I was at Trump’s 100 day rally – but the Maga crowds were missing

The president marked his first 100 days in office with a victory lap to celebrate his supposed achievements. But as his popularity wanes and his policies bite, the usual mass of Maga supporters stayed at home, writes Jon Sopel from metro Detroit

One hundred days? It feels more like the hundred years’ war – being fought on multiple fronts, 24/7, with the volume turned up to 11. At home or abroad, is there anyone on the planet who hasn’t felt the effects of the Trump presidency?

To mark his first 100 days, the president took his victory lap at Macomb Community College, just north of Detroit. Michigan was one of the key swing states that Trump won in November – and Macomb County, where the college is based, holds a legendary place in Republican folklore. The people who lived there back in the 1980s became known as the Reagan Democrats. This was the first time the Republican Party saw white, blue-collar autoworkers abandoning the Dems and embracing Ronald Reagan.

Trump accelerated that whole process, and prised working-class Americans in their millions away from the Democrats. So it was a fitting place for Trump to laud his achievements.

But. But. But. Trump’s tariffs have caused massive uncertainty for the automobile industry, and Detroit is still “Motown” – the motor town. As we drove up to the college, I was struck by the hundreds of protesters – maybe a thousand – lining the highway outside the college, while cars were honking their horns to show support.

As I walked across the vast parking lot, I expected to see long lines of Trump lovers queueing in the already humid heat to secure a prime spot in the venue. Over the years, I have seen Trump speak at venues holding 20,000 – and those places have been packed to overflowing. But yesterday, there were no lines.

The traders selling Trump merch normally do a roaring trade. But the hawkers flogging the red Maga hats and the “Trump 2028” T-shirts were kicking their heels. There was no one around. Inside the hall, only about a third of the space had been laid out with chairs – enough seating for maybe 1,500. It was the smallest venue I have ever seen Trump speak at, and it was nowhere near full.

He won’t have liked that. And he’ll like even less that people like me are pointing it out. All of this comes as Trump’s latest poll numbers show a big slide from when he took office, and another slide in consumer confidence, which is now at its lowest since the height of the pandemic.

But that didn’t stop the president from hailing his successes, railing at his detractors, and prating about his victories and the enemies he’s put to the sword. The small crowd that was there lapped it up.

This is not to say that the solid wall of support the president has consistently enjoyed is now crumbling – but there are little cracks and fissures appearing in it.

I think the first thing to say about the first 100 days is that it is a slightly meaningless construction. Surely it doesn’t matter a jot what you in 100 days; what matters is what America looks like after four years. The other thing is that you can’t berate Donald Trump for failing to deliver on what he promised in the campaign. He promised a trade war, and he has started one. He said he’d staunch the flow of illegal immigrants, and on that he has largely succeeded.

But the tariffs have been a mess, and have sorely tested the patience of allies and foes alike. And there is deep concern in the US that his policies are pushing the country towards a recession. There is the distinct impression that he has started a war without a war plan, and is making it up as he goes along.

Last time I looked, Trump hadn’t ended the war between Russia and Ukraine. But – come on – we all knew that was campaign hot air when he declared he would end it on day one. There was a ceasefire in Gaza, but it’s fallen apart.

As for declaring that he wanted Canada to become the 51st state, all he’s done is ensure a Liberal victory in the general election there, and brought an end to the career of his maple syrup Maga mini-me, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. Because of Trump’s trade war, something similar might happen in the Australian general election this weekend.

But perhaps the most consequential part of the 100 days is his testing to near destruction the US constitution, and his concerted attempts to make himself almost an absolute monarch: a Louis XIV, if you like. Less sun king, more sun-bed king.

Law firms that have represented clients opposing Trump have been strong-armed into promising hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of pro bono work to causes Trump approves of. Universities are being starved of funding unless they let an outside, Trump-approved body oversee appointments and determine their teaching methods.

Media companies are facing a near “fight or flight” moment as he threatens first-amendment freedoms. Corporate America has been rushing to distance itself from the DEI policies it once proudly proclaimed its adherence to. In 2016, they were taking a knee; in 2024, they’re bending it.

Congress has become an irrelevance, clearly terrified to do anything that will upset Donald Trump. And the Democrats feel as though they are lost in a wilderness, unable to agree on why they lost the election so badly; incapable of uniting around a message to win back the American people.

The courts have proved to be a bulwark. A lot of the president’s hugely partisan executive orders are the subject of legal challenge. But what if the courts find against him? The Department of Justice enforces the law, not the judges. And the justice department is doing Donald Trump’s bidding.

But throughout these dizzying 100 days, there has been one entity that just wouldn’t be bullied – and that’s the markets. He can’t threaten them with retribution. He can’t tell the Dow Jones to rise. He can’t order the bond markets to behave. He can’t determine gilt yields.

Get this big economic stuff wrong – as he appears to be doing at the moment – and the American people could well follow the markets in giving a verdict that Donald Trump won’t like.