Trump's approval ratings now hover at around 40%, which is believed to be lower than any other president at the 100-day mark. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

President Donald Trump had announced earlier that he would not be attending - and then hosted a popular rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the same night as perhaps the most publicized annual event that average Americans don't care about and don't watch.

But speaking to supporters Saturday night in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the president derided the news media and accused them of "fake news".

The Republican told his supporters at the rally that he was keeping "one promise after another", and deemed the criticism he has faced so far as "fake news", presented by "out of touch" journalists.

In the course of their speeches, they largely refrained from making direct parallels with the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump has chose to skip the event - where he'd be a prime target of biting humor.

RONALD ROBINSON: He's definitely a leader. I don't know what that means, but I know it's positive. He stands up to the press.

TRUMP: And look at the media back there, they would actually rather be here. Yeakel, who's from Carbon County, Pa., also likes the president's emphasis on restoring homegrown manufacturing. It's all gone. I want to see it all come back.

HORSLEY: On his way to the rally, Trump dropped by a wheelbarrow factory owned by the Ames Company, which has been manufacturing tools here since before the American Revolution. "He is cracking down on cheaters and abusers within the trade and manufacturing arenas, and he has established, as of yesterday on his 100th day, an Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, so that there's a White House liaison with commerce in this office that is going to go ahead and review these bilateral and multilateral trade agreements and make sure they're fair to America, American workers, American interests". The administration's also launched an investigation into rising steel and aluminum imports on the theory that if those domestic industries suffer, it could pose a threat to national security. Let's take that off the table as we proceed.... Trump's ban on visitors from some Muslim nations was blocked in court. Nevertheless, the government has stepped up arrests of immigrants living in this country illegally.

Journalists reported seeing skinheads at Trump's rally.

TRUMP: The world is getting the message. That is why I withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "This includes deals like the one-sided Paris Climate Accord".

Donald Trump used the occasion of his first 100th day in office to once again laid into the press. It'd be hard for Vlad (Russian President Vladimir Putin) to make it. Vlad can't just make it on a Saturday.