Why Is Leaving MAGA So Difficult?
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This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. A recent poll, this one from NBC, found that only 30% of the American public identifies with the MAGA movement. Now that's very far from a national mandate.
But MAGA has a huge influence and power over the entire electorate. To people outside the movement, the intense loyalty of the coalition in the face of endless scandals and political setbacks is sometimes absolutely confounding. Defections seem rare and they come with the risk of reprisal, even reprisals from the president himself. Our producer, Adam Howard, spoke to someone who's trying to make defection easier. Back in 2016, Rich Logis was a man in search of a political movement.
He was drawn to candidates who were looking to break the stranglehold of the two party system, and he even voted for Ralph Nader more than once. When Donald Trump came along, he liked his economic rhetoric, but he especially liked that he was viewed as a threat by the establishment. Logis became a Make America Great Again true believer. He wrote MAGA articles, he hosted a MAGA podcast, He even contributed to the call script for the Trump campaign.
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