President Trump is offering a forceful defense of himself and his administration at their 100-day mark, despite slumping poll numbers and consumer confidence, and the increased likelihood of a recession. At a town hall meeting on Wednesday night, Mr. Trump said he has made no mistakes thus far. 

The president agreed to do a town hall event with NewsNation to mark his 100 days in office. The event was primarily moderated by a liberal journalist, Chris Cuomo — brother of Governor Cuomo — and Bill O’Reilly, the conservative who left Fox News in 2017. 

When asked about Americans’ economic concerns, the president said that everything should be better in a year. Since the start of 2025, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 4 percent and the S&P 500 is down more than 5 percent. 

“I don’t believe I’ve made mistakes,” the president said when asked. “We’re in a transition period.” 

Mr. Trump said that “tremendous economic victories” will come, despite market concerns about the chaotic way in which he has imposed his tariffs over the course of the last six weeks. 

Despite Mr. Trump’s assurances that all is well, voters do not seem to be feeling the same way. This past week, a number of highly rated pollsters have disclosed Americans’ concerns about the president’s leadership. The RealClearPolitics poll average shows Mr. Trump seven points underwater — 45 percent approval to 52 percent disapproval — which is the worst deficit for a president at the 100-day mark since the invention of modern polling at the start of the Truman administration. 

The president, however, says he does not care. 

“First of all, they’re fake polls, and if you look at the polls, they interviewed more — for the most part — they interviewed more Democrats than they did Republicans,” Mr. Trump said. “They predicted I was gonna lose Wisconsin by 17 points, and I ended up winning Wisconsin. They predicted I was gonna lose the election and I ended up winning the election. They’re fake polls.”

“So when you say, ‘Am I bothered by it?’ if I was, I’d be really helped by the fact that in the election, we won in a landslide,” he declared. 

When Mr. O’Reilly asked Mr. Trump about his “Liberation Day” tariffs that sent markets spiraling, the president brushed off all concerns. 

“We have to save the country,” Mr. Trump said, defending his import taxes. “Building plants, building equipment, building so much right now … Apple is, you know, spending $500 billion.”

“You have to be able to dodge and move and be flexible,” Mr. Trump said later. “It’s a transition period.”

Mr. O’Reilly then pressed the president on the political implications of the tariffs and the market turmoil that has decimated some people’s retirement accounts. The NewsNation host said that the Democrats would have a great chance of taking Congress next year if the lack of certainty continues — a sentiment with which the president agreed. 

“That’s true,” Mr. Trump said when asked about the political ramifications of a lack of consumer confidence. “I just think that I’ll be able to convince people how good this is. This is what other countries have done to us.”

“They’ve been brutal to the United States,” Mr. Trump said of foreign countries, which he says need to buy American products. 

On the Russia-Ukraine war, Mr. Trump explained what he discussed with President Zelensky at the funeral of Pope Francis over the weekend, when the two men sat face-to-face. On Wednesday, the United States and Ukraine signed a deal that gave America some rights to the profits from Ukraine’s minerals. 

“I was telling him that it’s a very good thing if we can produce a deal, that you sign it,” Mr. Trump said. “Russia is just chugging forward. It’s a big, strong country. … The reason I did that is that we’re in for $350 billion.”

At the town hall event, Mr. Trump was even questioned by sports journalist Stephen A. Smith, who is now considering a run for president in 2028 after saying his Democratic Party has moved too far to the left. 

Mr. Smith asked Mr. Trump about the tariff concerns, and the president said all will be well. 

“It’s time for the American people to be properly protected,” Mr. Trump said. “We have over 100 countries that are calling us, like, morning, noon, and night, dying to make a deal. We’re in a great position of strength.”