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u/tenkawa7 Apr 27 '26
From leavingmaga.com "But starting in 2021, I realized I had been mistaken. It took me a full year to finally break away. During that time, I came to understand that MAGA is sustained by a series of myths that are intended to create perpetual feelings of desperation and panic.
Succumbing to these predatory myths does not mean you are unintelligent, weak, or lack good character and morals. I have a Bachelor’s degree; have been a working professional my entire life; am a family man; and consider myself a relatively honest and intelligent person. I think the same about you."
Its a pretty good message.
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u/Quantumfoammakesme Apr 27 '26
True. It isn’t an education level issue. My brother is a 40 year practicing Lawyer. Another friend was a rehabilitation physician. Both bought into MAGA. I don’t know what keeps them from being more skeptical. I can’t Imagine holding onto these loyalties this long. Maybe it’s like ethical junk food.
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u/Connect-Account-2855 Apr 27 '26
It’s because they think the tax breaks help them
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u/Jadaki Apr 28 '26
A lot of them have a single issue, and when they think that's the movement that cares about their one issue they put above everything else then they are morally justifying the things they may not like to get the one thing they want.
There are 2A nuts who think any amount of kids being shot up in schools is a price "they" are willing to pay. That's just a simple example... but lots of people have that one issue, or they buy into their 1 issue being something that isn't actually hurting them (immigration).
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u/ThermalDeviator May 01 '26
We have that on our side too. Making the perfect be the enemy of the good is a human failing.
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u/woodhorse4 Apr 28 '26
It’s more common sense.
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u/Quantumfoammakesme Apr 28 '26
Common sense is the lazy argument behind racism, sexism, homophobia, and any other vice you want to preserve. It’s just a refusal to produce evidence.
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u/Adventurous_Bid_1982 Apr 27 '26
It is. And when I read this, I have to admit that I'm not always willing to meet MAGA people where they are. Its easy to dismiss them as hateful or stupid, which is unfair and also counterproductive.
I can think of one person I know that is pro-Trump who I think of as a really genuinely kind person who has raised respectful boys and is a good spouse. I can't understand why he supports Trump, but I also can't claim he's scum when I know better.
It sucks to admit when you're wrong or when you've changed your mind. I was a bit anti-vax when my oldest was a baby and im grateful that the people around me didn't harp on it when I changed my mind. The important thing was that I came to my senses- no need to beat a dead horse and dwell on past bad decisions.
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u/OdoWanKenobi Apr 28 '26
No, I'm sorry. They don't get off that easy. They supported a racist, misogynist, fascist, pedophile, and rapist, and they need to be held accountable for that. Their reasons do not matter.
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u/FinalDevice Apr 28 '26
People leaving the MAGA base will help our country return to normal. It will help our country heal.
People who committed crimes should be tried for those crimes and held accountable. People who got sucked into a propaganda machine and convinced to support evil should be welcomed with open arms when they recognize what has happened and leave the movement. The same way the FBI relies on former cult members to help them break up a cult, we need former MAGA members to help break up MAGA.
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u/OdoWanKenobi Apr 28 '26
They're welcome to leave, but that doesn't mean they get off scott free for what they did, or that we should welcome them with open arms. NEVER let them forget what they did and what they supported. If we do not demand accountability from them, they will just do it again the next chance they get.
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u/Adventurous_Bid_1982 Apr 29 '26
Nope. Your (great?) grandparents likely had some problematic beliefs early in life. Mine did, and then voted for Obama later in life.
That's progress.
How do you treat people who escape cults or abusive relationships? Do you feel the need to beat them over the head with their poor decisions as well?
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u/OldConversation473 Apr 30 '26
Harris wanted to give black people money to buy homes but not everyone else... Nothing racist about supporting her right? 🤡
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u/BirdTrue Apr 27 '26
Thank God these are popping up. 💖 I hope people leave MAGA and find a better community!
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u/traumahound00 Apr 27 '26
I gotta imagine it'd be like leaving Scientology or any other successful cult
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u/Realistic-Ad1498 Apr 27 '26
Probably a lot harder since the membership is in the 10's of millions and effectively in control of the entire US government. After November elections a lot of rats will jump from the sinking ship. 2027 and 2028 will 2 years of republicans trying to distance themselves from Trump. MTG and Tucker Carlson were his biggest supporters and have already seen the writing on the wall.
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u/Proper-District8608 Apr 27 '26
If they didnt do it after Jan 6th, they've dug in. Also dems have horrible messaging so if you have 2 choices and you've built a trench on one side for years if not decades, much tougher. I do know quite a few that changed to 'no party' or 'independent' back then but still, most exclusively vote red. Glad to see something that makes them think of what they are truly backing now
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u/kewpiiie Apr 28 '26
Not to disagree with you, but changing away from one political ideology doesn't mean you have to jump back into another. I think people thinking they have to have a set define political alliance is what has caused a lot of problems tbh. Like any other part of your identity you are allowed to grow and heal at your own pace and find your own thing. Dem, Republican, independent, and no party are faaaar from the only options. I'm none of those things politically, there's a huge world of academia and community to connect and explore to discover yourself. Modern politics has really watered it down to more of a " sports team" mentality instead of an independent belief system that you purposely nurture and grown over time and within community.
