Trump boasts of achievements and attacks enemies as he celebrates 100 days in office

During his 90-minute speech the US president mocked Joe Biden, falsely claimed he won the 2020 presidential election and defended his decision to impose tariffs on countries around the world.

Speaking in front of electronic screens reading "100 days of greatness", Mr Trump attacked "radical left lunatics", briefly took on a heckler and boasted about his administration's "mass deportation" efforts.

"Removing the invaders is not just a campaign pledge," he said. "It's my solemn duty as commander-in-chief. I have an obligation to save our country."

He played a video of migrants his administration claims are gang members arriving at a notorious prison in El Salvador, with those in the crowd cheering the images of deportees having their heads shaved.

During his speech, during which he called up several of his top team to the stage, Mr Trump claimed his administration has delivered "most profound change in Washington in nearly 100 years".

Mr Trump also briefly touched on tariffs, saying China, which is facing tariffs of 145%, "has taken more jobs from us than any country has ever taken from another country".

But he said his tariffs did not mean Beijing and Washington cannot "get along" and said he thought a trade deal with China was near, adding: "But it's going to be a fair deal."

"I think it's going to work out," he says. "They want to make a deal. We're going to make a deal. But it's going to be a fair deal."

He claimed his administration had "already ended inflation", but last month the Bureau of Labor Statistics said while inflation slowed in March over the past year, it had in fact risen 2.4%.

He came onto the stage bang on time.

No need to keep the faithful in suspense anymore.

They know what they are getting now and they are delighted.

A hundred days in, President Trump was back, for the first time since the inauguration, at a rally; back with the grass roots of this MAGA movement.

This is the place where he feels most at home.

The entry music was the unlikely theme tune to his revolution - the YMCA.

He danced on stage. He's enjoying this second term: unhindered by the critics, unburdened by the constitution, unopposed by Congress.

"It feels a little bit like he's a king, not a president?” I asked one woman in the crowd.

"Maybe, but that's OK,” she said. Another chimed in: “He is a king!” To all of them he is.

It was a speech of course full of superlatives. It was his scorecard of his first three months.

It was the speech they’ve all heard before. We all have. But now it comes with a confidence, a swagger, the power of his presidency, and a gleeful aggression too.

"Thousands of corrupt, incompetent and unnecessary deep state bureaucrats, you're fired. Get the hell out of here. You're fired. Get out of here."

On immigration he can point to a clear policy achievement these past 100 days.

The crossings on the southern border have dropped to a fraction, but it’s his court-defying methods which have troubled many. The deportations to foreign jails with no due process were celebrated here.

As footage played of men deported with no convictions, no court appearances and in defiance of an American federal court order, I asked one supporter if it made him feel at all uncomfortable.

"No it does not. That's what should happen to anybody that comes into the United States illegally, or pushing drugs from another country. That's what is going to happen and we've got a lot of bad actors in this country."

"They’ve not been through any judicial process…” I said.

“There doesn’t need to be any,” he shot back.

In the crowd, a sea of three-fingered gestures. Three fingers for three terms. They want him to run again in 2028.

Beyond the venue, the other side of all this.

On a windy cross-roads, a crowd which grew over the day to about one thousand, painted a bleak picture of the path ahead.

"It's unnerving. There is a lot of unrest in our country right now and I only see it going one of a few ways and I hope I am wrong," one man said.

He wouldn't reveal his face or his name for fear of repercussions.

"They are going after the colleges, they are going after the poor people, they are going after the disabled - the people who can least defend themselves…"

There were signs comparing Trump to Hitler. They’re common these days.

I put it to one elderly protester that the Hitler comparison risks weakening their argument. Trump is not doing what Hitler did.

"You mean by sending six million people to the gas chambers? Neither did Hitler to begin with. He wasn't saying that. He first made people the enemy and right now Trump is making the immigrants the enemy… It is so frightening what we see happening in our country. I know this scenario all too well and I can't believe this is happening in my country."

'You haven't seen anything yet'

Mr Trump, who has frequently criticised Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell in recent weeks, said: "Interest rates came down, despite the fact that I have a Fed person who's not really doing a good job, but I won't say that. I want to be very nice. I want to be very nice and respectful to the Fed.

"You're not supposed to criticise the Fed. You're supposed to let him do his own thing. But I know much more than he does about interest rates, believe me."

Mr Trump also defended his administration's steep tariffs on cars and car parts, hours after he signed an executive order aimed at easing the impact of his tariffs on US carmakers.

"We're here tonight in the heartland of our nation to celebrate the most successful first 100 days of any administration in the history of our country," Mr Trump said.

He later added: "We've just gotten started. You haven't even seen anything yet."

-SKY NEWS