By Peter Nicholas
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- President Donald Trump took pointed swipes at
Democrats and the media while offering a robust defense of his
record, proclaiming at a campaign-style rally that he has delivered
"100 days of action" that are helping to revive the fortunes of the
American middle class.
In a tense event marked by clashes between Trump supporters and
detractors, the president said he has made good on an assortment of
promises made during last year's presidential campaign.
Mr. Trump said he is curbing illegal immigration, negotiating
more favorable trade deals, and in perhaps the most crowd-pleasing
line of the night, pursuing construction of a wall on the border
with Mexico.
"We will build the wall as sure as you standing there tonight,"
Mr. Trump said Saturday, his 100th day in office.
Though Mr. Trump dwelled on what he sees as successes, he has
also faced high-profile setbacks, including the collapse of a
health-care overhaul and court rulings that have blocked his
executive orders on immigration.
In remarks that veered off-script, he skittered across a range
of topics from war and peace to the economy to the New York Times'
Manhattan headquarters building, which he called "ugly." He boasted
of his moves to roll back Obama-era regulations on fossil fuels and
his threats to impose new import limits in hard-hit manufacturing
sectors.
"Whether it's putting our coal miners back to work, protecting
American steel and aluminum workers, or eliminating job-killing
regulations, we are keeping one promise after another," the
president said. "And frankly, the people are really happy about it.
They see what's happening."
Eager to show he is delivering for a state that he won by less
than 1% of the vote, Mr. Trump said that "importantly for
Pennsylvania, we have ended the war on beautiful, clean coal, and
we are putting our great coal miners' back to work. We love our
coal miners."
Invoking the economic nationalist rhetoric that has set many of
his business supporters -- and some of his aides -- on edge, Mr.
Trump proclaimed: "We are not going to let other countries take
advantage of us any more. From now on, it's going to be America
first!"
As Mr. Trump spoke, police repeatedly escorted protesters out of
the arena. In some cases, the demonstrators and Trump supporters
exchanged angry words, and in at least one instance, multiple
police officers converged to restrain a protester before he was led
away.
Mr. Trump had harsh words for his political opponents. He took
aim at Barack Obama, saying his predecessor let gang violence
expand in the U.S. And he mocked Senate Democratic leader Chuck
Schumer of New York as "a bad leader -- not a natural leader at
all."
The president also peppered his speech with broadsides against
the news media. He cast the press as another political actor in the
American system, one that he said is out of touch with "your
priorities."
"Their agenda is not your agenda," Mr. Trump said.
The rally created a distinctive split-screen moment.
Rather than attend the annual black-tie White House
Correspondents Association dinner in Washington, D.C., Mr. Trump
opted for a come-as-you are campaign rally at the Farm Show Complex
and Expo Center in a state that was crucial to his upset election
victory. About 10,000 people packed the arena, many wearing "Make
America Great Again" hats.
Mr. Trump told the crowd: "I could not possibly be more thrilled
than to be more than 100 miles away from Washington's swamp,
spending my evening with all of you and with a much, much larger
crowd and much better people."
Back in Washington, the WHCA dinner unfolded without the
president in his customary spot on the dais. The last president to
miss the dinner was Ronald Reagan, who phoned into the event in
1981 as he was recovering from an assassination attempt.
"A large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media are
consoling each other in a hotel ballroom in our nation's capital
right now," Mr. Trump said.
When one of the speakers warming up the crowd in Harrisburg
mentioned the WHCA dinner, boos rang through the arena.
Mr. Trump used the rally to mark a 100-day milestone he has come
to embrace. Having dismissed the marker as a "ridiculous standard"
in a tweet last week, he has been making the case that he had a
successful opening act. In a tweet Saturday, he wrote: "Mainstream
(FAKE) media refuses to state our long list of achievements,
including 28 legislative signings, strong borders & great
optimism!"
White House aides say notable achievements include Neil
Gorsuch's confirmation as a Supreme Court justice and the rollback
of regulations they believe have hampered job growth.
Mr. Trump has also endured setbacks in his early days in office.
As a candidate, he promised to repeal and replace former President
Obama's Affordable Care Act. But a bill that would have overhauled
the health-care system collapsed in the House last month amid
divisions in the Republican caucus.
The courts have blocked Mr. Trump's efforts to tighten
immigration from some majority-Muslim countries in a bid to reduce
the risks of terrorist attacks. And Mr. Trump's first national
security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned after misleading Vice
President Mike Pence about his communications with Russian
officials.
A major test looms in the next 100 days: Mr. Trump's effort to
rewrite the tax code. He released the outline of a plan earlier in
the week, saying he wants to deliver historic tax cuts.
Rob Stutzman, a Republican strategist based in Sacramento,
Calif., said in an interview that if Mr. Trump fails to pass his
tax plan, Republicans would face difficulties in the 2018 midterm
elections.
The fate of Mr. Trump's tax plan will show whether Mr. Trump can
forge "a working coalition with Congress," Mr. Stutzman said.
Another big question facing Mr. Trump is whether to keep the
U.S. in the 2015 Paris climate accord aimed at curbing global
warming. It is the subject of intense disagreements among his
advisers. Mr. Trump used the rally to announce that he would soon
be "making a big decision" on the Paris pact, which he attacked as
a "one-sided" deal that could "ultimately shrink" the U.S. economy
and result in factory and plant closures.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump seemed eager to explain why he didn't
take certain actions he had promised on the campaign trail. He had
vowed that on his first day in office he would label China a
currency manipulator -- an accusation leveled at countries that
keep their currencies artificially low to boost cheap exports --
but instead has decided not to do so.
Mr. Trump said he wants Beijing to cooperate with the U.S. in
curtailing North Korea's nuclear ambitions. For the U.S. to ask
Chinese leaders to help and then call them currency manipulators
"doesn't work," Mr. Trump said.
"So let's see what happens," Mr. Trump said. "I think it's not
exactly the right time to call China a currency manipulator right
now. Can we agree?"
The audience applauded.
And while he has yet to take some of the actions he pledged on
the campaign trail to rewrite American trade policy, he noted that
he has launched a series of studies that could ultimately lead to
such change.
"We are reviewing every single trade deal and wherever there is
cheating, we will take immediate action and there will be
penalties," the president said.
Mr. Trump also took aim at Democratic lawmakers who have opposed
funding for the Mexican border wall. A standoff over such funding
nearly caused a government shutdown this week as lawmakers debated
a spending resolution. But after White House officials insisted on
border funding and Democrats refused, Mr. Trump dropped the demand
and said he would push for it later in the year.
"If the Democrats knew what the hell they were doing, they'd
approve it so easy," Mr. Trump said. "Because we want to stop crime
in our country. Obviously, they don't mind illegals coming in, they
don't mind drugs pouring in."
Before the rally, Mr. Trump made a stop at the Ames Companies, a
243-year-old manufacturer that makes wheelbarrows and landscaping
and gardening tools. His entourage included two of the main
architects of his economic nationalist message, White House
strategist Steve Bannon and trade adviser Peter Navarro.
While at Ames, Mr. Trump signed two executive orders -- one
ordering a review of all American trade agreements, and the other
creating a White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing, to be
headed by Mr. Navarro.
The move seemed designed to show that Mr. Navarro retains
influence with Mr. Trump, despite speculation that he had lost out
in White House power struggles to Mr. Trump's more global-minded
aides, such as National Economic Council head Gary Cohn, the former
president of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Write to Peter Nicholas at peter.nicholas@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 29, 2017 23:32 ET (03:32 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.