No purity tests. No gatekeeping. Just one question: Are you ready to fight fascism with us?
Her name is Sara.
She voted for Trump.
And now she’s grappling with the consequences.
Sixteen years ago, Sara met the father of her first child. He was her first love, her best friend, and a devoted father. Despite living in the U.S. since infancy, despite having no criminal record, and despite making multiple attempts to legalize his status, he was deported under the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Sara’s daughter lost her father. Sara lost her partner and friend. And in her grief, she began to question the very policies she once supported.
The Personal Awakening
Sara’s story is not unique.
Many individuals only begin to question oppressive systems when those systems impact them personally. While it’s easy to criticize this delayed awakening, it’s important to recognize it as a crucial step toward change. Psychologically, people often remain entrenched in harmful ideologies until they experience injustice firsthand.
This doesn’t excuse past support for harmful policies, but it does open a path to transformation. And in a moment like this, we can either punish that path, or help clear it.
When Defectors Become Allies
History offers powerful examples of individuals who, despite initial complicity, ultimately stood against injustice:
- Saul of Tarsus, AKA Paul the Apostle, once persecuted Christians before becoming one of Christianity’s most passionate advocates.
- John Newton, a former slave ship captain, repented and became an abolitionist, writing the hymn Amazing Grace as a testimony of redemption.
- Ann Atwater and C.P. Ellis, a civil rights activist and a former KKK leader, formed an unlikely alliance during a school desegregation effort. Ellis renounced the Klan and spent the rest of his life fighting for racial equity.
- Megan Phelps-Roper, raised in the Westboro Baptist Church, left after engaging in respectful public dialogue and now educates others about escaping extremism.
- Derek Black, godson of David Duke and once a white nationalist, renounced the movement after years of deep, patient conversations with Jewish classmates.
- Oskar Schindler, Karl Plagge, Wilm Hosenfeld, and Albert Göring each used their positions inside fascist systems to save Jews from persecution at great personal risk.
These individuals were not saints. They were flawed. But they changed. And when they did, their insider knowledge and moral courage became powerful tools in the fight for justice.
Movements against fascism, racism, or theocracy need more than the already-converted.
We need the defectors.
Not because they’re perfect, but because they prove that people can change, and help change others in turn.
What Awakening Really Looks Like
When someone begins realizing they’ve been part of a cult, political, religious, or ideological, they don’t simply “change their mind.” They go through a deeply painful unraveling of identity, relationships, and beliefs.
Here’s what that process often looks like:
- Cognitive Dissonance: Noticing contradictions between ideology and reality creates internal discomfort.
- Shame and Guilt: Realizing they were wrong can be devastating. They often feel humiliated and betrayed—by themselves and others.
- Grief and Mourning: They grieve lost time, broken relationships, and a worldview that no longer fits.
- Anger and Betrayal: At the leaders they trusted. At themselves. At those who “let” them stay fooled.
- Identity Crisis: Who am I now? What do I believe? Where do I belong?
- Fear of Rejection: They may lose their entire support system. They fear being branded a traitor by their old world, and distrusted by their new one.
What They Need from Us
- Compassion, not contempt
Mocking or shaming them often confirms everything they were taught about “the enemy.” Curiosity, kindness, and empathy crack the door open.
- Firm moral clarity
Be compassionate, but don’t coddle. Truth without cruelty. Accountability without annihilation.
- Emotional support
They may feel alone, unstable, or suicidal. They need connection and safety—places to process without fear of humiliation.
- Education
Once cracks form, they often want to learn. Share books, documentaries, survivor stories, and trusted resources that speak to their new questions.
- A new community
People leaving cults lose their “found family.” We must become the place that helps them rebuild—imperfectly, but with purpose.
The Strategic Cost of Gatekeeping
Rejecting defectors doesn’t purify our movement, it shrinks it.
Every person who starts questioning MAGAism and finds only scorn from the left is one more person likely to crawl back to the side that welcomes them, no matter how cruel. Movements grow by offering something better, not just morally, but relationally.
Former believers are some of the most effective messengers. They know the script. They know the language. And they know what helped them break free.
The Call for Compassionate Resistance
It’s tempting to write people off when they come late to the fight. But if our goal is to stop authoritarianism, we must be a safe place to land.
This doesn’t mean forgetting or excusing harm. It means recognizing that transformation is often messy, nonlinear, and real. If we demand purity, we’ll get isolation. If we welcome growth, we might just get justice.
As Sara herself shared, the messages of empathy she received were a turning point in her journey. They didn’t erase her past, but they helped illuminate a future.
Let us remember the words attributed to Maya Angelou:
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
Sara is beginning to know better.
Let’s make sure she, and the thousands like her, get the chance to do better.
Because the only thing more dangerous than a movement built on lies….
….is a truth that refuses to let anyone in.