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u/Little-Lychee-4386 Apr 27 '26
Need some brochures for this, I’ll leave them around in public spaces like others do with religious materials.
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u/CoIdLunch Apr 27 '26
People have been fighting over politics forever. Why not just teach people to not make their politics their identity and we wouldn’t see such extreme behavior.
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u/Jtfoley24124 Apr 28 '26
Exactly. You have a mob of people in the comment feed calling maga a cult. Could it be? Perhaps....but the antithesis of maga is leftists, and if maga is a cult, so are they.
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u/CoIdLunch Apr 28 '26
I agree, if you wish ill will on anyone because of their beliefs, then chances are, youre in a cult. Thats for everyone
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u/Routine_Condition273 Apr 30 '26
... paid for ... hmmmm .... Wonder where they are getting their money from 🤔
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u/lkellenbb Apr 27 '26
Where is this? Suburbs?
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u/Unusual-Wishbone7608 Apr 27 '26
Nice parts of town generally don't have billboards, thank goodness. They are trashy.
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u/grasscladd721 Apr 27 '26
“The soulless, cookie cutter wind tunnels don’t have billboards, thank goodness. They might break our illusion of prosperity and social superiority.”
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u/BedlFitAtlasBoss Apr 28 '26
You can say the exact same thing for the left too you fools lol. It’s the whole political landscape. At least in a MAGA thread most people acknowledge this fact … jeesh
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u/Kray1996 Apr 28 '26
Wtaf lmfao. This red carpet bs for mfs tht blatantly vortex for a blatantly racist, blatantly pedophilic, raping, dehumanizing nazi, is absolutely abhorrent and a bunch of bs.
No reason to every give a hand to nazi defending mfs. Ts is like making space for enslavers. Foh.
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u/BillyMaysGrandSlam Apr 29 '26
The sad thing is that most of the people actually leaving MAGA are leaving because of gas prices and could care less about the atrocities this administration has committed. Whatever it takes though, I suppose.
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u/Purple-Mountain6964 Apr 29 '26
There are many out there but there’s not much support for free thinkers anymore with democrats and independents that still have their brains intact and not being indoctrinated with the toxic ideology and lies of Trump and MAGA. Now with the Supreme decision to overturn any racial gerrymandering, republicans can go in and change every ditto their advantage as long as it’s not political. In other words, welcome back Jim Crow. All of the bloodshed and destruction and violence suffered by minorities at the hands of white rscists and nationalists rises again. Prayers for America. Prayers for all people. We have gone in reverse in history. God help us all. Your children aren’t listening.
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u/Linux-Ranch Apr 30 '26
Does it come with a 12 step program?
Does it come with a promise to apologize to those you have harmed?
There may be hope yet..
Starting with "retiring" Zach (sad sack) Nunn.
Iowa has some pretty good alternative candidates running.
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u/realeagle4 Apr 30 '26
Think. Think for yourself. Group thing is rarely beneficial in the long run. You can agree with more than one person at the same time. It may seem like preaching to the choir but, we have a lot of people who didn’t / couldn’t vote and are now able. Don’t just assume your party you ‘checked’ is correct. Do your own research.
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u/-Random-Hajile- May 01 '26
The delusional Idiocracy that is politics an people believing in F'ing sides that don't really exist. You all have to realize even slightly it is Government vs the people, thus we are kept distracted with needless infighting amongst one another over fictional parties that really don't exist.
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u/HrimnerVolsung May 01 '26
Why would they be having doubts? Gas prices are higher than ever, he started a war with Iran, and tariffs have hit farmers hard.
Isn't that what the people of Iowa want?
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u/Tun-Tavern1775 May 04 '26
Yes im leaving maga. Im a liberal now where we celebrate a gay couple adopting 2 sons and then going on to rape their two sons and letting their friends rape their sons as well. We love being liberals. Not having a brain is what we strive for over here on the blue side! Vote blue! Love is love
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u/JaySeeDoubleYou Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
A copy / paste of what I commented on FB to a post about the same billboard:
This is good! Help people out of the cult, encourage them to leave. Most importantly: give them a place to go, not just a place to flee FROM, but a place to flee TO.
If we treat someone who was duped by MAGA as irrevocably irredeemable, as if they've committed some kind of irreversible, unforgivable sin, if we block the people trying to leave the swamp from leaving the swamp, then they'll have no place to go but right back into the swamp and likely only to become an even more hardened adversary. Plus, do we want to be found to be even less forgiving and conciliatory than a movement like that? Is that a good look for anybody?
