Trump's week in review: Higher tariffs and $200M White House ballroom
1. Trump encourages protection of religious expression for federal workers
The U.S. office of Personnel Management released a memo Monday titled “Protecting Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace,” which allows federal employees to display religious items at work, participate in group or individual prayer during non-duty hours, discuss their religious beliefs and seek to engage co-workers in a “polite discussion” about their faith. The memo also permits employees to invite co-workers to join them at religious services.
2. Trump reinstates Presidential Fitness Test
At a press conference Thursday delivered alongside multiple Trump administration officials and professional athletes, the president signed an executive order restoring the Presidential Fitness Test and the Presidential Fitness Award.
“From the late 1950s until 2013, graduates [and] scholars all across our country competed against each other in the Presidential Fitness Test,” Trump said.
The Presidential Fitness Test was discontinued during the Obama administration.
According to an article published by Harvard Medical School’s Harvard Health Publishing in 2024, the Presidential Fitness Award would measure students’ ability to complete a 1-mile run, do pull-ups or push-ups, do sit-ups, complete a shuttle run that involves running back and forth as fast as possible between two points and do a sit-and-reach test. Trump’s executive order directs the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with the U.S. Secretary of Education, to administer the Presidential Fitness Test.
“As the United States prepares to celebrate its semiquincentennial anniversary in 2026, we must address the threat to the vitality and longevity of our country that is posed by America’s declining health and physical fitness,” the executive order states.
“For far too long, the physical and mental health of the American people has been neglected. Rates of obesity, chronic disease, inactivity, and poor nutrition are at crisis levels, particularly among our children. These trends weaken our economy, military readiness, academic performance, and national morale.”
In addition to re-establishing the Presidential Fitness Test and the Presidential Fitness Award, the executive order establishes the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, which will be comprised of prominent athletes featured at the press conference, including golfer Annika Sorenstam, wrestler Triple H and NFL football player Harrison Butker. The Council will be tasked with determining the criteria for a Presidential Fitness Award.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
