Donald Trump‘s first 100 days back in office have been marked by chaos, scandal, and abrupt reversals, but the president says he wouldn’t have done anything differently.
During a NewsNation town hall hosted by the network’s Chris Cuomo, former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, and ESPN host Stephen A. Smith, an audience member named Lee asked Trump what was the biggest mistake he thought he’d made in the first 100 days.
“I’ll tell you that’s the toughest question I can have because I don’t really believe I’ve made any mistakes,” Trump replied.
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The audience—which was made of Democrats, Republicans and independents—burst out laughing.
“I think Lee is reassured,” O’Reilly joked.
The president had called in to the town hall, which took place before a live studio audience in New York. Its three hosts sat on the stage in front of a photo of Trump beaming.
In just over three months, the administration has suffered a head-spinning array of controversies.
Elon Musk’s deeply unpopular cost-cutting initiative DOGE has attempted to unilaterally shutter federal agencies, cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in federal contracts, purge the civil service, and access troves of Americans’ private data. Some employees have been mistakenly fired, leaving departments scrambling to try to rehire them.
The Pentagon has been rocked by dysfunction, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth under investigation for mishandling classified information. Immigration officials have come under fire for deporting more than 250 migrants—including Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia—to a mega-prison in El Salvador without any due process.
More than 100 lawsuits have been brought, and federal courts have ruled repeatedly against the Trump administration.
And Trump has managed to shrink the U.S. economy for the first time since 2022 with his muddled tariff policy, which has ignited a trade war with China.
The trade war sent global stock markets tumbling—wiping out trillions of dollars in value—and has even shaken the usually unshakable U.S. bond markets.
The S&P 500 has fallen 8 percent since Trump’s inauguration—its worst run during a president’s first 100 days in office in more than 50 years. In response, voters have voiced deep dissatisfaction with the president’s economic policies.
A Fox News poll found last week that just 38 percent of respondents approved of Trump’s handling of the economy. His tariffs and inflation policy received a dismal 33 percent approval rating.
The administration’s messaging has changed dramatic since the election, when Trump claimed foreign countries would be the one footing the bill for the tariffs. Now, Trump and his officials are saying Americans just need to brace themselves for a little economic turbulence.
“We’re in a transition period,” he said during Tuesday’s town hall. “I think we’re going to see tremendous economic victories over the period of a year. Like far greater than ever imagined.”
Many financial analysts, however, fear the U.S. economy is on the brink of recession.
“We’re going to make billions and billions of dollars,” Trump continued. “But it takes a little while. That doesn’t happen overnight, but it will happen must faster than people understand.”
In the meantime, companies are losing trillions—with a “t”—in market value.
