WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.859 And I'm Danny and I left MAGA. Hey guys, Rich 00:00:02.859 --> 00:00:04.919 coming to you here at Leaving MAGA at leavingmaga 00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:07.919 .org with the Midas Touch Network. We have a 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:10.980 brand new Leaving MAGA testimonial for you today. 00:00:11.060 --> 00:00:14.699 I want to bring him in. We are joined by Danny 00:00:14.699 --> 00:00:18.500 Collins, who's here with me in the great state 00:00:18.500 --> 00:00:20.699 of Florida. Danny, I just want to thank you for 00:00:20.699 --> 00:00:23.359 coming on and joining us. We really appreciate 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:26.879 it. Let's just get right into this. So we've 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:29.160 had a chance a little bit to talk about some 00:00:29.160 --> 00:00:32.899 of your background, but for those watching, take 00:00:32.899 --> 00:00:36.359 us through a little bit what it was about Trump 00:00:36.359 --> 00:00:40.299 and the MAGA movement that attracted you to them 00:00:40.299 --> 00:00:42.759 and what it was about them that made you gravitate 00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:46.659 to them. So I grew up in South Florida in a small 00:00:46.659 --> 00:00:48.780 town, probably about 30 minutes outside of where 00:00:48.780 --> 00:00:52.649 Mar -a -Lago is actually. Much of my community 00:00:52.649 --> 00:00:55.710 has always been conservative, kind of Christian, 00:00:55.950 --> 00:01:01.090 and that was the way I was raised. So what Trump 00:01:01.090 --> 00:01:03.530 appealed to in me, I went from a little backstory. 00:01:03.630 --> 00:01:06.609 I went from professional baseball with the Atlanta 00:01:06.609 --> 00:01:09.390 Braves to being homeless and then spending 10 00:01:09.390 --> 00:01:11.390 years in the Florida Department of Corrections. 00:01:11.689 --> 00:01:14.750 And while in prison, it was the height of the 00:01:14.750 --> 00:01:17.329 Black Lives Matters movement and Trump campaigning 00:01:17.329 --> 00:01:20.010 for president. And I remember thinking to myself 00:01:20.010 --> 00:01:23.700 that. The white man is under attack in this country 00:01:23.700 --> 00:01:26.680 that Trump kind of spoke to that fear in me that 00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:28.859 white people were now being blamed for everything 00:01:28.859 --> 00:01:31.280 we were being discriminated against. You know, 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:34.040 we're tolerant of every demographic of people, 00:01:34.219 --> 00:01:39.579 Muslims, Arabs, the black community, the LGBTQIA 00:01:39.579 --> 00:01:41.939 plus community. But if you're a white, straight, 00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:44.939 Christian, conservative man, you're being blamed 00:01:44.939 --> 00:01:47.359 for everything that's ever happened in this country. 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:51.439 And Trump spoke to that fear in me. and that's 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:53.840 what made me gravitate towards him because in 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:56.299 my mind he was anti -establishment you know he 00:01:56.299 --> 00:01:58.340 was going to drain the swamp he wasn't republican 00:01:58.340 --> 00:02:02.099 or democrat you know he was just american and 00:02:02.099 --> 00:02:04.680 i and i believe that and i wanted to believe 00:02:04.680 --> 00:02:06.519 that with all of my heart because i was tired 00:02:06.519 --> 00:02:09.219 of the status quo um i had experienced my own 00:02:09.219 --> 00:02:11.379 struggles in life with mental health illness 00:02:11.379 --> 00:02:13.379 and substance abuse disorder and the criminal 00:02:13.379 --> 00:02:16.759 justice system and and i felt like trump gets 00:02:16.759 --> 00:02:19.810 us you know he gets the the the working class 00:02:19.810 --> 00:02:22.430 the average american the you know the person 00:02:22.430 --> 00:02:23.949 that's grown up in poverty and known struggle 00:02:23.949 --> 00:02:27.009 and stuff like that and and he spoke to that 00:02:27.009 --> 00:02:29.789 that part of me uh and made me feel safe and 00:02:29.789 --> 00:02:31.569 made me feel like that my voice was being heard 00:02:31.569 --> 00:02:37.349 thank you for sharing that and you know you have 00:02:37.349 --> 00:02:40.699 a a lot of what you're saying danny it's it's 00:02:40.699 --> 00:02:43.599 as if i'm listening to my own story because that 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:46.199 was an appeal for me also with trump which was 00:02:46.199 --> 