1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 I'm Anthony and I left MAGA. 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:06,960 Hey everybody, Rich Comedie here at LeavingMAGA.org with the Midas Touch Network. 3 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:12,360 We got a brand new testimonial video for you today of a gentleman who left MAGA. 4 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:13,960 I want to bring him in here. 5 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:18,560 It's Mr. Anthony Brooks from the great state of Texas. 6 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:19,720 It's been back to back now. 7 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,040 We've had two Texans back to back. 8 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:25,400 Anthony, I really appreciate you being here with us. 9 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:27,800 Thank you for reaching out and wanting to tell your story. 10 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,480 Let's just get right into this. 11 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:41,840 Tell us and walk us through what was appealing to you about the MAGA community and the movement. 12 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,420 If you would, address something that you said to me when you wrote out to me, which was 13 00:00:45,420 --> 00:00:54,240 how as a man of faith, originally, that was what made you gravitate to the MAGA community. 14 00:00:54,240 --> 00:01:01,480 Well, initially, like most other Christians, we were very hesitant about Donald Trump, 15 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:03,120 mostly because of his past. 16 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:07,920 It was like we had the folder in our nose to vote for him in 2016. 17 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:15,520 But when we saw him govern conservatively and govern according to the values that we 18 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:24,160 held up at that time, realizing that he was appointing pro-life judges and that he was 19 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:32,760 all about fiscal conservatism and fiscal responsibility, we saw that as appealing to us. 20 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:37,120 It wasn't something that we knew right off the bat. 21 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:41,000 I don't think anyone really knew how Donald Trump was going to govern his first go-around. 22 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:49,120 But eventually, like most others, I was eventually attracted to that, and I did. 23 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:55,200 I became full-fledged, bravado Trump and his policies. 24 00:01:55,200 --> 00:02:00,320 That's initially what was appealing to me about Donald Trump. 25 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:02,600 But it wasn't when I went to the polls. 26 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:07,920 It was actually quite a bit later, after the 2016 election, that I actually realized that 27 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:12,800 he was governing according to those values that, at the time, I thought were the most 28 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:13,800 important. 29 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:22,480 I share a similar experience with you in that I was not immediately enamored with the Trump 30 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:25,480 campaign when he first decided to run. 31 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:31,800 I was very curious, but I had a little bit different... 32 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,560 My entree into MAGA was not anything regarding my religion or my faith. 33 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:41,600 It was that I felt like we needed someone to obliterate the established political order, 34 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:44,440 and we needed an outsider to do that job. 35 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:48,880 I felt like Trump was the right person at the time for that job, someone who'd be a 36 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:49,880 disruptor. 37 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:55,920 We got a disruptor, just someone, as you and I came to painfully realize, as someone whose 38 00:02:55,920 --> 00:03:00,600 disruption is antithetical and anathema to democracy. 39 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:06,720 But as someone who, as you'd mentioned to me when you reached out to me, as a man of 40 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:16,600 faith, what was it like for you watching Trump when you started to have a little bit of doubt 41 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:18,080 about your support for him? 42 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:24,760 What were some of the specific moments that maybe eventually led you to leave and in the 43 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:28,640 moment, and take us through in a real time as best you can what you were thinking as 44 00:03:28,640 --> 00:03:30,640 you're observing this? 45 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:39,760 Well, initially during his first term, his immigration policies were very strict. 46 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:41,720 Immigration policies, a lot of people like that. 47 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:49,960 I was always more hesitant about his immigration policies, namely because Jesus tells us to 48 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:52,640 welcome the foreigner and the immigrants. 49 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:59,000 Leviticus tells us that we are to treat them as if they were one of our own because we 50 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:04,000 were once strangers in the land of Egypt talking about our spiritual forefathers. 51 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:09,400 And that always seemed antithetical to me, to my faith. 52 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:17,640 But also I ran in very conservative reforms, Calvinistic and theonomic circles, basically 53 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:25,240 that we should govern our country according to the general equity, what we call the general 54 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:31,080 equity or the moral principles of the Old Testament Levitical law. 55 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:38,840 And I noticed very clearly that we were not being consistent with that, realizing that 56 00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:45,200 number one, our treatment of immigrants, number two, our fiscal policies, his fiscal policies 57 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:52,280 were very much not in line with those Levitical laws. 58 00:04:52,280 --> 00:05:00,840 And that there were certain language, certain catcalling across the aisle to certain aspects 59 00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:04,000 of the far right that I didn't appreciate. 