Some local Republican supporters are all in on President Donald Trump’s second administration’s changes but wish the administration would take more time before making decisions.
In his first nearly 50 days in office, Trump’s administration terminated thousands of federal workers, promised to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico and slashed federal funding toward universities and Medicare.
College Republicans of Minnesota Chairman and St. Olaf College chapter President Chris Flemming said he agreed with some of the executive orders Trump passed, especially one defining male and female as the two genders recognized by the government. He added he likes Trump’s other orders like renaming Mount Denali to Mount McKinley.
“I’m very pro-life. So I appreciated that he defined them as from conception,” Flemming said. “I think some of the small cultural changes are pretty important to me. Like renaming Mount Denali to Mount McKinley.”
President of the University of Minnesota’s College Republicans Elliot Lindsey said he likes Trump’s tougher stance on immigration policies but would like to see more action with birthright citizenship and strengthening the U.S. immigration enforcement.
“What we’re seeing now is throwing the dog a bone,” Lindsey said. “But I don’t think in the long run, we’re going to see anything like what needs to happen as far as the deportation numbers or anything like that.”
The Trump administration opened up sensitive areas like schools, churches and hospitals, to immigration enforcement officials, according to a Department of Homeland Security statement.
Trump signed several executive orders ending federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs since taking office. While President of the Minneapolis Republican Party Shawn Holster said he thinks the motivations behind the orders are good, he said the bandwagon movement behind ending DEI will not reverse decades of diversity work across public institutions.
“One executive order ain’t doing that,” Holster said. “That’s 30 years of systemic philosophy in every aspect of our culture, and I can show that on paper. HR departments aren’t changing their practices overnight.”
Trump has also aimed at foreign policies in his second term, mainly the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Alongside Vice President J.D. Vance, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Feb. 28 to discuss efforts to end the war in Ukraine with Russia. The meeting got tense as Zelenskyy asked Trump for more aid in the war while Trump repeatedly said the war should end sooner and Vance insisted the Ukrainian president should be more thankful to Trump.
Holster said he thinks Trump and Vance were right to stand up to Zelenskyy.
“Zelensky was appropriately put in his place,” Holster said.
Lindsey said he has mixed feelings about the war in Ukraine, but he is not offended by how Trump and Vance handled the meeting with Zelenskyy.
Republicans calling for DOGE to make cuts but also take their time
Although these Minnesota Republican supporters agree with Trump and Elon Musk’s actions to improve government efficiency and the economy, they wish there was more consideration before some decisions were made.
Flemming said he believes Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada are meant to put pressure on certain countries to create more fair deals for the U. S. Rather than immediate benefits, Flemming believes these trade initiatives are more of a means to an end.
“Trump has always put a lot of emphasis on his ability to make good deals,” Flemming said. “I think he plans to use these tariffs to put pressure on these countries and to sort of leverage the American economy in order to and our market value to get better trade deals that are better for us in the end.”
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is a new advisory body created via one of Trump’s executive orders with aims to improve productivity in each government department, the BBC reported. Musk is spearheading DOGE efforts such as the termination of federal employees.
Cutting the size of the federal government through DOGE and firing federal employees is crucial to trimming spending, Flemming said.
“I think a lot of Americans are actually very supportive of it and I think D.C. is way too large,” Flemming said. “There’s way too many people with jobs that shouldn’t have jobs there. I think taxpayers are generally supportive of it.”
Lindsey said he wishes Musk took more time and consideration before firing employees and canceling contracts. Several employees and contracts had to be reinstated after they had been mistakenly fired, according to NBC News.
“It would have been better to have a more stable presence running as opposed to Elon Musk,” Lindsey said. “I don’t think it’s really the most sensible on these kinds of issues.”
Holster agreed with Lindsey and said the overall goal of DOGE is needed, but more consideration is needed before they take actions.
“Elon and this administration and Trump and the methods and tactics that they’re using are actually appropriate,” Holster said. “I wish they would just temper it better.”
In addition to cutting federal employees, Trump also cut federal funding to universities. Lindsey said he is less enthusiastic about the cuts to funding university research, but agrees some of the federal funding had to be cut. He added he would have liked to see more considerations before the major funding cuts took place.
Trump announced cutting around $4 billion of federal funding for research at universities nationwide, including around $100 million at the University of Minnesota, in February. The cut would cap funding from the National Institute of Health that goes to overhead costs at 15%. The University currently receives 54% from the Institute.
Although university research is important, Flemming said he is still generally supportive of the Trump administration’s cuts to research funding in hopes to decrease wasteful spending.
“My grandfather was a professor and my mom was an educator, so I do value education very highly, so I do want to make sure we’re getting funding to valuable research that leads to good company development,” Flemming said. “America has always thrived off of our innovation and the quality of our workers so it’s important that we maintain that but at the same time a lot of this research is pretty wasteful.”
