Transcription
You know, I have texts from Stephen Miller where he's like, "We need white boy number." Oh, yeah.
Elon suggested to you in a text. You want to see the text? I do. Wait, do we have my phone?
Was the baby in vitro or old-fashioned? No, it was not in vitro. So, you you all had sex to conceive the baby? It was not in vitro.
All right. Joining me today in studio on IHIP News is Ashley Stlair. She is a former right-wing media influencer, and I do not like to define women by their exes, but an important detail here is she has a child with Elon Musk. So, I apologize for that because you are your own person on your own, but because he's had the keys to the government, it's an important detail and because you were in close proximity to him. And so, you've been making the rounds now.
I keep saying I'm like, people need to wait to reach out because they're going to think I'm a plant. So, I'm like, I swear they're just all reaching out at the same time.
So, I you've been making the rounds on the left-wing media ecosystem. Walk me through what changed in you from I know you were young when you fell prey to the right-wing kind of cult stuff, but what clicked and what changed where you were like, "This is bullshit."
Well, let me be clear too about, you know, I am doing left-wing media, but no right-wing media has reached out because they know that I'm telling the truth about MAGA. Not a single one. They will talk about me. They will do all this, but they haven't reached out. And I've been on their shows uh before. There wasn't any one moment. It was very cumulative that I saw things. I got involved very young. I was 18 years old on my college campus and I get involved with Turning Point. and to be so insecure and so young. I was homeschooled in high school. So then I go to college.
It makes a lot. It always makes sense. It always clicks for people.
Yeah. But then I go to college and I'm like, "Oh, I'm like, you know, people kind of like me and I'm in this, you know, nerdier side where I like the politics and I get involved with Turning Point." And it was within a year that then I'm driving Charlie Kirk to the airport and he's telling me I'm doing great work and that to an insecure 18 19-year-old girl is really formative and I for whatever reason like needed that validation and got it through the worst means necessary and got caught up in it. But the issue with them is that then you get caught up and they they tell you you don't need college. So then I drop out of college, then I'm financially dependent on this cult. I'm cut off from information because everything is fake news. I'm told not to trust my professors, not to trust anyone except, you know, Twitter and Fox News and you just get caught up. I explain it in the way that changing it's not just changing your mind when you want to leave, it's blowing up your entire life because your social circle, your finances, everything is tied to it. So you it's very hard to just leave when you get as deep as I did. Um, so I saw things that were uncomfortable, particularly as it relates to women and the treatment of women within the right-wing. I had experiences of my own, like with members of Congress, like Madison Cawthorne while I was working at Republican companies. I had horrible experiences with people like Benny Johnson. I saw things that were uncomfortable, but I couldn't leave. And then eventually skipping through a few chapters, I get an offer for $40 million for an NDA.
And from whom? From Elon.
Okay.
And so when you're an NDA like to never say anything about him ever, non-disparagement into eternity.
Okay.
Um, 40 million.
40 million. So it was 15 million. This was December of 2024.
Okay. And it it was 15 million lump and then 100k a month for 20 20 years 21 years. So a little over 40 million. And in that moment you have to make a choice. You're like do I want to be a good person? And there's like very hyperbolically people talk about like selling your soul in Hollywood and politics, but they they never talk about the moment that you're presented with that offer. And to me like that was that offer.
It was like sell your soul, take away your voice. no matter what I do, you won't be able to speak about it, but you'll have $40 million. You'll be materially comfortable. Your kids will be taken care of. And so, that was right away. I said, "No."
Um, let's get into the Elon Musk situation. And you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but I'm just dying to know some details like girl to girl. Was the baby in vitro or old-fashioned? No, it was not in vitro.
So you you all had sex to conceive the baby. It was not in vitro.
Artificial insemination. No, I think that would still be in vitro. I don't want to, you know, discuss the sex life because I know his his attorneys will be like furiously writing, but
Right. Right. Okay.
They're very mad at me all the time. So,
Did you observe him uh using drugs? Yes. And is this pretty much like a daily addict? Would you
I wasn't around him daily, but there were multiple instances where I was around him and he used drugs and he even texted me saying, you know, Wall Street Journal did this piece saying I'm high all the time. I'm a little high. So yeah, I mean I for me, my husband's in recovery and um, it's been a battle for him. And when I see Elon um in the the one video that just blows my mind is when he took his little kid X into the oval and he's just tripping. I mean, he's clearly messed up. He has a black eye and the toddler with him. And I just think why isn't, you know, why aren't people stepping in and getting this child
Last step about that situation is, you know, and speaking about this objectively, the mother of X, Claire Grimes, has stated very publicly many times, she does not want that child in the media, that she does not want him online. And so every in in my opinion, every news outlet who continues to post photos of this child and videos is complicit and going against what this mother wants. She's pleaded online many times. She's reached out to news outlets and she can't have anything done.
