesters, having concluded all his campaigns in the Great Lakes State, a battleground that helped him win the 2016 and 2024 elections. But Michigan is also a battleground for Trump’s tariff policy, given it is the home of the country’s auto industry.

“I want to say thank you to the autoworkers,” Auto Workers for Trump founder Brian Pannebecker said after being brought onstage by the president. “Thank you so much for supporting the greatest president in our lifetimes.”

The unintended consequences of Trump’s tariff policy were on display Tuesday, with the president signing another executive order en route to provide temporary relief for automakers from his duties, promoted only weeks ago on what he termed Liberation Day despite each announcement decreasing the value of the stock market and increasing the likelihood of a recession. 

“We just wanted to help them during this little transition. Short term,” he told reporters as he departed the White House. “It has to do with a very small percentage. If they can’t get parts, we didn’t want to penalize them.”

There have been other challenges for Trump too. Aside from national security adviser Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s misuse of messaging app Signal to discuss classified information, courts have also presented challenges to Trump, from DOGE, including his mass firings and reforms to foreign aid, to immigration, such as stopping birthright citizenship and the deportation of U.S. citizens.

Simultaneously, Trump’s approval rating has entered net negative territory, averaging net negative 7 percentage points, 45% approve-53% disapprove, according to RealClearPolitics.

The first 100 days of a presidential administration have become an important measure of presidential success since Franklin Roosevelt’s first term in office.

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Now, as Trump prepares for the next 100 days, the president has indicated his next priority will be passing a budget reconciliation bill through Congress that could expand the tax cuts he championed in 2017. 

“I think either we’ve done everything or it’s in the process of being done,” he said on the White House South Lawn. “We want to get and, very importantly, the big, beautiful new deal. If we get that done, that’s the biggest thing, what’s happening in Congress right now. And I think we’re going to get it done.”