Trump Suddenly Reverses Order on Mass Firing of Federal Employees

In a shocking reversal, President Trump is reversing a directive to fire thousands of probationary federal employees.

The Office of Personnel Management, which manages the federal workforce, issued a memo Tuesday to all federal agency heads saying that they don’t have to comply with previous instructions to fire employees who have held their jobs for one year or less. The memo states that instead, federal offices now have until September 13 to determine how to reduce staff.

The surprise shift comes only a few days after a federal judge ruled that OPM’s instructions to federal agencies to fire probationary employees was illegal, stating on Friday that “[t]he Office of Personnel Management does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe, to hire and fire employees within another agency.”

What this means to the many federal workers who have already been axed is unclear, although several federal agencies have scrambled to rehire workers working in critical areas since last week’s court ruling. These employees include bird flu experts and people working with nuclear weapons.

Federal workers have been put through the wringer ever since Trump was sworn in, being subject to ultimatums from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which now plans to track them. Even with this latest reversal, many of them may still get axed in “large-scale” reductions. But now, at least some of them will get to keep their jobs.

This story has been updated.

People are paying millions to wine and dine President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, Wired reported Tuesday.  

Trump’s team clearly saw an opportunity for a cash grab in the frenzy of business moguls scrambling to court the president and get on his good side. For $5 million, business leaders can meet one-on-one with Trump at his estate, a “hot ticket” opportunity in the business world, sources told Wired. 

For those looking for a classier affair, they can pay $1 million to dine with the president in a candlelit group setting. Invitations to a March 1 candlelit dinner were sent out by MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC that contributed over $400 million last year to help get him elected. 

“You are invited to a candlelight dinner featuring special guest President Donald J. Trump. Additional details provided upon RSVP,” the invitation read. “RSVPs will be accommodated on a first come, first serve basis. Space is very limited. $1,000,000 per person.” 

“Donald J. Trump is appearing at this event only as a featured speaker, and is not asking for funds or donations,” the invitation continues. 

The dinner was formally titled “MAGA INC. Candlelight Finance Dinner,” and was included on the president’s official schedule, yet more evidence of the blurry lines between Trump and the private business world.

The Washington Post reported that Trump hosted two similar candlelit dinners at Mar-a-Lago before he took office, one on December 19, 2024, and one on January 19, the eve of his inauguration.

Amid the turmoil over his crazy decision to slap tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, President Trump saw fit to post a bizarre lie about banks in Canada—forcing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to correct him publicly.

“Canada doesn’t allow American Banks to do business in Canada, but their banks flood the American Market. Oh, that seems fair to me, doesn’t it?” Trump posted Tuesday morning. But this isn’t true, and Trudeau made sure Trump knew it.

Hours later, while speaking to the press, Trudeau called out the president for “not really being able to see what it is that he wants.”

“I heard he talked about banking again this morning in a tweet, which doesn’t make any sense because 16 American banks [are] currently active in Canada, holding about $113 billion worth of assets in this country, so American banks are alive and well and prospering in Canada,” Trudeau said.

“What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that’ll make it easier to annex us,” Trudeau added, alluding to Trump’s threats to annex Canada as the “fifty-first state.”

In a move usually made by U.S. presidents toward people living under autocratic rule, Trudeau made a direct plea to the American public, telling them Canada was forced to enact retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.

“We don’t want this. We want to work with you as a friend and ally. And we don’t want to see you hurt, either, but your government has chosen to do this to you,” Trudeau said.

“Your government has chosen to put American jobs at risk at the thousands of workplaces that succeed because of materials from Canada, or because of consumers in Canada, or both,” Trudeau added.

Trump is not going to take kindly to Trudeau correcting him, and he’ll never admit that he was wrong. He may even be lying on purpose to stir up the MAGA base. But he’ll have to come up with a better way to spin the economic fallout from his plan, which promises to hike prices on all kinds of goods in the U.S. and cause untold damage to the economy.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s embrace of vitamin A as a course of treatment amid a deadly measles outbreak has sparked concern among health experts, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

In an op-ed published by Fox News Sunday, Kennedy touted the recent update to CDC guidance on “therapeutic medications.” Last week, a new section outlining the benefits of using vitamin A was added to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s online resources about measles treatment. While the section mentioned the risk of inappropriate dosing, it failed to mention that vitamin A can lead to liver failure and death.

