Trump signals no slowdown on 100th day, lays out ambitious agenda for trade, tax cuts and Mars

President Donald Trump used the first rally of his second term to assure voters in battleground Michigan the dizzying pace of his first 100 days in office will persist in the next phase of his presidency as he presses to get Americans on Mars, cut taxes and spending in Washington and turn tariffs into trade deals lucrative for everyday workers.

"We've just gotten started. You haven’t even seen anything yet. It's all just kicking off,” Trump told an adoring, packed crowd at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich., nearly six months after sweeping Michigan and the other battleground states en route to winning the 2024 election.

“Instead of putting China first, I'm putting Michigan first, and I'm putting America first,” he added.

The 47th president used the speech commemorating his 100th day in office to catalog all the promises he accomplished during that period on inflation to the border and to set the stage for a more ambitious agenda in the weeks and months ahead.

On one of the most pressing issues in middle America, Trump said he was confident his new tariffs would yield major trade deals with nations from India to Israel now negotiating with his White House. Those deals, he said, will create prosperity, a manufacturing renaissance and better-paying jobs.

"They are coming from all over the world. They are coming up, and they are opening plants, and they are talking to us all day and all night. They want to come here," he said of foreign companies, which have already announced trillions in new investments since Trump won in November.

Trump also leaned into cultural issues, reminding the crowd he had just announced that the federal Columbus Day holiday will no longer be celebrated as anything else, like Indigenous Peoples Day.

“You Italians are going to love me because just yesterday I brought back Columbus Day in America, especially for Italian-Americans who were so badly treated by its removal," he said.

Trump returned to an issue he first flashed on the campaign trail in conjunction with Elon Musk's inventive moxie: space exploration.

"One day soon, American astronauts will plant the flag on the planet Mars," he told the crowd. For such an ambitious priority, it would typically be associated with a longer timeline. However, he assured the crowd that "it's going to happen very soon."

He also assured the crowd that their Medicare and Social Security benefits would be untouched by his administration. “We will always protect Medicare and Social Security for our great seniors with no cuts, and we will defend Medicaid for those great people that are in need.”

With respect to the work DOGE has done to root out waste, fraud and abuse in government, Trump said: “The only thing we’re going to cut is the corruption and the crooks.”

During the campaign, Trump repeatedly emphasized the economic crisis many Americans were feeling, at the kitchen table, at the gas pump, buying new homes and cars and other expenditures. 

As he traversed the nation in the months leading up to the campaign, a number of novel ideas morphed into campaign promises, some of which were commandeered by Kamala Harris, like “no tax on tips.” He promised Tuesday night to deliver on all of those, many when Congress passes a sweeping continuing budget resolution in the next few months.

"In the coming weeks and months, we will pass the largest tax cuts in American History—and that will include No Tax on Tips, No Tax on Social Security, and No Tax on Overtime. It's called the one big beautiful bill," he said.

Michigan, and the town of Warren specifically, like many of the Rust Belt states, felt the effects of former President Joe Biden‘s economy intensely.

Sitting less than 20 miles north of Detroit's city center, Trump told the crowd, “After decades of politicians who destroyed Detroit to build up Beijing, you finally have a champion for workers in the White House and instead of putting China first, I’m putting Michigan first, and I’m putting America first."

At one point during Trump’s speech, the crowd erupted into chants of “Three! Three! Three,” seemingly indicating a desire to see a third term from the 45th and 47th president.