This news outlet found a similar divide in a (non-scientific) online survey posted earlier this month. Of the 150 respondents so far, many applaud Trump’s decisive actions.
“Plain and simple. Trump is doing exactly what he was elected for,” one Springfield woman wrote. “Thank God for his courage to do what should have been done a long time ago.”
“I am excited for the new administration to make the cuts necessary to help our deficit,” wrote a Washington Twp. reader. “In the past four years too many jobs have been created in our government. Cut, cut, cut.”
Many others expressed deep concern about Trump’s actions and billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to downsize government.
“Our country is being dismantled and destroyed. Slash and burn methods,” a Miami Twp. reader wrote.
“Why are the Republicans in the U.S. Congress letting Trump become a Dictator?” asked a Hamilton reader. “None of them seem to have a spine to stand up to him. If they really cared about the country they would stand up to him and stop him from firing all of those people.”
The survey is still open on our website, so you can offer your perspective or any questions you would like to see addressed in our coverage.
How latest federal action is affecting our region
• Probationary employment: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is the largest employer at a single site in Ohio, with some 38,000 civilian and military employees. Amid reports that newly hired federal government employees are being laid off, the Department of Defense is looking for guidance on plans for its probationary employees. As of Thursday evening, WPAFB officials said no probationary Air Force employees at the base had been terminated.
• Foreign aid: The Trump administration’s freeze on U.S. Agency for International Development spending is seeing humanitarian programs in other nations halted, and it could also have ramifications on Ohio farmers. USAID buys food for humanitarian aid from several large-scale Ohio farmers, and funds research that benefits Ohio farmers.
• Springfield Haitians: Trump announced plans Thursday to end protections allowing many Haitians to live and work in the U.S. legally. For Springfield’s Haitian population, the move was expected but still jarring. “This is definitely a concerning news for our community,” said Miguelito Jerome, who ran a Haitian radio station in Springfield. “The thought of losing (Temporary Protected Status) is weighing crazy on many of us who rely on it for safety and stability. There’s already a lot of uncertainty, and this announcement only adds to the worries.”
• Ukraine war: Local Ukrainians are watching closely as the Trump administration negotiates with Russian and Ukrainian leaders in an effort to end the war in Ukraine, which will be three years old Monday. “I dream of being able to return home without having to worry about bombs falling. That there would be no more air raid sirens, that I could travel across Ukraine like I used to and see the cities and people without danger,” said Sergei Chernyshev, who lives in Dayton but is from Kharkiv.
• “No kings”: Around 70 people marched around Dayton’s City Hall on Presidents Day in protest of federal actions as a part of a national movement. The Dayton protestors on Monday chanted “Elon Musk has got to go” and other slogans.
Other recent developments
• Military spending: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the military services to identify $50 billion in programs that could be cut next year in order to redirect those savings to fund President Donald Trump’s priorities.
• Asserting authority: With an executive order signed Tuesday, Trump is moving to give the White House direct control of independent federal regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.
• DEI and Schools: The Trump administration is giving America’s schools and universities two weeks to eliminate diversity initiatives or risk losing federal money.
• DOGE checks?: Musk is touting the idea of passing along some of the savings from his DOGE cuts to American taxpayers (while using the rest to pay down the national debt). Trump has endorsed the idea, but it’s not clear how much Musk’s cost-cutting effort is actually saving. His target is $2 trillion, the DOGE website claims $55 billion in savings so far — but at this point the receipts posted by the agency as proof don’t add up.
• IVF fertilization: Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order meant to expand access to and reduce costs of in vitro fertilization and issued a presidential memorandum calling for “radical transparency requirements” from the government, which he suggested could reduce wasteful spending.
