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Hi. Former Congressman Joe Walsh here. As many of you know, every week, I engage with hundreds or thousands of Donald Trump supporters. Every single week, I speak back and forth with them, send messages to them, get messages from them, have phone calls from them. I’ve been doing this every week, speaking to hundreds, engaging with hundreds, thousands of MAGA folk every week. I’ve been doing this for the past 7 or so years—ever since I left MAGA, ever since I publicly came out against Donald Trump 7+ years ago.
I do this because I have to. I do this because it’s my penance. I helped to create the division in this country. I helped to create the climate in this country that got Trump elected. I helped to elect Trump the very first time. I helped to inflame his supporters and voters. I helped to get them wound up. I helped point them toward Trump.
So I do this. I left the MAGA cult 7+ years ago, but I still engage with these folks every day, every week to see if I can help any of them escape the MAGA cult. This is just context for what I’m about to say. I know many of you are aware of that. And by the way, this is a big part of what I do. I have to do this. I helped to divide this country. I have to help try to heal the divide. I helped to get Trump elected. Trump is a fascist. I have to do all I can to help defeat fascism. I’m going to continue to do this, engage with MAGA, and members of my former political party until I breathe my last.
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Donald Trump every day says a thousand ugly, cruel, ignorant, dishonest, corrupt, lawless, mean-spirited, un-American things. Every single day. We’ve become used to it all. We’ve become numb to it all. We’ve become numb to Trump’s horribleness. But every now and then, he does something or says something that still makes us pause. And he did that at the beginning of this week, when he put out his post commenting on the brutal slaying of Hollywood personality and director extraordinaire Rob Reiner and his wife at the hands of their adult son. That’s what happened: their adult son brutally slayed Rob Reiner and his wife.
Donald Trump comes out the next day and makes it all about him. He fires off a post that goes after Rob Reiner, says Rob Reiner had “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” that he hated Trump too much, and that’s why he was killed. Donald Trump, the President of the United States, came out a day after Rob Reiner and his wife were brutally slain by their adult son and says the reason Rob Reiner died was because Rob Reiner hated Donald Trump too much.
Even with everything Trump does and says every day, and that he’s been doing and saying every day for years, man, this one made me and most Americans pause and say, “What the fuck?” That’s evil, what Trump just did, making the slaying of Rob Reiner all about himself. That’s evil. That’s psychopathic. I went on TV and other podcasts earlier this week, and that’s what I said. This is evil. Call it out for what he is. He is evil. He is a psychopath. He’s off-the-charts one of the most horrible human beings who’s ever lived.
But here’s my point. Here’s the tie-in. I’ve engaged with Trump’s supporters, like every week, all of this week. I’ve engaged with some of his most hardcore MAGA supporters this week. And I’m here to tell you that most of his MAGA supporters disapproved of what Trump said about Rob Reiner. They were uncomfortable with what Trump said about Rob Reiner, called out what Trump said about the brutal slaying of Rob Reiner and his wife, disagreed with it, thought it was wrong.
Even among Trump’s supporters, what I’ve heard this week even among some of his most hardcore base, was, “Joe, look, you know I love the guy, but, God, I wish he’d kept his mouth shut. That was wrong, Joe. He shouldn’t have said that. My God, man. President Donald Trump, keep your mouth shut.”
This is going on all week. Remember, I engage with hundreds of them every day. Two takeaways: most Trump supporters that I’ve heard from this week, that I’ve engaged with, disapprove of what Trump said regarding Rob Reiner and said it was wrong.
I’ve had in-depth conversations—back-and-forths—with a few Trump supporters, including a back-and-forth with a female Trump supporter this week. This is a woman that I’ve engaged with regularly throughout the last 6 to 7 years. And she and I engaged again. It had been a couple months, but we engaged again this week, talking specifically about Trump’s response to the brutal slaying of Rob Reiner.
And this woman, this female MAGA supporter, after my back-and-forth with her this week, said to me just yesterday, “That’s it, Joe. I’m done with him.”
I said, “Whoa!” This is a fairly strident, hardcore MAGA supporter. But she said to me, “That’s it. I’m done with him, because of what he said about the brutal slaying of Rob Reiner and his wife. Trump had nothing to do with that. Hate of Trump had nothing to do with that. Their fucked-up adult son did it, and Trump says this? I’m done with him, Joe.”
