President Donald Trump has an active agenda during the next 48 hours in an effort to seize control of the narrative of his first 100 days in office amid some concerning poll numbers and jittery financial markets, The Hill reported.
Trump has multiple interviews lined up ahead of his speech in Michigan later Tuesday, his 100th day.
He is sitting for an interview with ABC News that will run Tuesday evening, followed by a town hall on Wednesday that he's scheduled with NewsNation's Chris Cuomo, according to the report.
Those follow an interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, who quoted Trump as saying he's running "the country and the world" in this, his second term as president in a story published Monday.
The Atlantic interview was an instance of Trump trying to seize the narrative of his presidency with potentially hostile media outlets.
Goldberg recently revealed he was unintentionally included in a March 13 group chat with top White House officials. Goldberg said Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and national security adviser Mike Waltz used the chat to discuss possible military action in Yemen against the Houthis.
That set off a barrage of criticism from opponents of Hegseth, who pounced on the chat gaffe as evidence Trump has surrounded himself with inexperienced and unqualified staff. The White House, for its part, has largely waved off concerns about that chat and the Atlantic report for weeks.
Still, Trump is underwater in some of the polls and approval rating surveys that've been published ahead of his 100 days. Trump himself on Monday dismissed those as "fake polls from fake news organizations."
Now, the president appears to be intent on shifting focus from such matters to tougher immigration, government streamlining, trade negotiations, and more as the 100-day mark of his second term draws close.
Blitz
The White House media blitz began Monday morning with a briefing that included border czar Tom Homan's report on the shutdown of the border and cleaning up the illegal immigration of the Biden administration.
"This is an unprecedented success," Homan said.
Democrats, meanwhile, are planning their own media blitz to counter Trump's Tuesday speech. Four Democrat governors — Illinois' JB Pritzker, Minnesota's Tim Walz, Massachusetts' Maura Healey, and New York's Kathy Hochul — are holding a virtual town hall on their plans to resist Trump, Politico reported.
Former vice president and failed Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris is also expected to go after Trump in remarks Wednesday, her first public comments since losing to Trump in a landslide in November.