But doesn't it seem like that? I mean, the media sucks. I mean, for so many different reasons that Elon would be the most accountable there and why is she allowing the child to be around somebody else?
How do you hold How do you hold the richest man in the world accountable when they have infinite resources and she has to fight him in a court in Texas where you might as well not have rights as a mother?
Yeah. I'm thankful enough that I'm in New York. All of the liberal policies I made fun of, I'm now benefiting from. Thank Thank God. But it's there are still very much like very archaic laws within this country that do not recognize how controlling these situations can be in family court.
No. And you're right because I'm from Oklahoma and so I know that you can have judges that are very conservative in nature and very anti- uh woman. And so I I I certainly understand that and I've seen it happen multiple times before. Um, so when you were with Elon, would you say that y'all were boyfriend girlfriend?
I don't I don't know that it was ever exclusive, but like we saw each other and spoke very often.
And does he and I just I knew like who he was. I wasn't like, "Oh, this is my new boyfriend. Like, we're exclusive." I never expected any sort of exclusivity from that individual. is he um it appears to me like he just wants to breed a lot. Like he wants to have a ton of uh babies.
So the first time that I spent the night with him, he went to sleep listening to a podcast about Kublai Khan.
What's that? A relative of Genghis Khan.
Oh my gosh. So I don't know what his deal is. I really don't did not inquire but I know when I was pregnant he told me you know we need to use surrogates if we want to have uh if we want a legion of kids before the apocalypse we need to use surrogates
before the apocalypse. So is he I mean, is he just kind of nuts all the time like psychologically what's going on with this man?
I think a professional should evaluate him. So I mean obviously something is wrong exacerbated by drug use and then unlimited funds. I that would be my opinion.
I can hypothesize but I know I don't talk about the the apocalypse and ask people to use surrogates.
It's weird. It's weird. Okay. And then Elon suggested to you in a text that
I'll offer you the same thing I did Hassan. You want to see the text?
I do. Wait, do we have my phone?
I do have the text
that that he suggested that he had a new plan for the election.
Hopefully, you'll respect me more than his son and not read my pick-me-isms.
I will. I will actually.
But here, let's let's just search lasers. Yeah. October 5th, 2024. Oh my god, this is crazy you guys. It says Elon Musk. Okay, this is not something on the chessboard, so they will be quite surprised. Lasers from space and you said finally a focus on the Jewish vote. Clearly throwing shade to Marjorie Taylor Greene. Um, I have over 10,000 lasers in space.
So he doubles down and quantifies the number of lasers, which is very comparable to the number of satellites he has. But then what's very interesting is I say, you know, if this ends up being the reason, you know, Trump wins and he puts a hundred and then I said,
he does the 100 emoji.
Yes. And I said, I would ask more, but I don't want to be deposed. And he says, why? So, you know, there's all these people like, what did he do with the election? I don't know. Ask him.
So, here's where my stance was on it, Ashley. Like, to me, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. So, I want to believe that the election was rigged because it's painful to think that 77 million people voted for Donald Trump who was criminal, misogynist, a racist, incompetent, all this stuff, right? Wears a full face and makeup yet is constantly broadbeating trans people.
They love gender-affirming care at Mar-a-Lago.
Yeah, they do. They clearly love it. So, I want to believe that. And then and then there was a lot of statisticians like maybe a month after the election I went down this rabbit hole and it was like these statisticians were saying like there's something wrong here blah blah but I was like, okay, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Um, but it is it is something interesting coming from him. I do think they could do it to be more questions like especially the role of a social media platform like we had Cambridge Analytica with Facebook and we can't ignore that that someone who is the richest individual in the world who's sending such text messages owns what is essentially a behavioral inference model on X and now has XAI and is doing all of this stuff that in my opinion is like Cambridge Analytica on methamphetamines and so there just at the end of the day there needs to be inquiry from people besides me. I can tell them what I know and what I've seen and what he's told me and what those engineers have told me, but nobody's asking any questions about it, which is incredibly strange and will be to the detriment of us and democracy in my opinion.
