‘Not the government I grew up with’: Fired federal employee attends Trump address to Congress

NINA MOINI: Well, while some Democratic lawmakers boycotted President Trump's joint address to congress altogether last night, others invited former federal workers from their districts as their guests to the speech. It was part of a wider campaign to protest the administration's mass firings and funding cuts. Representative Ilhan Omar invited Chris Wicker as her guest as part of the first round of DOGE layoffs.

The air force veteran was fired as deputy director of Minnesota's Small Business Administration Office last month. We had Chris on the show. It was two weeks ago to talk about that experience, and he joins us again on the line now. Thanks so much for coming back, Chris. What a what a couple of weeks you've had.

CHRIS WICKER: Yeah. Hi, Nina. Thanks very much for having me back.

NINA MOINI: Can you tell us a little bit just about what the last 24 hours have been like for you?

CHRIS WICKER: Well, first of all, there's been not a lot of sleep. This particular address went quite late into the evening, and it's been a whirlwind. And it's a lot of conflict for me personally because I'm humbled that I have been able to stand in the halls of Congress and under that stained glass eagle in the middle of the of that room. I'm also really humbled by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar for selecting me to help me amplify the voice of this, so a lot of gratitude.

And then at the same time, I have been feeling a lot of betrayal because I stood there in this government that I have worked so hard for. And I listened to a crowd of people cheer on a message that not only terrifies me as a former worker but also the current workers that I know are still behind.

NINA MOINI: Did you ever expect that posting about your termination on social media would bring this much attention to what you were doing? You've really become a voice and captured the attention of a lot of people. How does that part feel?

CHRIS WICKER: It definitely was not my intention to get a lot of attention by getting terminated. But one thing I have found to be true is that I have a lot of colleagues that are recently terminated federal workers. And they have one priority in their life right now, and that is getting the bills paid, getting food on the table for their family.

I'm in a very unique position where I have a little bit of time and flexibility right now to speak up on behalf of those people and make sure that they can focus on their families and their lives. And I will stand here at this post and make sure that everybody who needs to hear this message does because these people need to be defended.

NINA MOINI: Do you want to share anything that you and Representative Omar talked about? Or what did she say to you when she was inviting you and throughout the evening?

CHRIS WICKER: So I'll say two things about Congresswoman Omar. The first of which is that this is a genuine human being. She either had the fortune or misfortune of having to spend several hours with me, just hanging out in her office as the building goes on lockdown, and we ate meals together. And she's a genuinely kind and caring human being. And we shared stories of family, our affinity for pizza, and other really-- just it was a very positive, quality time together.

The other really important thing that the public should understand about the congresswoman and that I definitely took away, is that this is a legislator who genuinely cares, is genuinely standing out there advocating for us. And she identified an opportunity here to amplify this message, helped me be introduced to other members of the legislature to try and get this moving forward in every direction possible. And so we've had really high-quality conversations, and we're behind each other on this. We're getting work done.

NINA MOINI: OK, and what are some of those conversations about? What steps are you wanting to take after all of this?

CHRIS WICKER: Well, first of all, I had to ask the congresswoman kind of point blank, I seem to be getting some attention here, ma'am. What am I supposed to do now? I? Who am I supposed to even be talking to?

NINA MOINI: Right.

CHRIS WICKER: And this is a legislator with subject matter expertise. And so we talked about how voices get heard and how legislative priorities get established. And she shared with me the work that she's been doing behind the scenes. There's a really incredible staff here in this office that has been helping me craft the right message and talk to the right media contacts and make sure that in my priorities of getting the word out in defense of federal workers, both current and fired, that the hard work is getting done.

NINA MOINI: OK. So it was it was good energy. You were having a nice time with the congresswoman. And then you entered the speech. What was the energy like for you in the room during that time?

CHRIS WICKER: Well, again, the definition of all of this is conflict. There was a lot of energy in that room. There were people that-- I don't think you could explain the energy unless you were sitting there.

You could feel the way that a lot of people felt towards the president as he was speaking. People were throwing their hands in the air. They were jumping up and down. They were cheering as if it was a really, really motivational event for them.

But if you were on the other side of that argument, if you were a recently fired federal worker like me, listening to their former boss talk about what a deviant workforce this is and how we're not showing up to work and not responding to emails, that energy felt a little bit like a betrayal. And honestly, it didn't feel like a very safe environment for somebody who recently was a part of this Government

NINA MOINI: What about the moment where Speaker Mike Johnson basically had someone taken out of their representative from Texas, Al Green, a Democrat? He had an outburst during President Trump's speech. People were holding up signs. There was just a lot of chaotic stuff going on. How does that make you feel about the future of the country?

CHRIS WICKER: Since all the way back to when I was in the military, I've been taught a lot of protocol, protocol in the armed forces, protocol in the federal government, state government. There's a lot of protocol. I've spoken to the congresswoman many times over this weekend, and I call her ma'am every time because I believe strongly in that protocol and respect.

And I had a really hard time finding the protocol that I was accustomed to last night. And I mean that across the board. I'm not sitting here picking sides or making any of this about politics. I'm not watching the government that I grew up with, and I'm watching a lot of people either struggling to find their current footing or struggling to find new footing. And it all felt very unsteady.

NINA MOINI: It's so interesting to hear you say, that's not what I grew up with. And we just talked with three people from Generation Z, and it's very much what they have grown up with, right? So what do you think just from your perspective in what you've gathered in the last couple of weeks? What do you think needs to happen to bring the country on a more unified path that also takes people's well-being and jobs and everything into account?

CHRIS WICKER: I think that the American people need to start standing up for their real beliefs. We know that we're having arguments play out in public between two extreme sides. But the majority of us, the majority of the people that I have talked to here in the Capitol Building this week, fall somewhere towards the middle of common sense.

And we need common sense discussions. I'm not here to debate big government, small government, red government or blue government. I want to talk about good government. If we want to run the government like a business, then let's run it like a real business, where we have strategy and leadership and thoughtful decisions, not wild, indiscriminate cuts so that we can show a bunch of numbers on the evening news. I would love to see my fellow Minnesotans and my fellow Americans get back to the ballot box and start voting for people who make sense again.

NINA MOINI: Chris Wicker, we always appreciate your time. Wishing you well in whatever is next, and we hope you'll come back and update us on how things are going for you

CHRIS WICKER: Always my pleasure. Thanks so much.

NINA MOINI: That was Chris Wicker, the former Deputy Director of the Minnesota District Office for the US Small Business Administration.