00:02:48.639 that he was an outsider yes he ran as a republican 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:51.919 but he had no government no military no political 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:57.259 experience and i felt like he was the right guy 00:02:57.259 --> 00:03:00.819 for the job at the time and he seemed willing 00:03:00.819 --> 00:03:03.439 and able to obliterate the established political 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:05.840 order and started anew that's what it was that 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:09.379 i that I wanted. And I felt that he represented 00:03:09.379 --> 00:03:12.560 that at the time. And that's why I wasn't just 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:14.759 a supporter. I was a grassroots activist. And 00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:16.680 then I got really deep into the MAGA community 00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:21.319 after the 2016 election, up until it took me 00:03:21.319 --> 00:03:25.580 a year, starting in 21, to leave and eventually 00:03:25.580 --> 00:03:27.620 in 22, which we'll get to that part of your story 00:03:27.620 --> 00:03:31.620 in a moment. I want to ask you about your, so 00:03:31.620 --> 00:03:37.789 again, about your upbringing. For those who grow 00:03:37.789 --> 00:03:42.389 up with hardships, who are impoverished, they 00:03:42.389 --> 00:03:47.949 have familial financial despondency. Do you think 00:03:47.949 --> 00:03:50.969 that those types of individuals, and in your 00:03:50.969 --> 00:03:52.889 case yourself, that you were more susceptible 00:03:52.889 --> 00:03:57.789 to being taken in by Trump and all the MAGA influencers 00:03:57.789 --> 00:04:01.229 or MAGA media? Absolutely. And you got to think 00:04:01.229 --> 00:04:03.650 at this time there was this big movement, you 00:04:03.650 --> 00:04:06.409 know, we call it the woke mob is what MAGA would 00:04:06.409 --> 00:04:08.729 love to call it. And especially when you hear 00:04:08.729 --> 00:04:10.870 terms like white fragility and you hear terms 00:04:10.870 --> 00:04:13.990 like white privilege. And I'm like, well, how 00:04:13.990 --> 00:04:16.149 could I have privilege when I grew up in poverty? 00:04:16.329 --> 00:04:18.689 You know, I knew struggle. My parents weren't 00:04:18.689 --> 00:04:21.269 rich. We lived paycheck to paycheck. But it was 00:04:21.269 --> 00:04:23.550 because I was so poorly educated. I didn't have. 00:04:24.170 --> 00:04:25.910 the the information i didn't even understand 00:04:25.910 --> 00:04:28.149 what privilege meant at that time you know that 00:04:28.149 --> 00:04:29.910 i didn't understand that you know had nothing 00:04:29.910 --> 00:04:31.850 to do with the amount of money i had or didn't 00:04:31.850 --> 00:04:34.589 have but everything to do with white people being 00:04:34.589 --> 00:04:36.850 the standard in this country particularly white 00:04:36.850 --> 00:04:40.009 men so like that was another part that you know 00:04:40.009 --> 00:04:42.750 trump spoke to was that you know he was going 00:04:42.750 --> 00:04:45.430 to get rid of all this woke ideology in that 00:04:45.430 --> 00:04:49.389 um i would you know he's going to stand up for 00:04:49.389 --> 00:04:52.060 us and you know growing up in poverty getting 00:04:52.060 --> 00:04:54.560 the whitewashing of history you don't really 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:56.620 learn you know i didn't learn anything outside 00:04:56.620 --> 00:05:00.019 of my echo chamber and outside of my little bubble 00:05:00.019 --> 00:05:02.480 of my community and it was unfortunate that it 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:04.600 took me literally going to prison and having 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:06.819 an experience there to kind of see things in 00:05:06.819 --> 00:05:09.480 a different light but my story was much like 00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:12.939 yours it was around like 2021 uh the end of 2021 00:05:12.939 --> 00:05:16.779 2022 that i really made that shift out of maga 00:05:16.779 --> 00:05:20.079 but you know up to that point it was trump was 00:05:20.569 --> 00:05:22.750 you know against the status quo and you hear 00:05:22.750 --> 00:05:25.769 all the other propaganda like well trump's he's 00:05:25.769 --> 00:05:27.350 not even going to take a paycheck he already 00:05:27.350 --> 00:05:29.509 has money he's just doing this because for love 00:05:29.509 --> 00:05:32.250 of the country and that he's a real patriot and 00:05:32.250 --> 00:05:35.449 not realizing that his empire was was falling 00:05:35.449 --> 00:05:38.230 and that he needed people like us you know the 00:05:38.230 --> 00:05:40.110 the poor people who were susceptible to this 00:05:40.110 --> 00:05:43.189 propaganda to save his empire really safe he 00:05:43.189 --> 00:05:46.990 used us as pawns in order to save himself But 00:05:46.990 --> 00:05:49.189 I couldn't see it then, you know, then you're 00:05:49.189 --> 00:05:52.029 just so caught up in it. You're desperate and 00:05:52.029 --> 00:05:54.810 you just want to believe that something different 00:05:54.810 --> 00:05:57.290 is going to happen, you know, in this country. 