60 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:09,280 And then eventually as time went on, they were starting to say the quiet part out loud. 61 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:15,880 I started seeing more and more of the Trump supporting people in those circles being more 62 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:25,920 anti-Semitic, being more openly racist, being more untrice like towards other people. 63 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:32,000 And of course, the two laws that we're supposed to hold very near and dear that Jesus has 64 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:36,760 asked, what is the greatest commandment in the law? 65 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:39,440 Well, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, 66 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,000 mind and strength and to love your neighbor as yourselves. 67 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:49,880 And I was seeing a whole lot less of the love your neighbor as yourself in the MAGA movement. 68 00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:53,920 And that is when the doubt started to creep in. 69 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:59,120 It wasn't, it happened very slowly, as you can imagine. 70 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:03,960 But when it happened, it started to speed up rather rapidly. 71 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:11,160 Well that reminds me of what I always say when I'm describing my own epiphany is that 72 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:16,000 for me it happened gradually and then suddenly all at once. 73 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:23,500 And to paraphrase Ernest Hemingway, and when you're saying about, I'm harkening back as 74 00:06:23,500 --> 00:06:27,720 I'm listening to you about conversations I had when I was in the MAGA community about 75 00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:34,800 who were real Christians and real Jews and who the real Americans were and anyone who 76 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:43,480 wasn't with us, they were the fake, unpatriotic, whether it was fake Americans, fake Jews, 77 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:48,200 fake Christians, fake fill in the blank, anyone who was not with us, we considered them that 78 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:50,240 way. 79 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:55,480 Did you experience that as well in some of the conversations that you had about how there 80 00:06:55,480 --> 00:07:00,920 were essentially two camps, you were either with us in MAGA, you were the real Americans, 81 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:05,600 or anyone else, they were the fake ones, they were against us no matter what? 82 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:11,760 Oh, and I'm currently going through some of that actually. 83 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:17,680 My wife and I, we actually ended up leaving our evangelical conservative Presbyterian 84 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:19,960 church for these reasons. 85 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:24,120 And it's not that the church was that way because I would still very much recommend 86 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:29,440 that particular congregation and that denomination to anyone because of just how nice and kind 87 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:30,440 and gentle they were. 88 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:35,720 But there were certain people within the church that were not that way. 89 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:42,920 And then we joined the Anglican church and that has been much more eye opening experience 90 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:46,960 about what true Christianity looks like. 91 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:53,280 And for instance, our diocese just sent out a memo this morning talking about what we 92 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:59,280 should do as Christians to respond to the current immigration policy changes in the 93 00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:04,200 country and it's all about embracing the immigrant, helping them, supporting them. 94 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:08,720 And that's the kind of Christ-likeness that we should see in our community. 95 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:14,240 But yeah, I've definitely experienced a lot of you're trolling, right, kind of things, 96 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:20,080 some of my comments online or people saying, you know, this is, I'm Christian or you have 97 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:22,960 left the faith altogether, people condemning me for that. 98 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,360 And I'm trying to communicate. 99 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:30,960 No, I think what I did is became more consistent with the Bible and my opposition to Trump 100 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:35,640 and his policies because they're not Christian anymore. 101 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:38,360 If they were ever Christian at all, now that I look back on it. 102 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:45,200 But it's rather sad to see that people that I've known for years, one years, one years 103 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:54,880 in those communities saying that my opposition to these radical and racist immigration policies 104 00:08:54,880 --> 00:09:00,160 or to the current must take over as being anti-Christian. 105 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:05,360 I don't see how those things, my opposition to those things are anti-Christian. 106 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:11,040 I just can't fathom with my knowledge of the Bible and my knowledge of our faith and the 107 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:18,760 historic Christian faith, how that has all of a sudden become anti-Christian. 108 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:21,480 It just confuses me. 109 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:28,440 You know, I can really feel and see in your story that there is this struggle between 110 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,080 your past support and your faith. 111 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:32,160 My wife hates this joke. 112 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:39,200 I always say that I'm an excommunicated Catholic, that, you know, that if I'd lived in the 14th 113 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:43,120 century, I'd have been excommunicated by the church. 