U.S. President
Donald Trump hit the road on Saturday to celebrate his first 100 days in
the White House with cheering supporters at a campaign-style rally,
touting his initial achievements and lashing out at critics.
Trump
told a Pennsylvania crowd he was just getting started on meeting his
campaign promises. He repeatedly attacked an “incompetent, dishonest”
media, saying they were not telling the truth about his administration’s
accomplishments.
“My
administration has been delivering every single day for the great
citizens of our country,” Trump said in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “We
are keeping one promise after another, and frankly the people are really
happy about it.”
The rally
occurred on the same day as a climate march at which thousands of
protesters surrounded the White House, and it also coincided with the
annual black-tie White House press dinner in Washington.
Trump
and his staff chose to skip the press dinner because of what he said
was unfair treatment by the press. Trump said he was thrilled to be away
from the “Washington swamp”.
“A
large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media are consoling each
other in a hotel ballroom in our nation’s capital right now,” Trump said
to loud boos from the crowd. “If the media’s job is to be honest and to
tell the truth, the media deserves a very, very big fat failing grade.”
Trump
listed what he said were some of his key early accomplishments,
including the successful confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court of
Justice Neil Gorsuch and clearing away many regulations on the
environment and business.
He also listed his approval of the Keystone
XL and Dakota Access pipelines, killing a pending Asian trade pact, and
enhanced security measures that have led to a sharp decline in illegal
border crossings at the southern border.
“The
world is getting the message: if you try to illegally enter the United
States, you will be caught, detained, deported or put in prison,” Trump
said.
He shrugged off his failure
to score major legislative victories on his core campaign promises, such
as repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act and construction
of a Mexican border wall. Trump’s ban on visitors from some Muslim
nations was blocked in court.
He blamed Democrats for the legislative failures so far and said all of his promises would be kept eventually.
“We’ll build the wall, people, don’t even worry about it,” he said.
Some supporters in the crowd said they were willing to give Trump more time.
“I
voted for him and I’ll give him a year. That’s enough time to whip
Congress into shape and get some deals done,” said Michael Casciaro, 54,
a civilian contractor for the military.
Trump said he reversed course on promises to
name China a currency manipulator because he wanted its help in trying
to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile development. Trump has said
all options are on the table if Pyongyang persists in its nuclear
development.
In an excerpt of an
interview with “Face the Nation” of CBS, set to air on Sunday and Monday
and conducted during the trip to Pennsylvania, Trump said he would “not
be happy” if North Korea conducted a nuclear test. Asked if that would
mean military action, Trump said “I don’t know, I mean we’ll see.”
Reveling
in the cheers in Harrisburg, Trump made reference again to his upset
victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in the crucial swing state of
Pennsylvania, which he said “carried us to a big, beautiful win on Nov.
8.”
Trump left Washington as
another in a series of protests against his administration was winding
up. Thousands of marchers made their way through Washington’s streets
during the People’s Climate March, a protest against Trump’s moves to
roll back environmental regulations.
Asked
by reporters accompanying him to Pennsylvania what he had to say to the
climate change protesters, Trump said: “Enjoy the day, enjoy the
weather.”
After the rally, the
White House said the president had signed two trade-related executive
orders, one for top U.S. officials to review all U.S. trade pacts for
potential abuses and another setting up an office in the White House to
advise him on trade-related issues.
