Since Inauguration Day, Donald Trump’s second term has caused division amongst Americans. Despite these controversies, College Republicans at Pitt is hopeful for the future of Trump’s presidency.
President Trump has implemented several new policies concerning immigration, the economy and foreign policy in addition to several executive orders just two months into his second term. Members of the College Republicans expressed their support for President Trump’s new policies and expressed hope for the next four years.
Dylan Mitchell, a senior criminal justice major and vice president of the College Republicans, thinks Trump’s federal budget cuts are essential in reducing the national debt and will benefit the nation going forward.
“[Trump is] the first Republican or Democratic administration in my lifetime that’s even trying to talk about cutting back the federal budget,” Mitchell said. “If it’s not handled, the costs will cause a massive debt crisis for our generation down the line.”
Within the last 20 years, prior presidents have passed federal budget cuts, including former President Barack Obama, who cut nearly $1 trillion with the passage of the Budget Control Act in 2011.
Mitchell said he feels Trump has done a good job in the past few months combating high living costs and believes he will continue to make improvements in the future.
“Gas prices and inflation rates just hit a low again. I’m happy about both of those things,” Mitchell said. “Trump has the right people and knows what his goals are much more than the first time, so I think he’ll be much more successful.”
The U.S. inflation rate is currently 2.8%, a 0.2% drop from the beginning of 2025. As of March 24, gas prices have risen two cents compared to Inauguration Day.
Multiple judges have blocked Trump’s executive orders in the past two months, including legislation to end birthright citizenship. Mitchell supports Trump’s recent criticisms of judges blocking executive orders and feels these judges are “turning themselves into monarchs.”
“The judges that are blocking some of these [executive orders] are vastly overstepping their constitutional authority,” Mitchell said. “These judges are trying to override anything the duly elected president and duly elected Congress try to do based on their own opinions.”
Jesse Milston, sophomore political science major and secretary of the Pitt College Republicans, discussed Trump’s recent executive order aimed to dismantle the Department of Education. Milston thinks the ED “only exists to dole out money” and supports its removal.
“It’s about consolidating and shrinking our government in ways that make sure that the important things stay,” Milston said. “I am firmly in favor of getting rid of the Department of Education.”
Sumay Sethia, a first-year information science major, supports Trump’s National Institutes of Health funding cuts should happen but only in small amounts.
“[Trump] can identify funding for research that is redundant and does not serve any real justification,” Sethia said. “However, I’m not really in favor of the government cutting all funding.”
Julia Cassidy, a sophomore political science major, said she strongly supports actions Trump has taken to limit transgender-identifying women from participating in competitive women’s sports.
“The women’s sports executive order was really important,” Cassidy said. “There are so many women in this country that have been ripped off their deserving awards because of the NCAA rules and the Title IX addendum Biden added in.”
Milston said he feels Trump’s repeated threats to enforce tariffs on Canada are “not too ridiculous.”
“He’s bringing prices down and wants to reorient the world’s economy and return the world manufacturing base back to America. That’s sort of where that whole animus with Canada comes from,” Milston said. “However, I think [the tariffs] are ultimately not going to have as much of an impact as people think because they’re not necessarily supposed to be long term.”
Trump’s approach to U.S. involvement in NATO has left the question of future U.S. involvement in the alliance up in the air. Milston praised Trump’s approach to international affairs with NATO.
“I really love his foreign policy. It’s getting these countries to actually fall in line and actually work with us. Trump has nothing against NATO. What he has something against is countries ripping us off by not spending our fair share,” Milston said. “It’s about being America first.”
Cassidy thinks Trump’s handling of the Ukraine-Russia war has been “generally good,” especially concerning limiting financial support to Ukraine.
“I think he’s doing a good job of cutting a lot of the funding that we were giving indirectly to organizations that ended up funneling it [to Ukraine],” Cassidy said. “He’s said a couple things about Zelenskyy and Putin that I don’t necessarily agree with, but of course I’m not going to agree with him on everything.”
Trump has made posts on social media surrounding the future of Gaza and advocating for long-term American commitment in the region. Mitchell supports continued American involvement in Gaza, but doesn’t think Trump is serious about “actually taking over Gaza”.
“He wants to actually rebuild and develop that area into something civilized, which I think is a great plan for lasting peace,” Mitchell said. “[The Republican party] doesn’t want to shove a bunch of displaced people back into an area full of now crumbled infrastructure and nothing left.”
Trump’s recent deportation of Venezuelan immigrants to an El Salvadorian prison has drawn criticism about the new administration’s immigration policy. Milston believes in legal avenues for immigrants to relocate but opposes illegal immigration.
“I have nothing against the immigrants coming to this country, but the idea that we should let anyone in is a problem,” Milston said. “The people [deported] on those planes were rapists and murderers. They were MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members.”
Sethia thinks that Trump’s deportation policies have optimized targeting the removal of illegal immigrants over legal immigration compared to previous presidents.
“Almost every president preceding him has had [deportation] policies, not just Trump. He has just done it more effectively,” Sethia said. “The Trump administration is more focused on cracking down on illegal immigration. They’ve still left the pipeline for legal immigration open.”