Self-described former "ultra-MAGA activist" Rich Logis was a key guest at the Democratic National Convention on Monday, where he proclaimed his support for Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign. The next morning, speaking to CNN's Jessica Dean, he explained how he made that political journey.
"Rich, you were deep in it as you're describing," said Dean. "One of the things I'm wondering is, what, how do you sum up what attracted you so much to Donald Trump then? And also, when was the moment that he lost you?"
"I considered myself at the time a very disillusioned American politically, and I saw Trump as someone, as an outsider looking to change the ways of Washington," said Logis. "And right now, as I am working on behalf of the Harris-Walz campaign for Republicans for Harris down here as a co-chair in Florida, I understand why there are Americans right now who have these feelings of disillusionment and disenchantment."
A "number of factors" made Logis rethink his beliefs, he continued. "They all happened in the summer of 2021. There was mismanagement of COVID by both Trump and my governor, Ron DeSantis. There was a better understanding of January 6. I started to diversify my news and information sources, started to get out of that MAGA and right-wing echo chamber, started to realize that there were some beliefs I held that turned out to be wrong. There were other moments, such as when the Republican Party deemed the insurrection 'legitimate political discourse.'"
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But in Logis' reckoning, he added, "the final straw for me ... was the Uvalde, Texas school shooting."
"So I went through an entire year of personal tumult, having to come to this conclusion that I was mistaken about pretty much everything that I believed," he said. "And I think it's important that I let viewers know that I take responsibility for everything that I said, all my rhetoric, all of my decisions, and it was on August 30, 2022, when I published a mea culpa, in which I stated my remorse for supporting Trump and DeSantis and MAGA, and I wanted to acknowledge that mistake publicly because I was always very public in my support for Trump."
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