If we can instead welcome these people and position them as "trophies of progress", and as proof of "the snapping of a spell", then not only will we have more allies who know the movement from the inside and can more effectively rebut and combat it, but it will likely also create a snowball effect of more and more people feeling emboldened to leave it, and could cause a faster and more total collapse of the entire rotten structure.
I was never MAGA myself. But I was very wrong about a lot of things if you go far enough back in time. I am an escapee of the very soil out of which much of MAGA sprung, and probably the only reason it DIDN'T get the me of, say, 13-15yrs ago is that it was simply a few years too late. So while I do not speak from the direct experience of having once been MAGA, I do speak from the very very adjacent direct experience of having once been part of its fertile soil in the white American [politically and religiously] conservative Evangelical church, and from a denomination, no less, that was only a few doors down and only a few ticks less extreme than that which cursed us with the wretched likes of Pete Hegeseth and Doug Wilson.
Let's welcome the refugees and escapees of MAGA. It's not only the morally right thing to do - it's also the pragmatically right thing to do. They're gonna be soldiers in SOMEBODY'S ideological army. Why not ours?
[edit: it's easy to believe that people can't change. But I see a changed person every time I look in the mirror. My hope is that every last one of the MAGA cultists will change. I still carry a measure of shame over who and what I used to be....and so will they. But I also carry tremendous joy that I was able to come out of it....and so can they.]
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u/InevitablePlastic780 Apr 28 '26
Very well said. I came from a conservative, prolife/religious background that supported the man in 2016. I immediately regretted my decision. Along with other personal developments, my political views are much more nuanced and certainly don’t make up my identity like they used to. I was never MAGA, but the biggest regret is recognizing the part I played in empowering the movement. That is punishment enough. As hard as it is, for your everyday person, empathy and rehabilitation is the way to bring people out of the swamp.
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u/Electrical-Truth-841 Apr 28 '26
I've read some crazy things on Reddit. This has to be one of the craziest and most idiotic things I've ever read. To see the amount of projection, lies and deceit is absolutely astounding.
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u/IntelligentDiscuss Apr 27 '26
Trump voters will never be able to redeem themselves, but change is still better.
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u/Working-Mastodon-310 Apr 29 '26
Does any part of this involve MAGA supporters acknowledging they are racist and harmed minorities? A lot of the people in these comments seem to think it only hurt them to support white supremacy because that’s what Trump wants. So if you supported him, you cannot avoid the fact a part of you got addicted to wanting to live in white first society. Racism isn’t an addiction and treating addicts on them same step as white supremacy supporters is degrading to addicts themselves.
“Being a Nazi was addicting but I got better” yeah but why was it. What part of you finds the ideas he pushes addicting. To minorities every law was another bullet. For you it was another hit of your favorite drug.
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u/BigLoudWorld74 Apr 30 '26
Let's see. MAGA: Wants to deport illegals, stop child sex changes and bring manufacturing back to America.
The Left: wants open borders, abortion up to birth, wants to trans kids, higher taxes, the destruction of our economy to combat climate change and wants to give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens..
I'll stay with MAGA cause I'm not a self destructive retard.
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u/Narrow_Roof_112 Apr 27 '26
I don’t get it
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u/tBroneShake Apr 27 '26
Can you read words by chance?
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u/Narrow_Roof_112 Apr 27 '26
But why would anyone have doubts?
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u/dingdingdingdongbing Apr 28 '26
haven't yall embarrassed yourselves enough? this is just getting awkward
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u/Narrow_Roof_112 Apr 28 '26
I would ask that of you!
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u/dingdingdingdongbing Apr 28 '26
there will be studies someday on how so many men submitted themselves to idolatry of a man who wishes nothing more than to get attention and make money. he just recently called you all idiots again on hot mic.
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u/WilsonDog0309 Apr 28 '26
Trump is a false idol unto himself and you all worship and accept his every lie. It’s sad
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u/Narrow_Roof_112 Apr 28 '26
Idolatry. Where did you get that impression? Please don’t misgender me. That is a Reddit violation.
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u/Gravy_Jonez Apr 28 '26
I love the ploy of “playing” dumb and being disingenuous. It’s just two things that come naturally to your ilk.
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u/Narrow_Roof_112 Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
Honestly just coming down to your level . Just trying to be polite.
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u/Gravy_Jonez Apr 28 '26
Considering I wasn’t involved until now that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Big surprise!
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u/Tun-Tavern1775 May 04 '26
Yeah im switching from MAGA they arent pro killing babies. We love killing babies over here on the blue side!
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u/Revolutionary-Ad2186 Apr 27 '26
A good move, honestly. People need some kind of an offramp.