1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,200 I'm James and I left MAGA. 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:08,240 Hey everyone, Rich coming to you here at Leaving MAGA.org for the Midas Touch Network. 3 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:12,240 We got a brand new Leaving MAGA testimonial for you today. 4 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:19,040 James Hicks from the great state of Texas, a black American ex MAGA voter. 5 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:20,080 Let me bring him in here. 6 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,160 Hey James, I appreciate you being with us. 7 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:26,000 Thank you for reaching out to us. 8 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:36,160 So let's just get right into this. Tell me what made you gravitate to the Trump campaign 9 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:41,120 and the MAGA movement? What was it that was appealing to you? 10 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:46,400 And was being a black American, was there a particular appeal 11 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:49,840 that maybe had a racial component to it as well? 12 00:00:49,840 --> 00:01:00,320 Well, what I would say that first off, I was alone. 13 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:15,040 I didn't feel welcomed wherever I went, whether it was in the community that I grew up or whether 14 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:21,840 it was the communities that I was experiencing at the moment. 15 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:29,360 And so I was always like on the edge, in the middle of different cultures and different 16 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:46,160 experiences. And so when my family would bring up that all of the things that we as black people 17 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:52,400 have gone through, I just didn't want to fight. 18 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:55,920 I didn't want to live a life of fighting. 19 00:01:55,920 --> 00:02:05,520 I wanted to believe in something that could supersede all of that and that could just take 20 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:21,760 that all away from me. And eventually that led me to this moment where I saw Trump on TV and 21 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:30,880 he had these big promises. And I always thought that if somebody had these kind of big promises, 22 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:41,840 there's no way they could be bad. No one would go into something as big as the presidency and have 23 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:47,040 bad intentions, right? So I 24 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:56,160 gave him the benefit of the doubt and that was the start of one of the darkest periods in my life. 25 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:03,360 Thank you for sharing that because I know it's hard to recount that part of your story. And 26 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:11,520 there's these motifs that we heard throughout the 16 campaign, 20 with COVID, 27 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:18,320 this past election, feelings of isolation, of solitude. 28 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:28,560 You seemingly from the conversations we had, you dove really deep in pretty quickly. 29 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:34,720 I've got a photo here that you provided us that I want to show viewers. 30 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:40,880 So this is you with a Confederate flag wristband. 31 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:50,720 That one was probably 2015. I had already started making that rightward shift. 32 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:55,760 And then Trump came on the scene. But at that moment, 33 00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:04,560 I ended up finding myself on Facebook groups and Twitter groups, trying to defend 34 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:14,320 people who were raising Confederate flags and talking about statues. Because I really thought 35 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:21,520 that if I took up these issues and started talking about them, I would be able to defend 36 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:28,240 because I really thought that if I took up these issues that they seemed to care so much about, 37 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:38,240 that they accept me too. That's what I was hoping. It did not turn out that way. 38 00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:50,080 This is again wanting, we have this yearning because it's necessary to be part of a communal 39 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:55,760 existence. One of the reasons I was very particularly excited to speak with you is that 40 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:03,360 I think for a lot of Americans who are opposed to MAGA, they're going to see a Black 41 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:16,160 ex-MAGA American voter and supporter. It's easy to just think of everyone in a monolith, 42 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:22,000 whether it's one race, one ethnicity, one religion, but groups are not monolithic. 43 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:29,600 For some, they might hear you and without the context might think, well, that's illogical 44 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:35,920 that he would think that. But to me, it's not illogical because you found others who validated 45 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:47,360 you, who vindicated you, and you felt like being a part of a group who respected you. It makes sense 46 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:56,000 to me what you're saying. Tell me what life was like for you during Trump's first administration. 47 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:00,960 What kind of people were you around? What were some of the activities you were doing? What was 48 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:12,000 your MAGA activism like in that first administration? I would say starting off with the campaign, 49 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:24,240 I went to a rally and I told all of my family during that campaign season that this was the 50 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:35,280 guy that I supported and they all were telling me, you're crazy about that. We had a lot of 51 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:50,480 arguments, but I went to that rally and when I was there, everybody looked and they said that 52 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:58,960 they were just so glad that I was there. I thought that that was really genuine. 