Overview
- Members of Leaving MAGA told MS NOW that they once embraced Donald Trump and the MAGA movement but later withdrew and organized to help others do the same.
- Several interviewees said social and economic ties—friends, family and local networks that offered validation and material support—drew them into MAGA in the first place.
- Former supporters described concrete triggers for leaving that included switching off Fox News and watching documentary reporting on January 6, which changed how they saw the 2020 election and the Capitol attack.
- Rich Logis, who founded Leaving MAGA, and others characterized the movement as offering belonging while also having cult-like patterns that discouraged dissent.
- Reporting is anecdotal and based on self-described experiences shared with MS NOW and summarized by Raw Story, so the accounts illustrate personal pathways out of MAGA rather than proving a wider national trend.