114 00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:46,440 She's, see my, I left a MAGA hat right there, side note. 115 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:58,640 So I wouldn't say for me that my faith shaped a lot of my MAGA belief in my support, but 116 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:03,320 it's very clear that you're struggling, you're struggling that you had struggled through 117 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:05,720 that and yet you were able to come out on the other side of it. 118 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:10,560 We actually did a testimonial with a lady named Stefania Messina, who was an evangelical 119 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:17,200 woman and she went through and endured and underwent a very similar faith struggle. 120 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:21,280 What I'm, what I'm curious, and you know, you're talking about leaving, right, leaving 121 00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:22,280 the church. 122 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:28,960 So not only did you leave MAGA, but then you've got another community that you had been familiar 123 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:36,080 with and had had camaraderie with and, you know, in literal sense, congregated with them. 124 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:44,080 It's pinpoint, pinpoint for us, Anthony, when, what was the moment that you recall when you 125 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:49,920 said finally, I am out, I am leaving MAGA, this is it. 126 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:50,920 Yeah. 127 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:55,600 And this is, this is a little bit of an extended thought, so I'm sorry, but I feel like if 128 00:10:55,600 --> 00:11:01,960 I don't say all of it, then I shouldn't really say any of it. 129 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:11,960 I noticed during the 2020 election, I had already started to produce some doubts during 130 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:14,280 that time. 131 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:19,760 But after the 2020 election, when he had lost and the buildup, and I saw these Christian 132 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:27,800 communities come out and say that, that the election was stolen, that a lot of, not really 133 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:32,360 that many people in the church that we were in, but in other churches and other groups 134 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:37,080 I was affiliated with, talking about how the election was stolen and all of this. 135 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:40,400 And then all of a sudden, January 6th happens. 136 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:45,760 And then I see Christians, you know, defending the actions of the insurrectionists on January 137 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:53,680 6th and trying to defend Donald Trump's actions or inaction to that situation. 138 00:11:53,680 --> 00:11:59,200 And at that point, that's when the House of Cards started to crumble for me. 139 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:04,640 And then of course, you know, I was in opposition to that, through that. 140 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:20,960 And then this last go around, when I saw Christians start to call out in support of his mass deportations. 141 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:31,360 And I have some personal, some personal feelings about that because my family is directly affected 142 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:32,900 by those things. 143 00:12:32,900 --> 00:12:36,800 And then people were saying that Donald Trump is where Christ is. 144 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:41,360 Well, no, Christ isn't with Donald Trump. 145 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:47,760 When I think of where Christ is, I see Christ and the immigrant family coming here to make 146 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:49,320 themselves a better life. 147 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:56,520 I see Christ and the church doing work to support relief agencies around the world and 148 00:12:56,520 --> 00:13:01,280 to support the unhoused and the broken and the orphan and the widow. 149 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:07,720 I see Christ in the Eucharist every Sunday when our priest states the Episcopalises. 150 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:09,440 I see Christ in those places. 151 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:15,120 I don't see Christ in Donald Trump wanting to deport millions of people out of our country 152 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:20,040 for the great crime of wanting to be here and make a better life for themselves. 153 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:21,680 I don't see Christ in that. 154 00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:31,080 And so anyone who says that Christ is there and not in these other areas, I can't support 155 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:32,080 that. 156 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:38,520 And it's very hard for me to see Christ there. 157 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:47,240 So it was a long road, but essentially to summarize, January 6th happened and that's 158 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:53,820 when I lost all faith in Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. 159 00:13:53,820 --> 00:13:59,040 And then in 2024, that's when I started to become really, really just angry about the 160 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:00,040 whole situation. 161 00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:01,040 Yeah. 162 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:05,920 So, sorry, it's a long thought, but that's where I was at. 163 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:06,920 It's OK. 164 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:12,760 I appreciate you saying it because January 6th was one of the reasons for me as well. 165 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:19,400 And it comes up a lot in these testimonials that we do with those who left. 166 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:21,960 I don't want to ask you to speak for anyone on this. 167 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:27,160 And I'm not coming at this question with who's a real or fake Christian. 168 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:36,720 But there is a part of me that just when I look at evangelicals supporting Trump, there's 169 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:44,960 a part of me that just I can't turn off the voice that says that evangelicals deep down 170 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:48,720 know that they should not be supporting Trump. 