00:06:00.149 --> 00:06:03.269 Thank you again for sharing that. So let's talk 00:06:03.269 --> 00:06:09.509 about some of the reasons why. What were some 00:06:09.509 --> 00:06:12.410 of the reasons where the cracks started to show? 00:06:14.089 --> 00:06:16.610 you know some of what some of what caused you 00:06:16.610 --> 00:06:18.930 to start to doubt and then eventually led you 00:06:18.930 --> 00:06:22.250 on the pathway to weaving well the big thing 00:06:22.250 --> 00:06:24.670 for me was that you know as a conservative my 00:06:24.670 --> 00:06:27.610 whole life i believe that you know systemic racism 00:06:27.610 --> 00:06:31.730 didn't exist and um i was fortunate to meet somebody 00:06:31.730 --> 00:06:34.509 when i was incarcerated that was sentenced to 00:06:34.509 --> 00:06:37.889 prison at the age of 16 and he was a black muslim 00:06:37.889 --> 00:06:40.750 i was a white christian and we both got sentenced 00:06:40.750 --> 00:06:43.800 out of the same community And he was sentenced 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:46.540 to 20 years in prison, followed by 10 years probation. 00:06:46.779 --> 00:06:48.600 And him and I became best friends in prison. 00:06:48.819 --> 00:06:50.519 But one of the things I would tell him is that 00:06:50.519 --> 00:06:51.959 Trump's going to save this country. He's going 00:06:51.959 --> 00:06:55.699 to make it better for all of us. And, you know, 00:06:55.740 --> 00:06:58.980 it's time that Black people get off the Democrat 00:06:58.980 --> 00:07:01.100 plantation because we're always taught that, 00:07:01.100 --> 00:07:03.819 you know, as white Americans, that white people 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:07.100 are enslaved by the Democratic Party. And so, 00:07:07.120 --> 00:07:10.220 like, I was telling him all this and building 00:07:10.220 --> 00:07:12.980 a friendship with him. And I was like, you know, 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.120 stop being the victim. You need that personal 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:17.480 accountability for your actions. These are the 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:19.240 choices that you made and the consequences for 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:21.660 our choices. We're responsible for why we're 00:07:21.660 --> 00:07:23.740 in prison. And he said, well, that's easy for 00:07:23.740 --> 00:07:26.480 you to say. He said, but when that judge sentenced 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:28.579 you, he looked at you as the all -American boy, 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:30.500 the ex -professional baseball player, a person 00:07:30.500 --> 00:07:32.920 that's gone to college. And he probably even 00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:36.339 saw his son in you. And you had 14 felonies. 00:07:36.339 --> 00:07:38.100 You went to prison and back home twice before 00:07:38.100 --> 00:07:41.069 I ever got out once. for one felony at the age 00:07:41.069 --> 00:07:43.389 of 16. And he said, you know, I accept personal 00:07:43.389 --> 00:07:45.870 accountability for my actions. But he said, when 00:07:45.870 --> 00:07:47.790 that judge sentenced me, he saw me as just another 00:07:47.790 --> 00:07:50.449 Black kid lost in the system. He saw me as a 00:07:50.449 --> 00:07:54.649 savage, a thug, a criminal, inherently evil and 00:07:54.649 --> 00:07:57.889 violent. And if you start thinking about some 00:07:57.889 --> 00:08:00.350 of the language that Trump used to describe immigrants 00:08:00.350 --> 00:08:02.649 at that time, especially Mexican immigrants, 00:08:02.870 --> 00:08:05.810 calling them rapists and criminals and thugs, 00:08:05.870 --> 00:08:08.449 you know, like, it was a lot of that same language 00:08:08.449 --> 00:08:11.149 that my friend Rashawn was telling me about in 00:08:11.149 --> 00:08:13.850 prison. So my eyes started to get opened up to 00:08:13.850 --> 00:08:15.509 it. But then I read a book by Michelle Alexander 00:08:15.509 --> 00:08:17.810 that Rashawn suggested I read called The New 00:08:17.810 --> 00:08:20.389 Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. 