IN TRUMP'S AMERICA, LOYALTY -- OR DENIAL -- RUNS DEEP:

-- Jenna Johnson files from Durant, Oklahoma, where Trump’s budget would hit hard but his supporters are still willing to trust him. “In this town of 16,000 — located near the Texas border in Oklahoma’s Bryan County, where Trump won 76 percent of the vote — excitement about Trump’s presidency has been dulled by confusion over an agenda that seems aimed at hurting their community more than helping it. Many red states like Oklahoma — where every single county went for Trump — are more reliant on the federal funds that Trump wants to cut than states that voted for [Clinton].” Still, many Trump supporters are holding out hope that the possible budget sacrifices will be worth it. Tire shop owner Rick Munholland said he wants to see more jobs in the area, fewer undocumented immigrants and lower monthly health-insurance premiums. “Working people like me can’t afford it. Now, if you’re low-income, they can get it for nothing — but the low-income gets taken care of regardless,” Munholland said. “God bless America, but it has gone to the dogs.”

-- The New York Times’ Yamiche Alcindor goes to Trumball County, Ohio, where residents are heavily reliant on affordable housing programs and HUD-sponsored initiatives. “For years, Tammy and Joseph Pavlic tried to ignore the cracked ceiling in their living room, the growing hole next to their shower and the deteriorating roof they feared might one day give out. Mr. Pavlic [was forced to leave his job as his multiple sclerosis advanced] ... By 2015, Ms. Pavlic was supporting her husband and their three children on an annual salary of $9,000 …” That year, they tapped a Congressionally-funded county project called HOME to help repair their house. The next year, they voted for Trump, who has moved to cut the program in favor of beefing up military spending and building a U.S.-Mexico border wall. “Keeping the country safe compared to keeping my bathroom safe isn’t even a comparison,’ Joseph Pavlic said of Trump’s proposed budget cuts. ‘We have people who are coming into this country who are trying to hurt us, and I think that we need to be protected.’”

• “Our county voted for [Trump], so I’m not sure they quite understand what is going to happen,” said Julie Edwards, the county’s economic development coordinator. “I don’t think people realize how much we rely on these services. I don’t think people are making the connection between cutting the HUD funds and paving our streets or building new affordable housing.”

-- New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof also journeyed through “Trump country" to see how his most fervent supporters were reacting to news of the budget cuts. None said they regretted their votes in November, and they all said that they might vote for Trump for re-election: “Judy Banks, a 70-year-old struggling to get by, said she voted for Trump because ‘he was talking about getting rid of those illegals.’ But Banks now finds herself shocked that he also has his sights on funds for [a senior citizen service program], which is her lifeline. It pays senior citizens a minimum wage to hold public service jobs. Banks said she depends on the job to make ends meet … ‘If I lose this job,’ she said, ‘I’ll sit home and die.’ Yet she said she might still vote for Trump in 2020.”