'I was dumb as a rock': Hardcore MAGA couple ditches Trump after getting 'kick in teeth'
www.rawstory.com
After voting for Donald Trump multiple times, longtime Republicans Ron and Chrissey Kelley turned on the president and his MAGA movement when his second administration’s policies threatened their livelihood.Last October, Ron, a 55-year-old construction analyst for the U.S. Department of Housing and ...

“We voted for Trump, not realizing that he was going to slam as hard as he did, but it was on day one when he sat down, right after inauguration, and started signing those executive orders and just trashed us federal employees, it was a kick in the teeth,” Ron said.

“That point was the beginning of my turning away from MAGA.”

“If people would just listen and research and do something other than just listen to Fox News, we may all be better off, but it’s going to take an open mind and an ability to say, ‘I made a mistake,’ because once you say you made a mistake, you can turn the ship around,” said Chrissey Kelley, 50, a stay-at-home mom.

  • Kyle@lemmy.caEnglish
    20·
    22 hours ago

    For once, I’d like to see one of these people say they no longer support MAGA or anything close to that because they woke up and developed empathy for other people.

    Every time it’s “oh, it finally affected me from getting mine, so now I don’t like it.”

    They didn’t drastically change their values. These people are still ripe for the next grift that comes along.

    • EatYourOrach@lemmy.ca
      4·
      9 hours ago

      Your generous donation will empower others to leave MAGA and tell their stories; foster reconciliation with their friends and family; and develop movement leaders to help others leave.

      What was that about the next grift?

      Neat trivia: if you go to their joint “leaving maga” testimonial page, Chrissey admits to having been an illegal migrant worker in 2001 and 2003. Went to China as a Christian missionary under the guise of “teaching English,” which absolutely violated the terms of her VISA, which makes her an illegal migrant worker. Not that they’d ever see it that way. Just no self awareness…

      For all their claims of ignorant innocence (“We were lied to,” “I was clueless,” “It’s not the end of the world,” “It’s okay to be wrong”), Evangelists are always right.

      We’re very upset about the mass deportation campaign, too. Speaking as a Christian, I’ve researched Christian Nationalism, and that really woke me up. These people getting picked up and deported to countries they’re not from, that’s not what a Christian stands for.

      … then again, maybe there’s hope for them too. They just desperately need to decentre themselves. Like this guy has:

      As someone who left MAGA, a main focus for me is trying to take as much accountability for my beliefs and actions as possible. I can’t just say, “Oh, I was lied to.” It’s my fault, because I let myself become that way. […]

      Trump is not the ultimate cause of this. There are underlying issues, like poor education. People aren’t taught enough about women’s issues and minority issues, for example. And people are having trouble pulling together the bare necessities. Once that happens, it’s really easy to become angry and want to blame the system. And when you feel the system isn’t going to change, it’s easy to say, “Let’s try the lunatic. Put the bull in the china shop and let it loose.” - Jay, a former homeschooled Gamergator All-Lives-Matter incel, who seems to be actively working on becoming a better neighbour

    • saimen@feddit.org
      7·
      11 hours ago

      “In my work with the defendants (at the Nuremberg Trails 1945-1949) I was searching for the nature of evil and I now think I have come close to defining it. A lack of empathy. It’s the one characteristic that connects all the defendants, a genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow men. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.”

      Quotation: Captain G. M. Gilbert, the Army psychologist assigned to watching the defendants at the Nuremberg trials

      • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
        7·
        9 hours ago

        Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.”

        Meanwhile the MAGAts are out there worshipping Charlie Kirk when he said:

        I can’t stand the word empathy actually. I think empathy is a made-up, New Age term that — it does a lot of damage

        • Zeppo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          4·
          8 hours ago

          Elron Musk also said

          The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit. They’re exploiting a bug in Western civilization, which is the empathy response.

      • Kyle@lemmy.caEnglish
        3·
        9 hours ago

        Sometimes I like to think what strong and primary values a “perfect” (within possibility) society would have. And the main answer I come up with is empathy. Empathy first, then a strong rejection of lies, misinformation and superstition and a high value for truth and authenticity.

        I remember reading about self aware psychopaths that were raised in an environment where empathy was valued more than anything. So they consciously choose prosocial behavior not out of felt empathy, but out of rational self-interest. Knowing that prosocial behavior is most beneficial framework to live in. Therefore they choose it.

        I think I know some people like this. They are predisposed to steamroll people, but all they read is about how to be kind and ethical, how to take care of their staff. The have ended up being one of the kindest people I know but I can tell it’s from a lot of learning and work to become that way.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.caEnglish
      2·
      9 hours ago

      because they woke up and developed empathy for other people.

      Getting them to admit to being “woke” is going to be a tall order.

      • Kyle@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        9 hours ago

        I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone who hates some, understands it means they “woke up”.

        The word has become so twisted to them I feel safe in saying “wake up” and having them never draw any similarities to “woke”. But would be interested in seeing them notice that.