Growing up MAGA: a first-gen immigrant’s story of turning away from Trump

Growing up MAGA: a first-gen immigrant’s story of turning away from Trump

Steve Vilchez, a 21-year-old Illinois State University student, once fell deep into the MAGA movement after Trump’s 2016 win — only to break away after years of conspiracies, COVID lies, and the Jan. 6 attack left him disillusioned. Now part of the “Leaving MAGA” community, Vilchez says Trump’s politics of fear turned him from a Bernie Sanders supporter into a hardcore believer, but ultimately pushed him back out. “Trump knows how to weaponize f…