Women wearing MAGA hats attend the annual "March for Life" in Washington, D.C., January 23, 2026. REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz
A group of former "MAGA diehards" revealed what has turned them so viciously against President Donald Trump in a piece for The i Paper, with one revealing that they now have champagne on standby to celebrate his demise.
Trump still retains considerable sway over his devoted MAGA base of supporters and the Republican base at-large, given how effective he was at launching primary challenges against his perceived enemies. Nevertheless, his historically unpopular second term has lost him the support of many voters who gave him a chance in 2024, including a not-insignificant number of people who once considered themselves to be MAGA faithfuls.
On Monday, The i Paper published a new piece detailing the stories of several of these former MAGA followers and what drove them away from the president over the past 20 months and change. Courtney Rosenberg, a 38-year-old telecoms account executive from Detroit, told the outlet that she was all in on Trump, as well as several false narratives and conspiracies surrounding his movement, "including that slaves who were brought to America in the 1800s were coming for a better life and that Democrats were trafficking children through cabinets sold by Wayfair, the US homeware retailer." She once described Trump as the "perfect candidate" and bought his promise to "drain the swamp."
Now, her feelings have shifted dramatically.
“I hate him and I have a bottle of champagne in the fridge for when he leaves office,” she told the outlet. “He is an evil person. It feels like he wakes up every day and thinks: ‘How can I needlessly hurt people?’”
She added that she had long been drawn to "strong, powerful men like her early boyfriends and their fathers," and saw the same energy in Trump, also believing that he could run the country like his real estate businesses after seeing him on The Apprentice. After the 2020 election, and especially the "mortifying" January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, "spent two years educating herself on the history of racism and capitalism and switched political sides," now describing herself as close to a "Democratic socialist."
"Trump is the personification of what a lot of this country was built on, greed and selfishness," she added. “I really thought he was very charismatic. I loved his candor … regardless of all the things that were rough or crass … It charmed me."
Rosenberg also joined up with others who took a similar path when she found the "Leaving MAGA" movement, which includes "a few dozen former Trumpers who meet every Tuesday for a support group they jokingly call MA, or 'MAGA Anonymous.'"
"Founded by ex-MAGA activist Rich Logis in 2024, the group has put up signs in 27 US states to attract new members who have soured on Trump," the report detailed. “'Having Doubts? You Are Not Alone' read the billboards, which include a link to the website LeavingMAGA.org."
“The way to look at MAGA is not through the prism of ideology but through the community it provides,” Logis explained. “It’s a community where [many] feel seen and heard and appreciated for the first time. We don’t refer to MAGA as a cult because we want to get people out of it. Calling them cultists makes them dig their heels in deeper. We want to give them a pathway to leave.”
Logis told the outlet that he joined the MAGA movement after moving to Florida from New York, and saw Trump as a candidate to "obliterate the political order."
"I viewed Trump as the titular leader of a new movement that I considered to be something akin to a second founding of America,” Logis said. “There was a very militant mindset within MAGA. Our point of view was, if you’re not 100 per cent with us you’re 100 percent against us. Now I realize I was addicted to fear and rage and that fear and rage kept me in these perpetual states of despair, panic and paranoia.”