BIG Trump Supporter TURNS AGAINST HIM...in MISSOURI

What this episode is about

The conversation features Jerry Ko, a former MAGA supporter from Missouri, who shares his journey of disillusionment with the movement, highlighting the deep-rooted connections between charismatic evangelicalism and MAGA ideology. He discusses how his upbringing in a strict evangelical environment shaped his initial support for Donald Trump and the challenging crisis of faith that ultimately led him to leave the movement.

Key takeaways

• Jerry's journey shows that faith and politics can be a double-edged sword—cutting through truth and indoctrination.
• The evangelical-MAGA connection is like a theological Tinder match—sparking attraction but often leading to toxic outcomes.
• A crisis of faith can turn into a rebellion; questioning beliefs may just be the first step to liberation.
• Is the church guiding voters or grooming followers? The authoritarian tones in evangelicalism raise some eyebrow-raising questions.
• In the age of misinformation, 10,000 hours of deconstruction might just be the new phase of enlightenment.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Rich (Host) · 10 min speaking
• Jerry Ko (Guest) · 7 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Leaving MAGA, Jerry Ko
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Assembly of God Church, Oral Roberts
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Paula White
4. 12:00 – 15:00: 100% Fed Up, National File, WorldNet Daily
5. 15:00 – 17:11: Jerry Ko, Leaving MAGA

Notable quotes from "BIG Trump Supporter TURNS AGAINST HIM...in MISSOURI"

• Hey everybody, Rich coming to here at Leaving MAGA at leaving maga.org for the mindouch network. So good to be back with all of you. We have been on the road recently and I am happy to report that Leaving Maga has never been busier.

  about Leaving MAGA · at 0:02

• Now there's a lot of history that goes behind it. It really ramped up like the Assembly of God Church is where I grew up and they were founded in 1914 and one of the founders…

  about Assembly of God Church · at 4:17

• The pagan world for a while. I came back and I see this video of Paula White doing this chant calling angels from Africa and South America and I'm man, that's some pagan stuff…

  about Paula White · at 7:12

• 100% fed up, National File, Gateway Pundant, Fox News, and more. But yeah, I was fully consumed.

  about 100% Fed Up · at 12:50

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Jerry Ko — Person · 2 mentions · first at 0:23
  We are joined right now by Jerry Ko from the state of Missouri. So Jerry, let me first thank you for being with us today.
• Ken Copeland — Person · 2 mentions
• Oral Roberts — Person · 1 mention · first at 4:48
  II tent revival with William Brandom, which gets us to the folks like Oral Roberts and Ken Copelan.
• Paula White — Person · 1 mention · first at 7:18
• William Branham — Person · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

• Leaving MAGA — Company · 3 mentions · first at 0:04
• Assembly of God Church — Company · 1 mention · first at 4:24
• 100% Fed Up — Company · 1 mention · first at 12:50
• National File — Company · 1 mention · first at 12:50
  100% fed up, National File, Gateway Pundant, Fox News, and more. But yeah, I was fully consumed.
• WorldNet Daily — Company · 1 mention · first at 13:18
  Places like Fox, American Thinker, American Greatness. I even wrote for a site called WorldNet Daily, WND, which is the site that originated the Obama birther conspiracy.
• Gateway Pundit — Company · 1 mention

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 I'm Jerry and I left MAGA. Hey everybody, Rich coming to here at Leaving MAGA at leaving maga.org for the mindouch network. So good to be back with all of you. We have been on the road recently and I am happy to report that Leaving Maga has never been busier. We have a brand new Leaving MAGA testimonial today. I want to bring him in. We are joined right now by Jerry Ko from the state of Missouri. So Jerry, let me first thank you for being with us today. Appreciate you being here and being willing to tell your story.

0:36 Let's just get I I appreciate you. I appreciate you having this platform available for us.

0:43 No, it's my pleasure. Let's just get right into everything, Jerry, here. And if you could if you could take us through just a little bit of your background and what attracted you about the MAGA movement.

1:00 I uh I was raised as a charismatic evangelical and in a Republican family. So it was just a natural progression to go from being a Reagan supporting vet active duty airman right on into the MAGA movement. It was just a natural progression because of how I was taught as a child.

1:24 So can you talk a little bit about what I see as this inextricable link between evangelicism and MAGA? We we have lots of testimonials at our website at wemmaga.org and there are several who left MAGA who were and still are devout Christians but are no and but they went through a a crisis of faith which led them to eventually leaving of leaving MAGA. Can you talk a little bit about what you see as that link between evangelicism and MAGA?

