Hardcore MAGA fan who ‘prioritized fellow believers’ over his own family’ reveals why he abandoned Donald Trump

Rich Logis was so deeply entrenched in Donald Trump fandom that he treated his fellow acolytes not just like a second family, but above his real family.

When Trump’s first campaign launched in 2015, he was sucked into the MAGA vortex, fearful and considering Hillary Clinton an “existential threat.”

Instead, he saw Trump as a disruptive force who would “drain the swamp” and “bring a flamethrower to the system,” and he was unconcerned about his unsavory antics.

“I joined MAGA because I have always been suspicious of our two-party system, and I saw Trump — with no military or government experience — as an ideal candidate for this moment in our history,” he said.

“It made me feel like I was part of something important: a movement trying to save American democracy.”

Rich Logis was so deeply involved in Donald Trump fandom that he not only treated his fellow acolytes like a second family, but also neglected his wife and two children for them

He saw Trump as a disruptive force who would “drain the swamp” and “bring a flamethrower to the system,” and was unconcerned by his unsavory antics

Logis, 47, volunteered for the campaign in his local Broward County, in central Florida, and felt vindicated when Trump won.

From there, he was drawn further and further into the fanatical community that is Trump’s most hardcore supporters.

Logis neglected his wife and two children to devote every spare moment he had to the MAGA movement, writing poison-filled posts and social media columns for far-right media outlets, and meeting like-minded voters.

“My second MAGA family, as ashamed as I am to admit it, often took precedence over my actual blood family,” he told the Orlando Sentinel.

“I had a lot of fear, and I listened to that fear and that’s how I really got swept up in the whole MAGA movement and community.

‘We were the real Americans. Everyone who was against us was the fake Americans.”

Logis is now ashamed of the way he has repeatedly “dehumanized” Trump’s opponents, including calling Democrats “malignant cancer cells trying to overtake healthy cells.”

Logis neglected his wife and children to devote every spare moment he had to the MAGA movement, writing poison-filled social media posts and columns for far-right media outlets, and meeting like-minded voters

He finally began to have doubts when hundreds of his fellow bigots stormed the Capitol in a failed attempt to prevent Joe Biden’s election victory from being officially certified.

These grew during the pandemic as Trump-supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis implemented policies that led to more Covid deaths in 2021.

He started reading other sources and realized that there were many things in the MAGA bubble that he had not been told.

“I came to understand that MAGA is supported by a series of myths designed to create constant feelings of despair and panic,” he said.

He finally quit very publicly on August 30, 2022, but the problem was what came next.

Logis had alienated most of his friends and family with his hardcore views, and lost the new ones he had gained by walking away from MAGA.

“Leaving MAGA was a tumultuous rollercoaster of a process for me. It can be one of the most difficult endeavors you undertake,” he said.

Logis (pictured in an old pro-Trump rant) is now “ashamed” of the way he often “dehumanizes” Trump’s opponents, including calling Democrats “malignant cancer cells trying to overtake healthy cells.”

Logis warned those who dislike Trump and his supporters not to speak too harshly about them, as they are more likely to stick together and become afraid to leave.

He explained that the most dedicated supporters had been “completely emotionally connected” to that community for years and it was difficult to walk away.

Logis warned those who dislike Trump and his supporters not to speak too harshly about them, as they are more likely to stick together and become afraid to leave.

“If you call Trump voters cult members and you say they’re Nazis and you say they’re racist and you say they’re misogynists and they’re homophobes and they’re Islamophobes… you’re putting pressure on them. close,” he said.

“You give them reasons to stay.”

Logis is trying to make the transition easier by creating the support group Leaving MAGA to provide an alternative “safe, non-judgmental community.”

“Indulging these predatory myths does not mean you are unintelligent, weak, or lacking good character and morals,” he wrote on the group’s website.

“I have a bachelor’s degree; have been a working professional all my life; am a family man; and consider myself a relatively honest and intelligent person. I feel the same way about you.”