00:08:20.589 --> 00:08:23.509 And when I read the data, coupled with my experience, 00:08:23.810 --> 00:08:27.449 my eyes were like completely open because, you 00:08:27.449 --> 00:08:29.490 know, one of the things Rashawn told me is like, 00:08:29.610 --> 00:08:31.529 how can you say that Trump's for the black community 00:08:31.529 --> 00:08:34.509 when he takes out a full page ad calling for 00:08:34.509 --> 00:08:36.950 the death penalty of the five black teenagers 00:08:36.950 --> 00:08:40.110 in New York City? who were exonerated by dna 00:08:40.110 --> 00:08:44.549 and he still didn't apologize um so all these 00:08:44.549 --> 00:08:46.710 years we would justify you know what trump just 00:08:46.710 --> 00:08:48.629 has the mean tweets but we need to get over that 00:08:48.629 --> 00:08:51.509 by being so sensitive but you start hearing the 00:08:51.509 --> 00:08:53.750 language and the rhetoric that he's using uh 00:08:53.750 --> 00:08:57.870 calling you know immigrants the the vermin that 00:08:57.870 --> 00:08:59.889 of our country and that they're poisoning the 00:08:59.889 --> 00:09:03.450 blood of our country and um telling a united 00:09:03.450 --> 00:09:06.450 states congresswoman to go back to her shithole 00:09:06.450 --> 00:09:10.029 country, excuse my language, even calling John 00:09:10.029 --> 00:09:14.830 McCain a POW who was a great Republican, a loser, 00:09:15.029 --> 00:09:17.350 and basically saying, you know, losers don't 00:09:17.350 --> 00:09:20.029 get captured or, you know, our winners don't 00:09:20.029 --> 00:09:24.549 get captured. And so, like, you start to see 00:09:24.549 --> 00:09:26.889 that, like, okay, you know, character matters. 00:09:26.990 --> 00:09:28.750 Like, if I want to say that I'm really a good 00:09:28.750 --> 00:09:33.169 person and I care about integrity and I care 00:09:33.169 --> 00:09:36.190 about, you know, people's actions behind the 00:09:36.190 --> 00:09:38.830 words that they say then you look at the things 00:09:38.830 --> 00:09:41.789 that trump was saying and doing and it just didn't 00:09:41.789 --> 00:09:44.129 line up there's no way i can reconcile this stuff 00:09:44.129 --> 00:09:46.330 there's no way i could continue to make excuses 00:09:46.330 --> 00:09:49.830 for a lot of the behavior that you see on top 00:09:49.830 --> 00:09:52.289 of the fact that like his policy literally wasn't 00:09:52.289 --> 00:09:57.250 even helping me or americans but um there was 00:09:57.250 --> 00:09:59.950 no way that i could sit here and continue to 00:09:59.950 --> 00:10:03.090 justify the actions and the behavior of trump 00:10:03.559 --> 00:10:06.559 um him going on you know what was it fox news 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:08.600 saying that when you're a star you can grab women 00:10:08.600 --> 00:10:12.340 by the you you know what it's like at what point 00:10:12.340 --> 00:10:15.279 do you say okay enough is enough and it's still 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:18.399 in 2025 and it still hasn't stopped if you look 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:20.879 at his memorial day post we just posted calling 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:24.759 you know american scum you know so that's what 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:27.220 really started to to open my eyes and you could 00:10:27.220 --> 00:10:30.639 see the cracks that like Trump was in this for 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:33.820 himself. He did not care who he stepped on, who 00:10:33.820 --> 00:10:36.639 he hurt along the way, what lie that he had to 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:39.559 tell, as long as he could continue to further 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:44.620 his empire, his narrative, and his personal agenda. 00:10:47.220 --> 00:10:52.480 A lot of the videos we've done, Danny, we've 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:54.879 done with Maya's Touch Network and our testimonials, 00:10:54.879 --> 00:10:59.610 which people can read at leavingmaga .org. to 00:10:59.610 --> 00:11:02.409 use a literary term here, one of the late motifs 00:11:02.409 --> 00:11:06.970 throughout all these testimonials is people's 00:11:06.970 --> 00:11:12.090 epiphanies occur gradually and then suddenly 00:11:12.090 --> 00:11:15.129 all at once, to paraphrase the late, venerable 00:11:15.129 --> 00:11:19.269 American writer Ernest Hemingway. It's what happened 00:11:19.269 --> 00:11:21.830 with me. It's what happened with the others who 00:11:21.830 --> 00:11:24.750 have had the courage to come forward and tell 00:11:24.750 --> 00:11:27.690 their stories with us. And I hear it