I completely agree. So, let's talk about the layers of this cult. So, I grew up and lived in Oklahoma City. So I understand the true believers like the white Christian nationalists whether they be country club Republicans that like racism and a tax break or they be rural Oklahomans that really just want they like Trump because he said, you know, they think he's a badass within the influencer class of MAGA. Like clearly Elon Musk is not some Bible thumper. Clearly Donald Trump isn't a Bible thumper. Like when you get to Charlie Kirk and Benny Johnson, are these guys Bible thumpers, racists, bigots? What's the psychology in the influencer class?
Some of them are, but they're also hypocritical because there's so much degeneracy going on within the MAGA circle and within these influencer circles that the people who are the biggest Christians in America first and all of this, all of them are completely degenerate. They're drunk. They're cheating on their spouses. they're closet homosexuals like which you know more power to you but they they won't come out right
and then they will advocate for the rights of these people to be taken away while they're living that way themselves and so there's
a mode of hypocrisy within MAGA that so many of these people that are like the influencer class they really are failed theater kids like they really wanted to be something they wanted to be famous they they were too ugly for Hollywood and not talented And so then they get a show on like Newsmax and a show on Facebook and they're making six figures a month on Facebook. They're making insurmountable amounts of money off of this and and then getting foreign money getting paid influence campaigns. It's like the amount of money
You brought that up. A lot of foreign money is being paid to MAGA influencers.
Like other countries, Russia, which we've heard about.
Israel, Qatar, like there is so much foreign money flowing into
particularly the right-wing, maybe it's flowing into the left too, but I can only speak to the right, right?
It it is so much. I'm aware of one conservative media outlet that was offered I think it was seven figures to just run like pro-Israel headlines and not even just just sprinkle it in.
So it's just like total propaganda takeover. Okay.
We will never know because because of our current my issue is with our current laws for disclosure. They don't have to disclose when they're paid for messaging at all because of our current laws and regulations. If I pay you right now to say Donald Trump is awesome, you don't have to disclose that you were paid $100,000 to do that. There's nothing requiring that at all.
No. And I mean, we're our channel. I funded it when we first started it completely independent, and I want to always keep it that way because I don't want, first of all, I I want to be the boss, but I don't want anybody telling me what I can and cannot say editorially as it pertains to like the people in the cabinet, like in Trump's cabinet. And Elon was kind of, you know, in the cabinet, per se, initially with Doge. These Doge guys, I have a theory, and you can I I know you may or may not be able to comment because of court and all of his lawyers and all of this, but my theory is that Musk,
You sue me again,
that Musk wanted to get into all of these agencies because they were investigating him. And he said during the election, if Kamala wins, I'm probably going to jail. He had texted me and I still have these messages, you know, he said, "I can't be president, but I can help Trump win. There's about a half a dozen initiatives, uh, investigations of significance into me and more smaller ones, you know, like they're going to take me out." So, that was very much, in my opinion, his motivation,
self-preservation. And then I think once you start getting once you start breaking as a person, I think then it just you can break to everything. Like I see it with Democratic politicians that say, "Oh, we care about trans rights. We care about uh anti-racism. We care about all of these things." And then when it gets to Palestinians,
they don't care about little kids getting killed by Israel
and then they take money and then they break they're broken. I've just noticed that in my own life, too, because I'm Jewish and so I have so many friends who are Zionist or pro-Israel and these people who I I thought were like otherwise empathetic people. When it comes to the topic of Gaza and Palestine, I'm like, you sound like a monster. You sound so inhuman that I like I don't even know who I'm talking to right now. And that was another thing that like fractured a little bit because there was so much that I didn't know. And so when I took a break from the internet, I was like, I'm going to read everything I wasn't supposed to. I'm going to so and I went back to school and one of the first things I did was I took a class on Hegel, Marx, and race and then I took another one on the making of the modern Middle East and how we really made this idea of what we view as the Middle East and going into the history of Islam and all of this stuff that I had never consumed before. I was very sheltered from so much information and my worldview was shaped on ignorance really.
Well, I I grew up with a lot of people that in Oklahoma that are told this is your worldview. God created the earth in this many days. They're evangelical Christians, but they they weren't allowed to critically think or open their minds. You're being Jewish. Did did the people in your early days and Turning Point, did they know this? And I also read online that at some point you went to dinner with Nick Fuentes.