And when she said that, when I hear that from Trump supporters, I give them room. I let them breathe. I let that sit there. I want them to follow up. And so when she said that to me this week, after a couple conversations, I let it sit there. And then I said, “Why? Why this?” And she said:
“It’s just so wrong. Like, Joe, he’ll say the worst, meanest things about Nancy Pelosi or Barack Obama, or this Democrat or that Democrat, or this Republican squish or that Republican squish, and I get it. It’s politics. They’re political opponents. But this was a Hollywood actor and director who he’s got nothing to do with. This was just a private American citizen who was stabbed to death by his adult son, and Trump inserted himself into that.”
She said, “Joe, it felt like so weird, like it was wrong. And I thought to myself,” she said, “that he has no decency. None.” And, again, when I hear that from a hardcore Trump supporter, I let it sit there. I give them some space. Because I’ve never heard her say this before. And she continued—because I gave her space. I LISTENED, by the way, which is what we’ve got to do with our MAGA brothers and sisters. I listened, and she said:
“Joe, look, you know, Trump’s a son of a bitch. Trump’s a jackass. He’s a jerk. I get that, and I love most of it. I want a son of a bitch. I don’t want a nice guy. I don’t want a Boy Scout.” (You know, all the usual shit that we hear from Trump supporters.) “But when he did this, it showed me for the first time, Joe, that he’s incapable of any decency. Joe, I can’t support that, and I won’t support that anymore.”
Our conversation continued, and I won’t tell you any more. But she said, “I don’t know and I probably don’t think I could support Democrats in ‘26 or certainly in ‘28. But I’m done with Trump, and I’m done with anyone that Trump reflexively endorses, because this went too far.”
So I don’t know, guys, listening to (or reading) me right now. But I can tell you this woman is no longer part of the Trump cult, and she was. As I said to you at the beginning, every week I engage with thousands of Trump voters. I don’t change thousands of minds every week. I don’t get thousands of Trump supporters out of the MAGA cult every week. But every week, I get one or two that come out. This was one I got this week. She’s firmly out of the MAGA cult. Don’t know if that’s enough for her to vote Democrat for president in ‘28. Don’t know who she’ll vote for in ‘26, but she’s done voting for MAGA-like candidates, she told me. Because what he said about Rob Reiner can’t be supported.
Crazy, right? The strangest places, right? You never know what will finally be the light bulb that goes off inside a MAGA head. I bring all of this up to say that what Trump said, his response to Rob Reiner’s brutal slaying, hit average people. Like, “That’s bad, what Trump said.” A lot of Trump’s MAGA supporters are average, regular folk. I’m not saying most are going to turn on him because of what he said about Rob Reiner. Most won’t.
But some will. Some will. Give them the space to. Listen to them. That’s what I’ve done so far this week. And I’ve already seen, with my eyes and my ears, some of them turn.
So there’s some hope. Thanks for listening, everybody. Be brave.
A Special Christmas Offer from Santa Joe!
How would you like me to speak to the MAGA people in your life? I’ll gladly do it. Give the gift of ME this Christmas! Leave the holiday arguments alone, and let me knock some sense into your loved one. My mission in life—my penance, if you will—is to put some truth in front of MAGA.
Click the button below, and choose the GIFT tab when you reach the subscription options page. They’ll not only get a year of the BEST resistance newsletter on Substack (in my humble opinion), but you and your loved one will get a personal phone conversation with me! Merry Christmas!
One Trusted Channel in a Crisis
People need one trusted channel in a crisis, not a maze of links. But right now, immigrants and families face a mess of websites, pamphlets, and hotlines, some that may not speak their language, when they need help. Much of it is very good, but it’s scattered. And when there’s a knock at the door, or someone is detained, there’s no time to “just Google it.”
PAXIS [ [link removed] ] has everything you need all in one place on your phone, even on older devices, with simple interfaces and the same calm, lawful guidance every time. Trust and consistency mean everything under pressure, and PAXIS [ [link removed] ] can meet the challenge. With our Stage 2 funding goal, we can scale PAXIS [ [link removed] ] to be the single known and trusted channel people can rely on.
APPEARANCES FROM THE PAST WEEK:
INTERVIEWS & QUOTES FROM THE PAST WEEK:
This Activist’s Powerful Viral Tweet Perfectly Sums Up Why So Many People Have No Desire to Visit the U.S. under Donald Trump [ [link removed] ] —The Poke
Federal Judge Orders Kilmar Ábrego García Released From ICE Custody and More Immigration News You Should Know [ [link removed] ] —Mitu
‘Shakedown’: Outrage Over Claim of Trump Plan to Defund Indiana in Map Clash [ [link removed] ] —New Civil Rights Movement
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