171 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:55,080 Do you have a similar sentiment about that when you see it? 172 00:14:55,080 --> 00:15:02,040 How do you respond to the hypocrisy given that you are a man of faith and as someone 173 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:09,560 who very clearly, I minored in theology and I feel like you're taking me back to some 174 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:13,960 of my coursework and so much of what you're saying. 175 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:22,360 How do you work through that, seeing this hypocrisy amongst people who identify as noble, 176 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:26,720 benevolent soldiers and warriors of Christ? 177 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:33,320 Well I have to make a distinction between the average person sitting in the queues who 178 00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:39,680 don't know better, who haven't really been informed, who are uninformed on these issues, 179 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:43,600 who might think that all Trump is doing is just getting all the criminals, even though 180 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:47,760 that's clearly not the case by the stories that we're hearing. 181 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:53,760 A vast majority of the people who are being deported right now are not criminals. 182 00:15:53,760 --> 00:16:02,640 And I have proof for that, but unfortunately it's not a practical place here to share that. 183 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:07,880 But I have to make a distinction between those people who don't know any better and the people 184 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:13,520 who are informed yet still show their support at him. 185 00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:18,180 And then people who are well educated in the evangelical world and think that he is still 186 00:16:18,180 --> 00:16:22,200 the best option for the evangelical world. 187 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,920 So I have to make those distinctions and those distinctions are very difficult for me to 188 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:32,280 make because it is a very emotional topic. 189 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:44,440 But in my mind, the evangelical church as a whole and its leaders as a whole, there 190 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:50,640 is an article on mere orthodoxy that describes the six fragmentations of the evangelical 191 00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:54,760 world and you have the type ones, type twos, type threes, et cetera. 192 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:58,240 And the type ones are your neo fundamentalists, these are your Christian nationalists, Trump 193 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:03,360 supporting evangelicals who are saying that he's the best thing that God has ever sent 194 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:04,360 to this country. 195 00:17:04,360 --> 00:17:08,360 And your type twos are the people who held their nose when they voted for him. 196 00:17:08,360 --> 00:17:15,000 So the type twos, I would say, I want them to be more educated so that they can move 197 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:20,800 into where I'm at, which is type three and type four, which are the people who are very 198 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:25,520 concerned about the evangelical world and their support for Trump. 199 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:31,000 And the people who see the evangelical world is selling itself out to the Republican Party 200 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,520 as a whole because that's where I'm at. 201 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:41,000 And I think that the more educated I became, the more it led me in that direction. 202 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:46,720 So I am concerned very much by the evangelical embracing of Trump, which is why I'm no longer 203 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:50,000 an evangelical. 204 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:53,800 But that doesn't mean that my faith in and of itself is not evangelical. 205 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:54,800 I think that it is. 206 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:59,600 It's just that I can no longer associate with the evangelical church for the very reason 207 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:06,400 that either they are educated and ignore the education or they are not educated and are 208 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:15,400 still selling out to the Republican Party just because they don't want to be educated 209 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:16,400 on those issues. 210 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:17,640 I hope that makes sense. 211 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:26,640 But yeah, no, I was around many who had the sent by God belief. 212 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:32,120 It was not a belief that I shared, but I always just not in agreement because in the MAGA 213 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:38,520 community, there are real pressures to conform. 214 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:42,280 And to maybe not. 215 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:47,480 I was never offended by the idea, but it wasn't one that I agreed with. 216 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:53,520 I was always focused more on just conquering and crushing our enemies before they are political 217 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:56,040 enemies before they conquered and crushed us. 218 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:58,340 So thank you for sharing that. 219 00:18:58,340 --> 00:19:03,800 So let me ask this in closing as we come to a near the close here. 220 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:10,600 So why why speak up from your perspective? 221 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:17,440 Why is it that you wanted to to share this story and tell others? 222 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:26,240 Because I think that a lot of people who are supportive of his policies and what he wants 223 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:35,720 to do right now is complete takeover by the Elon Musk doze regime. 224 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:42,640 I think that people support that because they're not affected by it yet. 225 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:52,240 I know many, many immigrants who are here without proper documentation, and they are 226 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,300 some of the nicest, kindest, hardest working people. 227 00:19:55,300 --> 00:19:58,360 They pay their taxes, they own property. 