53 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:11,760 For example, there was this moment where this lady actually, she said, thank you for being here. 54 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:23,440 I didn't think that a black person would join this movement. I was just feeling elated, 55 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:31,600 but then she said, but you know, I still don't like black women. 56 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:46,160 I still don't like black women. At that moment, it didn't occur to me that she was actually 57 00:07:52,320 --> 00:08:00,880 holding on to her beliefs. She wasn't letting me actually into the door. I thought that we were 58 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:08,080 having this conversation. At that moment, I thought when she said this, I thought, oh, 59 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:17,200 she's being open with me. Now that I'm here, perhaps then I can change things. I can make 60 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:24,960 things a better place for everybody. It didn't pan out that way. Throughout the administration, 61 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:34,400 I did not get any closer to other people in MAGA. I didn't. I was on my own. I was alone 62 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:43,680 like a fighting dog who was just going out and picking up all of these causes, all of their 63 00:08:43,680 --> 00:08:59,200 causes, and trying to show that, hey, me, I, and other people of color, we are not threatening. 64 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:13,920 That's what I wanted to show them. Coming into 2020, I realized, I was seeing this, and I see 65 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:21,600 the George Floyd protests, and I realize, and I see the president's reaction, and I see all of the 66 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:31,680 reactions, all these really terrible, vile reactions from within MAGA, the MAGA that I had 67 00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:41,600 been spending all of this time trying to reach out to, and I realized that I hadn't gained ground at 68 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:53,600 all. So tell me, so you have this realization, and it starts, as I always like to say, our epiphanies 69 00:09:53,600 --> 00:10:01,600 happen gradually, and then suddenly, all at once. So you've got the George Floyd protests. 70 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:11,520 You've got doubts that commence. You're starting to question some of your beliefs. But how painful 71 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:22,960 was it to be personally rejected, given all of your advocacy? You've shown me Facebook posts. 72 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:29,200 You've shown me social media posts. I can relate to how devout you were, because you were a 73 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:38,320 I can relate to how devout you were, because I was myself. But take us through that personal 74 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:48,000 turmoil. You're shunned, and you're also starting to have, we'll call it a personal existential 75 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:54,000 crisis that you're supporting Trump and the movement. Take us through that, the emotions, 76 00:10:54,000 --> 00:11:03,120 feelings that you're going through at the time. Yeah. So at that moment, what I always would do 77 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:15,760 whenever something terrible would actually happen within my community, where people were in real 78 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:26,000 pain, really hurt, because of what was going on, because there was just always some murder. There 79 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:36,880 was always some killing. But what I would do is I would take up for the people who 80 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:42,160 didn't like the protests. I would take up for the people who 81 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:47,200 thought that we were just being, that the people were just being too loud, 82 00:11:47,840 --> 00:12:06,240 and that there was no way that there was racism in 2020 America. And this is what they want me to 83 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:16,960 believe. I mean, they didn't really even try, because I made all of these concessions. I wore 84 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:24,800 the wristband, I wore the flag. I would go all over my Facebook, all over Twitter, saying, 85 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:33,840 hey, you know what, protect the Confederate monuments. I would go all over my Facebook, 86 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:39,600 protect the Confederate monuments, protect the Confederate flag, protect these symbols, 87 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:49,520 protect white pride. White pride matters. Not black lives, all lives. I do all this. I do all 88 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:56,400 this. I keep doing it. And I'm like, okay, there's going to be this beautiful America 89 00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:04,080 that they're going to show me. Trump said in the beginning that there was going to be this unity, 90 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:11,360 and I've been waiting four years. Come on, please show it to me. And what ends up happening, he 91 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:22,000 takes, you know, a black person is killed, and he takes a Bible and the military and threatens 92 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:31,600 military action against protesters. And it was just crazy that somebody would have thought that 93 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:48,800 that was purposeful, that that was good. I couldn't understand what was in his head. And then, 94 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:54,480 this is also during COVID, and I'm just seeing all of these people. I was working at a restaurant 95 00:13:54,480 --> 00:14:01,680 at the time. I'm seeing all of these people just dropping like flies, and the president of the 96 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:07,920 United States that I put all of this trust