Trump Isn't Going to Rehire Fired Federal Workers

The government may be reopening, but thousands of Americans just lost their jobs for good.

The Trump administration is reopening the government, but not before pulling another bait and switch. Classic GOP move.

After 43 days of chaos, missed paychecks, and furloughed workers, the so-called compromise deal to end the shutdown has one glaring omission: thousands of fired federal employees are not getting their jobs back.

It is officially the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, surpassing the 35-day record from Trump’s first term. I’m sure MAGA’s thrilled he finally broke a record that doesn’t involve indictments.

The bill Democrats negotiated was supposed to reverse those firings, prevent more layoffs through January 30, 2026, and guarantee full back pay once operations resumed, but according to an interview first reported by The Daily Beast, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer says that was never the plan.

In an interview on the MAGA radio show Hot Talk With the Ox, Emmer said Trump has no intention of rehiring the people his administration cut during the shutdown. “He’s not going to bring back the people that they fired,” Emmer said. “They were unnecessary, otherwise, they’d still be there.”

Did you hear that, America? If you lost your job because Trump shut down the government, congratulations, you have now been reclassified as “unnecessary.”

Emmer celebrated the vote on Twitter, claiming Republicans “did what’s best for the American people” by ending what he called the “Democrat shutdown.” Because of course, in Trump’s America, he shuts down the government but it is somehow the Democrats’ fault.

On Hot Talk With the Ox, the host asked if “some of the Russ Vought stuff will stick” and Emmer didn’t hesitate, saying, “All of the stuff they’ve done is sticking.”

That means Trump and his team are making the shutdown permanent for thousands of workers and calling it reform.

If the name Russ Vought sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the architect of Project 2025, the far-right plan to purge career civil servants and replace them with Trump loyalists. The mass firings during the shutdown were carried out under his direction. Vought, known in MAGA circles as “the Grim Reaper,” bragged about the cuts on Twitter, writing, “The RIFs have begun.” “RIF” stands for “reduction in force,” or as most Americans would call it, firing people.

The shutdown deal was supposed to bring everyone back to work, but there’s a catch buried in the fine print. The bill guarantees reinstatement and back pay for furloughed federal workers, not the roughly 4,200 who were officially fired.

However, by labeling those layoffs as “RIFs,” or reductions in force, Russ Vought turned a temporary shutdown into a permanent purge. It is a legal loophole big enough to drive a motorcade through. The administration can now claim it is following the law while keeping those firings in place, even though Congress clearly intended for everyone to be reinstated.

Emmer’s interview only confirms what has been obvious for weeks: this shutdown was not about saving taxpayer money or doing “what’s best for the American people,” it was a test run for authoritarian control.

And even as Emmer admitted those fired workers will not return, he accused Democrats of advocating for “waste, fraud, and abuse.” Pretty rich coming from the same party that burns millions in taxpayer funds on Trump’s golf weekends at Mar-a-Lago, a $350 million White House ballroom, and political stunts like the shutdown itself.

The government may be open again, but the damage is done. Trump got exactly what he wanted, a televised crisis he could spin as “draining the swamp.” But when he says that, what he really means is firing the people who keep the country running and replacing them with the ones who will never say no.