2:04 Uh for me what I see that and the short answer is that charismatic evangelicalism is inherently an authoritarian uh uh doctrine system. So you always believe what your preacher says or you believe those that your your preacher might might support or promote. And you know my cat go on Smokey. But um yeah, when when folks are looking at the idea that if I question something, then I could lose my my grace from God and end up in hell, it makes it easy to to just be indoctrinated into an authoritarian system like MAGA. What do you think about these comments that I see a lot online where, you know, people people will talk about how to reconcile between the Trump administration's actions and the the lack of what I was raised to believe in Christian values. I I I was a Catholic growing up. I joke that I'm an excommunicated Catholic, but you know, I I remain a believer. Um, and but how do you how do you think it can

3:28 be reconciled where we look at the the actions and the rhetoric of the Trump administration and then people who are devout Christians who support this? What is the what what is happening there? I I I think I think what what needs to be understood is early in the 20th century there was a bifurcation in American Christianity where one went more towards a social Christianity which is like what we see in the progressive Christian churches now and then a more authoritarian version of Christianity which is the d the where we derive this whole authoritarian system from that we have now there's a lot of history that goes behind it. It really ramped up like the Assembly of God Church is where I grew up and they were founded in 1914 and one of the founders of the Assembly of God Church was like number two or number three in command when the 1915 Ku Klux Clan was formed.

4:42 And then we get into the postw World War II tent revival with William Brandom, which gets us to the folks like Oral Roberts and Ken Copelan. And I I think I think it's difficult for a lot of folks to really decipher the duality of the messaging because I've actually heard Ken Copelan say that God is the biggest loser in the Bible. And yet God is this also is promoted as this all powerful creature being. So it's the duality of the messaging, the constant duality of the messaging. It keeps people off balance and it makes it difficult for them to employ rational thinking especially if they get attacked just for asking a question.

5:34 So take us through Thank you for that. So Jerry, take us through what life was like for you in MAGA while you were an act. Is it fair to say that you were like me, you were a true believer, you were an activist within MAGA? What was life like for you?

5:57 Um, during the first Trump administration, it was pretty laid-back. I I didn't become really activated until after the 2020 election and I I had bought in completely on the the stolen election theory and that ended up leading me into becoming a congressional watchdog and eventually a live streamer. Uh that ended up costing me a relationship in the end uh of that. But um I was in so deep that I was running 10-hour live streams three times a week and then moderating for a compatriate for his 10-hour streams three times a week. So after COVID is is really really when things got wild for me. Um that that's when I got into live streaming was during COVID. Yeah, I was a true believer, but I started seeing things that just they didn't ring true for me based upon what I knew from Christianity and then my my walk through the the pagan world for a while. I mean, I came back and I I I see this this

7:18 video of Paula White doing this chant calling angels from Africa and South America and I'm like, man, that's some pagan stuff right there. what's going on? And that question right there ended up causing me to invest about 10,000 hours in the next three years in my deconstruction, which deconstructing my faith meant I had to also deconstruct my politics because where I grew up, they were the same thing. It it was it was a challenge, but it was worth the work. There's so much radicalization that occurs online and I'm curious if you could go a little bit more in into depth in detail on what live streaming was like for you.

8:09 What you did online, what you saw online, how much of it was MAGA, how much was MAGA adjacent. I'm curious about what it is that you saw so often online and if you feel like it also influenced and and maybe radicalized you when you were so consistently doing live streaming. Oh, it it definitely it definitely influenced me. And I'm glad that you asked that question because I've I've reactivated my YouTube channel and currently I've I've already dropped two videos. There's three more that are going to drop today when we're recording this this video. But what I'm going to be doing is I'm doing a numbered series of videos explaining the historical facts that are going towards the book that I'm going to write about this whole experience. All of it, the history leading up to how I got caught up in all of it and not just me.

9:10 But to further answer that question, I'm going to be making other videos talking about the things that I saw, some of the conversations that I was involved in and setting on MAGA panels. Like a current a current event story that's going on is at the Ark encounter. There's a measles outbreak, but it's because there's a lot of antivaxers in that community. That said, I have sat on NAGA panels where we have debated with young earth creationists and flatearthers and and globe earthers all sitting on the same panel and finding out that young earth creationists and flatearthers actually have more in common than than a lot of people would realize. So I'm I got a lot to talk about out there on the things that I saw.

10:04 uh wild just just it was a lot of wild uh hyperbolic conspiracy theories that I ended up untangling like Atlantis and Anunnaki things like that. When when a a collective believes verifiable falsehoods as hard fact under the guise of they're hiding the truth from us. It makes it really difficult to penetrate that wall.

10:35 Yeah. You know, we had uh we we did a video with a lady named Erica Roach who was in KQAnon and she expressed a similar sentiment which is this when she was in QAnon, there was this there was always this feeling that the group and the community was privy to

10:54 insider information that that no one else had. Right. I was never queuing on, but I was definitely Q adjacent until I thought saw things that were being predicted that weren't coming true because growing up as a child, I I learned in church if somebody makes a prediction and it doesn't come true, then the the prophecy is not from God. Mention Julie Green. She has over 220 missed prophecies and she's a Trump prophet. So there's my case in point and yet she still has people following her. It's it's crazy.