in your 00:11:27.690 --> 00:11:35.289 story. as well yeah what that it just gets to 00:11:35.289 --> 00:11:38.549 not justify the unjustifiable anymore yeah once 00:11:38.549 --> 00:11:41.029 you see the truth you can never unsee it i feel 00:11:41.029 --> 00:11:44.509 like go ahead and that yeah once you see the 00:11:44.509 --> 00:11:46.889 truth you can never unsee the truth and i believe 00:11:46.889 --> 00:11:49.909 that was my experience was that i saw once i 00:11:49.909 --> 00:11:52.289 read the data and i coupled it with my experience 00:11:52.289 --> 00:11:54.590 and it just wasn't aligning with what everything 00:11:54.590 --> 00:11:56.909 trump was saying like the facts and the data 00:11:57.440 --> 00:11:59.960 you know just if you're doing real research and 00:11:59.960 --> 00:12:02.000 not just listening to what everybody tells you 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:04.639 you're supposed to believe and um and i think 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:06.419 that was one thing being a christian my whole 00:12:06.419 --> 00:12:08.120 life and being raised in a christian community 00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:10.039 it's kind of like this blind allegiance or this 00:12:10.039 --> 00:12:11.860 blind faith where you don't really question it 00:12:11.860 --> 00:12:14.279 it's just that because the bible told me so and 00:12:14.279 --> 00:12:16.720 i think the same is true for trump well it's 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:19.059 just because trump told me so and when you get 00:12:19.059 --> 00:12:21.169 to a place where you stop believing you know 00:12:21.169 --> 00:12:23.690 the experts the journalists the scientists the 00:12:23.690 --> 00:12:27.149 the doctors and you can only believe trump that's 00:12:27.149 --> 00:12:31.990 a super dangerous place to be you know you mentioned 00:12:31.990 --> 00:12:37.490 a few times community and i i caught and i'm 00:12:37.490 --> 00:12:39.409 not saying that i'm not putting words in your 00:12:39.409 --> 00:12:41.590 mouth danny just to be clear you know i caution 00:12:41.590 --> 00:12:45.039 others when they look at maga and say It's a 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:47.559 cult, it's a cult, it's a cult. And I say, no, 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:50.600 it is really more of a political community. And 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:54.620 I implore people not to refer to it as a cult 00:12:54.620 --> 00:12:57.139 because I feel like calling people a MAGA cult 00:12:57.139 --> 00:12:59.059 is that makes it harder for them to eventually 00:12:59.059 --> 00:13:01.600 leave. And it's going to make it more difficult 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:04.379 to empower them when they start to have doubt, 00:13:04.519 --> 00:13:06.840 which I believe many will, to finally say I'm 00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:11.340 leaving. Talk a little bit about the media you 00:13:11.340 --> 00:13:16.240 were consuming while in MAGA. Who were the news 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:18.759 sources, info sources? Who were the influencers? 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:25.519 A lot of Sean Hannity at that time. Fox News, 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:30.620 of course. Tucker Carlson. Even Candace Owens. 00:13:30.759 --> 00:13:32.960 You know, I love to tokenize Candace Owens, especially 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:35.639 with a lot of the black people that I was talking 00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:37.759 to. Like, this is who you need to listen to and 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:42.409 be like. that's that's mainly where i was getting 00:13:42.409 --> 00:13:45.029 my information from it was all you know right 00:13:45.029 --> 00:13:49.549 -wing sources um and i think you're right in 00:13:49.549 --> 00:13:53.429 the fact that like i would double down when people 00:13:53.429 --> 00:13:55.789 when i felt like i was being attacked so when 00:13:55.789 --> 00:13:59.169 people were coming at me um calling me racist 00:13:59.169 --> 00:14:03.250 or xenophobic or misogynistic or uh homophobic 00:14:03.250 --> 00:14:05.850 or transphobic i would get offended and when 00:14:05.850 --> 00:14:08.490 people oh you're in a cult i would double down 00:14:08.490 --> 00:14:12.309 on it um and i would want to debate and fight 00:14:12.309 --> 00:14:14.669 back and i believe that's where a lot of my own 00:14:14.669 --> 00:14:17.549 fragility was but at that time like i i became 00:14:17.549 --> 00:14:19.789 so offended by some