228 00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:00,360 They they do what they're supposed to do. 229 00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:05,760 The only things that makes them any different than us is that they weren't born here and 230 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:07,760 they don't have papers. 231 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:14,200 And I think that many people will have bought into the lie that they are criminals. 232 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:21,760 They are not Mexico or Nicaragua or Guatemala's best. 233 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:26,520 That they are coming here to steal jobs, this, that and the other thing, which they're not 234 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:29,840 actually the vast majority of them are doing jobs that we wouldn't want to do for the pay 235 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:31,960 that they're being offered for. 236 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:34,640 And they're completely fine doing those jobs. 237 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:36,800 Of course, I want to be consistent. 238 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:39,560 I do want them to be paid more. 239 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:43,440 And that is something that actively advocate for. 240 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:51,720 But all of that being said, there are tremendous support on our economy, not a burden on it. 241 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:52,920 So that's number one. 242 00:20:52,920 --> 00:21:01,280 Number two is I see current trends in the MAGA movement, like the whole empathy is a 243 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:10,080 sin trend and all of that as being extremely toxic and degrading to the morality of this 244 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:11,080 country. 245 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:21,640 It is it is sending us back to a time where we were having to fight things like for so 246 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:25,440 overrides and for women's suffrage, sending us back to that time. 247 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:30,320 It's sending our country back in time instead of forward and progressing. 248 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:33,400 And I think that that is extremely damaging to our country's morale. 249 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:37,900 I think it's extremely damaging to our country's moral character. 250 00:21:37,900 --> 00:21:41,720 And the rest of the world is looking at us like what is going on? 251 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:42,800 We used to lead the world. 252 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,600 Now the world has been alienated from us. 253 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,280 And that is very damaging to our country. 254 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:53,840 So I think speaking out is important and I think educating people is important and doing 255 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:57,320 it with gentleness and reverence like we're supposed to. 256 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:06,000 Because as a Christian, I think that yelling into the ether is not very successful, but 257 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,200 having conversations is. 258 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:12,720 And so my my goal in my personal life with the people around me is I want people to be 259 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:13,720 educated. 260 00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:18,440 And if they are and if they make if they make a choice I don't like, then at least I can 261 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:22,400 say I did what I could. 262 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,680 Because that's all I really can do. 263 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:27,280 Well you're doing it now. 264 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:33,840 And you know, I just want to say as the excommunicated Catholic, what I what I have seen over the 265 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:40,280 last many, many years within the MAGA community, even though I do believe that it's it's mostly 266 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:45,900 good people who are in the community who have been led astray and their fears have been 267 00:22:45,900 --> 00:22:48,680 exploited and manipulated. 268 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:54,100 When it comes to the spiritual aspect of it, it does not look like my Catholic upbringing 269 00:22:54,100 --> 00:22:55,960 at all. 270 00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:00,320 And so and it and it didn't even when I was in MAGA. 271 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:05,040 But again, I just like a lot of other statements and observations, I look the other way. 272 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:08,400 Anthony, I just want to thank you again for coming on here. 273 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:16,280 It shows a lot of intrepidity to tell your story you you had to you had to go against 274 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:19,240 a lot of what you've known best. 275 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:25,680 And I just want to you know, and there are pressures, there are pressures to not go against 276 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:31,800 in your case, your faith and and going through the questioning of that. 277 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:36,380 And I really admire the fact that you have kept your faith through all of this. 278 00:23:36,380 --> 00:23:40,840 And I want to welcome you to our leaving MAGA community. 279 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:45,480 I want to welcome you also to the Midas Touch Network community. 280 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:48,840 We always like to close our leaving MAGA videos the same. 281 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:51,760 I'm Rich and I left MAGA. 282 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:56,320 Hey guys, if you like this video, make sure you subscribe and drop a comment down below. 283 00:23:56,320 --> 00:24:00,240 Also feel free to visit us at leaving MAGA.org get in touch with us there. 284 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:04,480 You can follow us at our socials, get signed up for our newsletter. 285 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:06,100 Really appreciate you guys watching. 286 00:24:06,100 --> 00:24:07,100 Thank you so much for your support. 287 00:24:07,100 --> 00:24:09,060 Can't get enough Midas? 288 00:24:09,060 --> 00:24:13,640 Check out the Midas Plus sub stack for ad free articles, reports, podcasts, daily recaps 289 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:15,760 from Ron Filipkowski and more. 290 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:38,120 Sign up for free now at MidasPlus.com.