“Studies have found that vitamin A can dramatically reduce measles mortality,” Kennedy wrote in his op-ed, but he also made no mention of the health risks of vitamin A.

Meanwhile, he described the decision to vaccinate as a “personal” one.

But health experts have taken issue with Kennedy’s push for vitamin A, which can be used to treat patients who are already sick but does nothing to prevent the spread of measles.

“In fact, relying on vitamin A instead of the vaccine is not only dangerous and ineffective, but it puts children at serious risk,” Dr. Sue Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told the Post Monday. “Taking too much vitamin A can cause serious health problems, including liver damage.”

Summer Davies, a pediatric hospitalist in Lubbock, Texas, told the Post that there wasn’t enough data to support the government’s decision to push vitamin A as a treatment for measles. “There’s not enough information there to say, ‘Yeah, this is great, this will cure you.’ And it’s not a wonder drug and miracle drug,” Davies said.

Much of the data supporting claims of vitamin A’s effectiveness is based on malnourished children, Davies explained.

“So it’s not going to make measles go away. And it may prevent some complications, but we’re not giving it to every child in the hospital because the evidence just isn’t there,” Davies said.

Peter Hotez, the co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, was concerned that the Health and Human Services Department’s lean on vitamin A to ensure public health would present as an alternative to vaccination.

“It could lead to the impression of a false equivalency: To make the best decision for your children, you can either vaccinate or give vitamin A,” Hotez told the Post. “And that would be highly misleading.”

Last week, Kennedy said during a Cabinet meeting that measles outbreaks were not unusual, despite the fact that measles had been declared eliminated in 2000, according to the CDC. The same week, an unvaccinated child in west Texas died of measles. This week, Kennedy’s leading spokesperson resigned over disagreements about his response to the deadly outbreak.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau directly addressed the American people in a pleading appeal on Tuesday after Donald Trump followed through on his promise to implement 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada.

“I want to speak first directly to the American people. We don’t want this. We want to work with you as a friend and ally. And we don’t want to see you hurt either, but your government has chosen to do this to you,” Trudeau said in a press conference from Ottawa.

The normally cheery Trudeau was stone-faced and somber as he warned Americans about the economic consequences of taxing Canadian products.

“Your government has chosen to put American jobs at risk at the thousands of workplaces that succeed because of materials from Canada, or because of consumers in Canada, or both,” Trudeau said, further warning of rising prices on groceries, gas, cars, and homes.

“What do the American people think? How do Americans feel about jettisoning one’s friends and allies in favor of a country that has never wished Americans well and continues to act in ways that harm the global economy and specifically the American economy and American values and principles?” Trudeau asked, referring to Trump’s recent overtures to Russia on Ukraine.

Last month, Trump paused his plans to implement 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico—the top U.S. trading partners—amid international backlash and the threat of retaliatory actions from both countries.

On Monday, however, the president announced the tariffs would begin on Tuesday, a backstabbing blow to America’s northern ally that Trump wants to annex and make the fifty-first state. The president claims the tariffs will protect U.S. manufacturing and prevent illegal immigration, but they will ultimately just drastically raise costs for both American and international consumers.

Canada has already responded with 25 percent tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. imports, effective immediately, Trudeau announced Tuesday.

Anti-American sentiment has skyrocketed in Canada since Trump took office, and support for the wildly unpopular Trudeau and his Liberal Party has grown for the first time in years amid a wave of country-wide nationalist sentiment.

Trudeau’s speech makes it clear that he’s given up all hopes of rational communication with the Trump administration and that America’s betrayal is a dire warning to the rest of the world.

“Every country is very aware that if the American government is willing to do this to their own closest ally, neighbor, and friend, everyone is vulnerable to a trade war.”