in, he's still telling us not to social distance, 97 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:14,880 not to wear masks. He's sending us to die out there. And I'm hearing these other supporters 98 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:22,240 saying that they didn't care what happened to them. They had made peace with God. And I'm like, 99 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:27,120 you don't have to resign yourself to die. President, just please tell us that we don't 100 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:35,520 have to die like this. And it was all of these things at the same time. And I was coming to 101 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:47,840 understand that somehow he didn't care. And... It's hard realization, right? It's difficult to 102 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:52,800 acknowledge that in the moment. And I will tell you that COVID mismanagement, 103 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:59,360 that was one of the factors that eventually led me on a pathway to leaving. 104 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:07,200 This is pretty remarkable, not surprising, but remarkable candor, James, on your part. And 105 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:12,480 as I was thinking about our conversation, preparing for it, 106 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:18,400 I want to ask you, why is it important to you to speak out publicly 107 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:24,720 for doing all of this? I know you're going to tell me, I know you're going to tell me, 108 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:32,000 why is it important for doing all of this? I know you're going to take a lot of heat 109 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:40,880 from a lot of people doing this, but why do it? Tell me what's motivating you to want to 110 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:43,280 offer this story publicly. 111 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:52,800 I want people to be able to get out and live their lives. I want people to be able to be free. 112 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:08,000 For me, I could not have made all of these improvements in my life if I was still stuck 113 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:23,280 looking for some aspiring dictator strongman guy to save me. There is nothing in this movement for 114 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:33,840 us. There's nothing in there. There's nothing in it for us. And when I saw during the last campaign 115 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:46,080 cycle, and I saw some, I saw more black people and Hispanic people breaking out that way, and 116 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:55,280 I saw them running in when I was getting out. And I was like, 117 00:16:55,280 --> 00:17:07,760 and I was like, guys, don't go. Don't fall down that rabbit hole. It's a dead end. 118 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:17,520 Well, I can tell you, James, that there are going to be some black Americans who are in 119 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:27,520 the MAGA community who are going to see this. And I just want to credit you for your intrepidity, 120 00:17:27,520 --> 00:17:35,200 your bravery in telling this story. I also want to welcome you to our leaving MAGA community, 121 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:39,440 welcome you to the Midas Touch Network as a Midas Mighty here at our community. 122 00:17:40,800 --> 00:17:46,160 Where can viewers find you? You've got some videos that you've made. I'd like for our viewers to be 123 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:56,320 able to watch those. Where can they find them and reach you at? On YouTube, it's at Dreneth Dolly. 124 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:11,360 Spell it for us. Spell it for the viewers. It's D-R-E-N-T-H-D-O-L-L-Y. And then also the 125 00:18:11,360 --> 00:18:20,960 channel name is called Crude Spice. Crude Spice. Yep. Okay. And also the, I do have a Blue Sky 126 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:28,320 where I'm also trying to figure out that stuff as well. I want to. What's the handle there? What's 127 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:35,680 your Blue Sky handle? It's Dreneth Dolly. It's the same as with the, with the YouTube. Got it. But 128 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:45,200 I'm really hoping that I get to talk with people and I really want to help with this deprogramming 129 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:54,240 process because we, we're, we, we, we should, we can have dignity. We should have dignity. 130 00:18:55,120 --> 00:19:01,760 We can't live like this. Like, um. Yeah, it's true. It's true about with the, 131 00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:05,680 I could tell you from my seven years in the MAGA community, 132 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:16,720 myriad times I dehumanized others. And, you know, I can see in your face, I can hear it in your tone 133 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:23,680 and tenor your remorse. I want you to know, don't worry. There are going to be lots and lots of 134 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:28,480 people who are going to see this story, who are going to want to connect with you. And again, 135 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:34,880 I want to welcome you to the, to the MAGA community. As we sign off here, as we like to do in all of 136 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:39,760 our Leaving MAGA videos, we've got James Hicks from the great state of Texas. James, 137 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:46,400 I want to thank you for being here. I'm Rich and I left MAGA. 138 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:51,120 I'm James and I left MAGA. 139 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:54,560 Thanks so much, James. Appreciate you being here. 140 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,400 Hey everyone, if you liked this video, make sure you drop a comment down below. Make sure you 141 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:04,320 subscribe. Also, please visit us at LeavingMAGA.org. Connect with us. If you've got any stories you want 142 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:08,960 to share with us, you could reach us there at LeavingMAGA.org and all of our socials. As always, 143 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:26,480 really appreciate you watching. Thanks so much for your support.