of the things that people 00:14:19.789 --> 00:14:24.009 were saying but like you said is um it's it's 00:14:24.009 --> 00:14:25.970 about community right it's about feeling like 00:14:25.970 --> 00:14:28.649 you're a part of a brotherhood and feeling like 00:14:28.649 --> 00:14:31.049 your voice is being heard and trump did speak 00:14:31.049 --> 00:14:34.830 to that and a lot of people um even though we 00:14:34.830 --> 00:14:37.990 know it's in a bad way now but at that time it 00:14:37.990 --> 00:14:40.320 just felt like OK, I got a place where I can 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:42.759 call home. And then when people are coming at 00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:46.279 you, you know, telling you, you know, saying 00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:48.000 these things about you that you don't want to 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:50.120 hear, it does make it hard to want to leave. 00:14:50.179 --> 00:14:52.320 But even when I did finally leave and I got to 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:55.320 that point, it was a really hard place for me 00:14:55.320 --> 00:14:57.720 to be because, OK, now I'm no longer aligning 00:14:57.720 --> 00:14:59.440 with people in MAGA and people on the right. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:01.299 But I didn't have a safe place to go because 00:15:01.299 --> 00:15:03.320 people on the left were still skeptical of me. 00:15:03.340 --> 00:15:05.139 They were justifiably so. Right. They're like, 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:08.809 is this guy for real or. Is he, you know, or 00:15:08.809 --> 00:15:11.850 is he just trying to grift or is he trying to, 00:15:11.850 --> 00:15:15.210 you know, take advantage of us or, you know, 00:15:15.210 --> 00:15:17.470 has he really done the work to change? And I 00:15:17.470 --> 00:15:19.509 think that was something that I received from 00:15:19.509 --> 00:15:21.490 the left a lot, too, is that people on the left 00:15:21.490 --> 00:15:23.049 were like, well, we don't want you back. You 00:15:23.049 --> 00:15:24.649 know, like you're the reason why we're in this 00:15:24.649 --> 00:15:27.909 mess. Like you contributed to this. So it was 00:15:27.909 --> 00:15:31.389 a very lonely place for. you know roughly about 00:15:31.389 --> 00:15:33.629 six months to a year where like i just felt like 00:15:33.629 --> 00:15:35.409 i was on an island and i didn't have anybody 00:15:35.409 --> 00:15:37.149 that i could communicate with anybody i could 00:15:37.149 --> 00:15:40.669 talk to um and find a place that where i could 00:15:40.669 --> 00:15:44.049 connect with people in meaningful ways uh and 00:15:44.049 --> 00:15:46.970 feel like okay that this was a safe place for 00:15:46.970 --> 00:15:48.990 me to continue to try to learn and grow because 00:15:48.990 --> 00:15:51.110 you gotta also figure too i was incarcerated 00:15:51.110 --> 00:15:53.370 so when i came out of prison like i didn't know 00:15:53.370 --> 00:15:55.129 a lot of the terminology i didn't know things 00:15:55.129 --> 00:15:57.230 you know like about pronouns i didn't know about 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:01.159 you know the lgbtqia plus community i hadn't 00:16:01.159 --> 00:16:03.860 been exposed to social media so when i came home 00:16:03.860 --> 00:16:06.019 you know the advent of social media helped me 00:16:06.019 --> 00:16:09.580 grow exponentially because social media i was 00:16:09.580 --> 00:16:12.919 getting information you know 24 7 from you know 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:15.299 a plethora of different places there was a whole 00:16:15.299 --> 00:16:18.620 lot of information that allowed me to grow and 00:16:18.620 --> 00:16:21.259 i believe growth for people is going to be directly 00:16:21.259 --> 00:16:23.000 proportional to the amount of work that they 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:25.039 put in or the amount of information that they 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:28.950 take in that's correct information and so i tried 00:16:28.950 --> 00:16:33.549 to read as much as many books as i could um from 00:16:33.549 --> 00:16:35.710 different perspectives that i typically wouldn't 00:16:35.710 --> 00:16:38.269 and i started listening to content from content 00:16:38.269 --> 00:16:41.450 creators uh from people that typically wouldn't 00:16:41.450 --> 00:16:43.350 you know a big one for me when i first came home 00:16:43.350 --> 00:16:47.389 was a jolly good ginger and you know i could 00:16:47.389 --> 00:16:49.490 identify with his story and i could identify 00:16:49.490 --> 00:16:52.580 with the