11:32 So, talk a little bit about why you feel the need to speak out about all of the all of this.

11:41 I I'm seeing a lot of former MAGA talking about their experiences and I'm like, yeah, but there's so much more to the story than this because of the fact that I was so deep. Um, we we've chitchated a little bit and you hadn't heard about Kkiststan until I showed up. But I had somebody that tried to recruit me into this digital environment that is as far right as you can get. I mean, it has self-avoued nationalist socialists running around. Uh, those of you who don't know what a nationalist socialist is, that's the long form of the word Nazi. So yeah, that that was that experience was one of those things that that really got me to looking at the community.

12:31 And uh so there's a lot of things that people that have left MAGA aren't talking about that I I know exist. And so I'm going to be bringing that to light, including uh doing videos talking about the different media outlets that I use and and promotion of these stories. uh 100% fed up, National File, Gateway Pundant, Fox News, and more. But yeah, I was fully consumed.

12:59 Yeah, I I consumed that media that you just mentioned, the Fox's gateway pundits. I I wrote for a lot of MAGA media when I was in MAGA itself. I wrote for the Federalist. I had by lines in places like Fox, uh American Thinker, American Greatness. I even wrote for a site called WorldNet Daily, WND, which is the site that originated the Obama birther conspiracy. Oh,

13:27 I knew and I knew that they had originated that conspiracy, but it didn't matter to me because what mattered and was more important was that I used that platform at WorldNet Daily to fight this political battle of good and evil versus existential threats. you know, whether they were Democrats or liberals or progressives or anti-Trump Republicans. And, you know, I I relate to what you're saying because it came it got for me, it got to a point where I diversified my news and information sources and I started to realize that a lot of what I believed was false.

14:07 Yeah. Yeah. And it took me an it took me an entire year to leave because I had I had believed years and years worth of lies.

14:15 Exactly. And that's that's where my deconstruction came in real helpful. I mean, one of the things that I was raised with as a kid was Jesus did great things and if you have enough faith in God, then you can do great things as well. You can do greater things. And they would use Lazarus as an example. So I heard a lot of preachers that were coming over visiting from Africa or that had gone to missions in Africa or South America telling these stories about, you know, raising the dead. And when yeah, that was that was a bad way to set me up. But I later learned that that's that doesn't happen. That's not a thing. And so that that caused me to ask even more questions.

15:02 and yeah, understanding better about legitimate subjects like science. I I deal with fibromyalgia, so I needed to understand the truth about fibromyalgia, so I studied it. As far as diversifying information, I started listening to veterans. Uh I absolutely love Jesse Delmore. He's former Marine. He grew up as a Republican and he grew up as as one of those charismatic evangelicals and he's got some solid opinions. I like listening to him. Of course, like anybody else, I don't agree with him all the time, but yeah, that's definitely the direction I lean and that's what got me out was the diversification, opening my mind up just a little bit and it ended up opening up a lot.

15:53 Yeah, that's a late motif throughout our testimonials which people can find and read at leavingmaga.org where people diversified their news and information sources. They started to step outside of the right-wing MAGA media echo chamber and bubble and it opened up a whole new world of factual information for them that was grounded in reality. Jerry, I uh I just I want to just tell you I appreciate so much you speaking out. You know, I want to welcome you to the Leaving Maga community. I also want to welcome you to the Midas Touch Network community.

16:30 And we like to always end our videos on a positive affirmation if you would join me.

16:36 Gladly. I'm Rich and I left MAGA. I'm Jerry and I left MAGA. We're with Jerry Ko from the state of Missouri. Jerry, thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate it.

16:50 I appreciate the opportunity to speak up. Love this video? Support independent media and unlock exclusive content. Add free videos and custom emojis by becoming a paid member of our YouTube channel today. You can also gift memberships to others. Let's keep growing together.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "BIG Trump Supporter TURNS AGAINST HIM...in MISSOURI"?

Rich (Host), Jerry Ko (Guest).

What is "BIG Trump Supporter TURNS AGAINST HIM...in MISSOURI" about?

The conversation features Jerry Ko, a former MAGA supporter from Missouri, who shares his journey of disillusionment with the movement, highlighting the deep-rooted connections between charismatic evangelicalism and MAGA ideology. He discusses how his upbringing in a strict evangelical environment shaped his initial support for Donald Trump and the challenging crisis of faith that ultimately led…

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

11 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Leaving MAGA, Jerry Ko, Ken Copeland, Assembly of God Church, Oral Roberts, Paula White. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "BIG Trump Supporter TURNS AGAINST HIM...in MISSOURI"?

The episode runs 17 min; the transcript is about 2,449 words in 28 timestamped sections.

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