President Donald Trump marked the first 100 days of his second term on Tuesday at a rally in Michigan in which he celebrated his border crackdown and boasted of the retribution he has carried out against his perceived enemies and his opponents’ inability to thwart his agenda.

The president addressed about 3,000 of his supporters at Macomb Community College in Warren, an area near Detroit seen as key to his 2024 electoral victory in the state and emblematic of union workers’ shift from the Democratic to the Republican Party.

Trump was in campaign mode, peppering his sentences with false statements — such as the lie that the 2020 election had been stolen — exaggerations, jokes and insults. He mocked the way his predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden, looked in a bathing suit and encouraged the crowd to cheer to indicate which demeaning nickname for him they preferred: “Sleepy Joe” or “Crooked Joe.”

“I miss the campaign,” Trump said at one point.

The speech had been billed as a way for the president to build momentum for his economic policies, which have been dragging him down politically. The area in which Trump spoke held signs that said “Buy American. Hire American.”

Those in the crowd cheered Trump’s agenda, and attendees said they supported his efforts to use tariffs to try to bring back manufacturing jobs to areas like Detroit.

Brian Pannebecker, a retired autoworker who backs Trump’s tariffs, spoke at the rally, declaring that “Macomb County is the home of the Reagan Democrats.” About 56% of the county’s votes in 2024 went for Trump.

Outside the venue, protesters gathered with signs saying, “I dissent.” Two protesters who made it into the rally were removed by security, and the president laughed after calling one by the wrong gender.

Focus on immigration

Much of the speech focused on Trump’s border crackdown, which has resulted in a sharp drop in crossings but also concerns about a lack of due process for those who’ve been arrested. Trump reveled in a video using drone footage that depicted men in military-style gear taking deported migrants into a prison in El Salvador as their heads were shaved.

Since coming into power, the Trump administration has deployed an extensive public relations effort to promote its deportation policy. President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador has assisted in the effort. Both administrations have posted sensational videos of the deportations on social media.

Trump exaggerated the extent of his crackdown, falsely claiming at one point that only three people had slipped by his border agents.

Trump also cast himself as a man of action, highlighting the rapid pace of his executive orders. He has signed more than 130 executive orders this year, nearly as many as Biden did throughout his term.

Half of voters in a recent New York Times/Siena College poll said the upheaval Trump had brought to the nation’s political and economic systems was a “bad thing for the country.” Only 36% said the changes were good. And voters said he had “gone too far” on issue after issue: tariffs, immigration enforcement, cuts to the federal workforce.

At the rally, Trump showed little concern about his falling poll numbers, dismissing them as rigged.

Democrat response

The Democratic National Committee issued a statement responding to Trump’s rally. “While Donald Trump lives in his delusions, Michigan families — along with millions of working families across this country — are forced to live with the consequences of his dangerous, chaotic and economy-destroying agenda,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said.