things that he was saying and i was 00:16:52.580 --> 00:16:54.879 like i get him like i understand exactly what 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:56.759 he's saying and he was raised the way i was raised 00:16:56.759 --> 00:16:58.399 he was taught the information that i was taught 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:01.120 so he was the one who initially started to help 00:17:01.120 --> 00:17:03.360 me deconstruct then of course i started seeing 00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:05.359 things like midas touch network and you know 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:07.400 walter masterson and there's you know a bunch 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:09.799 of other creators as well as uh consciously you 00:17:09.799 --> 00:17:11.599 know i started listening to a lot of black creators 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:15.079 too because their world uh experience and lived 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:16.740 experience was a lot different than anything 00:17:16.740 --> 00:17:19.619 that i had ever been exposed and taught but I 00:17:19.619 --> 00:17:21.460 think that's the big thing you see with MAGA 00:17:21.460 --> 00:17:23.160 and people who are on the right is that they're 00:17:23.160 --> 00:17:25.599 in their echo chamber, in their bubble. The only 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:27.960 thing that's playing is Fox News. It's, you know, 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:30.920 the Charlie Kirks, the Tucker Carlson's and the 00:17:30.920 --> 00:17:33.339 Sean Hannity's. And that's the only place that 00:17:33.339 --> 00:17:35.839 they're getting their information. And that could 00:17:35.839 --> 00:17:40.279 be super dangerous. Many of the same figures 00:17:40.279 --> 00:17:43.720 I was consuming also and listening to their content. 00:17:43.799 --> 00:17:45.920 And I say this a lot in my interviews, Danny, 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:49.500 that as simple as it sounds. It was profoundly 00:17:49.500 --> 00:17:51.720 life -changing and altering for me when I started 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:53.720 diversifying my news and information sources. 00:17:54.440 --> 00:17:59.980 And it's really remarkable how gained knowledge 00:17:59.980 --> 00:18:02.779 and experience opens the aperture for someone 00:18:02.779 --> 00:18:06.960 and makes them more empathetic and more attuned 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:12.400 to injustice. And clearly, that transformation 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:16.619 happened with you. And you should be credited 00:18:16.619 --> 00:18:20.200 for it. for the bravery that it takes to do that. 00:18:20.660 --> 00:18:23.420 So as we come to a close here, I want to ask 00:18:23.420 --> 00:18:27.640 you to share with our viewers, why speak out 00:18:27.640 --> 00:18:30.859 and go public? You've got a pretty big TikTok 00:18:30.859 --> 00:18:33.259 presence. So I'm going to ask you to tell us 00:18:33.259 --> 00:18:36.180 where we can find you. And why speak out now 00:18:36.180 --> 00:18:38.160 and tell this story? What is it that you're hoping 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:42.759 to gain and achieve by speaking out? So I think 00:18:42.759 --> 00:18:44.339 the whole point of doing this work, right, is 00:18:44.339 --> 00:18:47.210 to ultimately change hearts and minds. If we're 00:18:47.210 --> 00:18:49.990 not in it for that, then what's the point? The 00:18:49.990 --> 00:18:51.990 biggest reason why I wanted to speak out was 00:18:51.990 --> 00:18:54.470 because I know my experience that when I first 00:18:54.470 --> 00:18:57.490 made this transformation was that there weren't 00:18:57.490 --> 00:18:59.410 a whole lot of people on the other side that 00:18:59.410 --> 00:19:02.730 wanted to welcome me in with arms wide open and 00:19:02.730 --> 00:19:05.250 kind of hold my hand on this journey. There were 00:19:05.250 --> 00:19:07.910 a handful, and I'm super grateful for them because 00:19:07.910 --> 00:19:10.269 they're the ones that helped me get through this 00:19:10.269 --> 00:19:13.150 process. So I want to be able to be that person 00:19:13.150 --> 00:19:25.230 for somebody else on the other side. We have 00:19:25.230 --> 00:19:28.609 to be willing for growth for people. And I think 00:19:28.609 --> 00:19:33.150 it's easier for a white straight man who's already 00:19:33.150 --> 00:19:35.730 been through this, that's been on the other side 00:19:35.730 --> 00:19:37.450 of it, who's had that mindset, who understands 00:19:37.450 --> 00:19:40.130 that mindset to really reach people that are 00:19:40.130 --> 00:19:42.829 still in that mindset. So, you know, I think 00:19:42.829 --> 00:19:44.890 that a lot of the politics of white supremacy. 