(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Ex-MAGA Activist's Jan. 6 Reflection [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-01-06
Hi everyone, Rich here, from Leaving MAGA. Happy New Year. Here’s my Jan. 6 reflection, as someone who was in the MAGA community from 2015 to 22.
This is an excerpt from our free book, entitled, “My MAGA Odyssey.” To read it, please visit here.
On this day, 4 years ago, I was a devout member of the MAGA community, and was angered by the events of Jan. 6. Not, however, for the reasons you may think.
By the time Trump rallied his supporters in Washington, D.C. on January 6, I had no desire to attend. I had grown tired of Trump’s nonstop claims that the election was
stolen. It was clear to me that he was lying. But as I had in the past, I kept my doubts to myself. I knew that if I publicly challenged the election fraud narrative, many in MAGA would brand me as a traitor.
As the rioters breached the Capitol, I was apoplectic — not because the police were violently overwhelmed, and not because I was anticipating injuries and fatalities — but because the “assholes,” as I referred to the invaders, were ruining the odds of a 2024 Trump comeback. Burned into my memory and psyche are the images of a seemingly never-ending caravan of “peaceful protestors.”
Despite the election lies, and the insurrection inspired by them, I remained in MAGA. I gave Trump the benefit of the doubt that, as time passed, he’d pivot to preparation for the 2024 election, and the lies would mostly be forgotten.
A lot of MAGA community members conjectured that the insurrection was a set-up, an “inside job” designed to make Trump and MAGA look bad. I thought this was
phantasmic, and harkened back to Sept. 11 “truthers” who thought that Bush/Cheney orchestrated that day’s events.
I did, however, adopt the MAGA position that the Democrats and most of the national media had
hyperbolically elevated January 6 to a position of historical importance equal to Pearl Harbor and Sept. 11. On my Philadelphia radio show, I censured the press and Democrats for their obsession with January 6. I often joked with fellow MAGA Americans that the federal government prosecuted some of the rioters as if they were criminal masterminds.
I stopped paying attention to January 6 coverage, cocksure that the day was relevant only to Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans and conservatives.
Three months after the insurrection, I was still working hard for MAGA. More than a year later, I would publicly leave MAGA, with a published apology acknowledging my mistake of supporting Trump and MAGA. It was that epiphany that led me to found Leaving MAGA – a community for those who leave MAGA; for those having remorse about their support for Trump; and for friends and family of those in MAGA.
Click here to learn more about our organization. Thank you.
Rich Logis
[email protected]
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/6/2295527/-Ex-MAGA-Activist-s-Jan-6-Reflection?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