00:19:46.069 --> 00:19:48.109 it's up to white people to dismantle it, right? 00:19:48.190 --> 00:19:50.269 It's up to us to do the work and our voice is 00:19:50.269 --> 00:19:53.690 needed now more than ever to reach a lot of these 00:19:53.690 --> 00:19:55.769 people in our community. I have access to people 00:19:55.769 --> 00:19:58.109 that most people won't have access to. Most of 00:19:58.109 --> 00:20:00.349 my family, most of my community, most of the 00:20:00.349 --> 00:20:02.029 people I grew up with, they're all MAGA still. 00:20:02.430 --> 00:20:04.910 So if I'm interacting with these people already, 00:20:05.170 --> 00:20:08.009 then why not build relationships with them or 00:20:08.009 --> 00:20:10.329 continue the relationships that I have with them, 00:20:10.410 --> 00:20:13.710 but use it as an opportunity to educate them. 00:20:14.059 --> 00:20:16.740 to help change their their minds and their hearts 00:20:16.740 --> 00:20:19.740 and and be the voice of reasoning you know i 00:20:19.740 --> 00:20:22.920 don't i don't i don't let stuff slide you know 00:20:22.920 --> 00:20:24.880 i'm consistent with the messaging so somebody 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:27.779 uh is saying something that's inappropriate or 00:20:27.779 --> 00:20:30.119 that it's not true i check them because i need 00:20:30.119 --> 00:20:32.160 i believe that they need to be checked but i 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:34.440 do it in a way i try to do in a way that's loving 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:37.940 and um where it's you know palatable where people 00:20:37.940 --> 00:20:41.019 can digest it and i'm not condescending or belittling 00:20:41.019 --> 00:20:44.569 because You know, I was so grateful that people 00:20:44.569 --> 00:20:47.069 held space for me to change that I want to be 00:20:47.069 --> 00:20:48.869 able to hold that space for other people, because 00:20:48.869 --> 00:20:51.710 if we truly want unity, like we say, if we really 00:20:51.710 --> 00:20:54.309 want people to leave MAGA and get out of this 00:20:54.309 --> 00:20:57.309 mindset, then we have to be the ones that create 00:20:57.309 --> 00:21:00.309 the bridges to get them out and give them a safe 00:21:00.309 --> 00:21:03.170 place to go and a place where they feel welcome 00:21:03.170 --> 00:21:06.710 and connected and have the opportunity to really 00:21:06.710 --> 00:21:10.670 make a meaningful change. Oh man, I'm into that. 00:21:10.769 --> 00:21:12.730 That's what we found in leaving MAGA for, is 00:21:12.730 --> 00:21:14.789 a new community for people who leave, people 00:21:14.789 --> 00:21:17.089 who have doubts, and friends and family who are 00:21:17.089 --> 00:21:21.089 still in the thrall of MAGA. And where can viewers 00:21:21.089 --> 00:21:23.529 find you? I know that you've got a very sizable 00:21:23.529 --> 00:21:25.589 TikTok following. What's the handle people can 00:21:25.589 --> 00:21:29.710 find you at? So Danny F. Collins on TikTok and 00:21:29.710 --> 00:21:32.369 Danny F. Collins on Instagram, on both platforms. 00:21:32.609 --> 00:21:34.750 And then Daniel Collins on Facebook. But Danny 00:21:34.750 --> 00:21:37.630 F. Collins TikTok, Danny F. Collins on Instagram. 00:21:38.869 --> 00:21:42.329 You're an intrepid young man, and I want to welcome 00:21:42.329 --> 00:21:46.069 you, Danny, to the Leaving MAGA community. I 00:21:46.069 --> 00:21:49.109 also want to welcome you to the Midas Touch Network 00:21:49.109 --> 00:21:51.410 community as well as one of the Midas Mighty. 00:21:52.089 --> 00:21:55.930 And we like to end every show on a positive affirmation, 00:21:55.930 --> 00:21:58.369 and I'd like for you to join me if you would. 00:21:59.069 --> 00:22:04.690 I'm Rich, and I left MAGA. And I'm Danny, and 00:22:04.690 --> 00:22:07.079 I left MAGA. Hey, everyone. If you like this 00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:09.059 video, make sure you drop a comment down below 00:22:09.059 --> 00:22:11.799 and subscribe. Also, please visit us at leavingmaga 00:22:11.799 --> 00:22:14.160 .org. Make sure you're subscribed to our newsletter. 00:22:14.380 --> 00:22:16.660 Make sure you're getting all of our updates and 00:22:16.660 --> 00:22:19.240 our socials at our site. We've got an ebook and 00:22:19.240 --> 00:22:21.460 we have a guide for friends and family of those 00:22:21.460 --> 00:22:24.240 who are in the MAGA community. As always, appreciate 00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:25.680 your support. Thanks for watching.