And then I got canceled. So I and that was another thing that kind of kept me in that because then I have all these headlines saying I'm in a photo with Nick Fuentes. So they're I'm Jewish and they're like she's a white nationalist now. I'm like what is happening? I was 20 years old, 21. Okay.
And what had happened was I had come out against Alabama's recent abortion law. I was like this is insane. They don't even have any exceptions for rape, incest, what have you.
And you're in the MAGA world at this time.
Yes. And I I came out like on what I thought was a reasonable opinion about reproductive rights. And Nick Fuentes had disagreed with me. And you know, he was like, "Let's debate." I'm like, "Oh, okay." And then everyone's like, "No, don't debate him. He's, you know, XYZ." And then I'm like, "Okay, I'm not debating you." And then he, you know, him and all his followers attacked me for being Jewish, being a woman. And it was like I don't know if you've ever been attacked by his followers. It's a lot. It's
not his, but I have Elon's and so so it's like that on steroids really. Um, and I was like 20 years old getting all it was my first time getting like an influx of all this stuff. And then a few weeks later someone was like, why don't you just talk to Nick? And I'm like, okay, like sure I will. So I talked to Nick, you know, we had a dinner, I have a few drinks. So then they're like, oh, we're all going back here. I'm like, oh, okay, sure, why not. And then there's a photo taken and it's blasted all over. And then I'm like, all of a sudden a white nationalist. And I was like, but then that's my Google search results. So I can't really get a job at Pinterest after that or even Starbucks.
Don't you think I understand your age and how you because I know people that were raised similarly to you and I know how difficult it is and painful for them when they start critically thinking because they've been told Democrats are evil, Satan, all this crazy [ __ ] right? But don't you think it's fair that anybody that's associated with the MAGA world that we could say they're white nationalists?
I think now, yes. There were things that I didn't see that they were a lot more covert about it. And I'm not saying that to say, you know, I was duped because I think people should stop saying they were duped by Trump. I think he's always been this way. But people weren't critically thinking about it enough. Like if I critically think about it in retrospect, yes, those signs were there, right? But in the moment it wasn't overt um at least in my opinion because there was this push against people they deemed as um white nationalists or anything like that. I mean to even consider the fact that at one point Charlie Kirk's organization was like, we're we're not white nationalists and we have to cancel the Jewish girls so that we're not deemed white nationalists. um is it's weird to think about given, you know, how that evolved and how those uh open opinions of people like Charlie evolved over time.
And you said that like Nick was like, okay, this she that you fell prey to attacks of misogyny and anti-semitism.
Yeah. From the group that basically if I think of MAGA as a big tent, even JD Vance won't condemn Nick Fuentes and the Heritage Foundation won't condemn Nick Fuentes. And so I always say women that carry water for the patriarchy are going to be some of the first to drown. And I find it interesting like Cash Patel, I grew up in, you know, pretty white areas in Oklahoma City. I know exactly what's going to happen when he gets canned. I know all of the racism is going to come for him from within.
Yes. The support of the MAGA movement. So did that when they started calling when the misogyny when they targeted you was that part of the deconstruction?
It was one of those moments because simultaneously Turning Point. So they like sever ties with me, but they were still working with me. It was just like a public whatever. They were keeping people who were on camera talking about raping women. They were keeping people who were, you know, this was very public. They were keeping people who had allegations of sexual assault. Um, and and so to see that contrast and I'm like, I'm canceled for being in the wrong photo with unsavory characters and there's people who who have allegations of abuse against women that are allowed to stay on here. And so that's one of those moments where I'm like, "Oh, they they really just don't care."
Did you meet Erica Kirk?
No.
You didn't.
No. I What do you
I saw her briefly at Candace Owens' wedding, but that was
You went to Candace Owens' wedding. It
was not Candace Owens' wedding. Oh my god, that's incredible. Where was it? The It was at one of the Trump I think it's the Trump winery in Virginia. It was like actually a really beautiful venue. Sorry. It was a really beautiful wedding. Like I got to give her credit. She had really nice arrangements, too.
She's very pretty.
She is. But yeah, I was there and and that was
And Erica was there.
Yeah.
So, I think the uh the
Yes, I think it was. She was with Charlie.
Yeah.
I think the whole Turning Point thing is going to be over. I don't think she's going to be able to carry that because she's number one. I mean, clearly something's wrong with her objectively.
Did you see the Unf*ck America kids? They just did this whole expose on how so many of the Turning Point chapters are fake. Like, they're ghost chapters. They don't exist. So, it looks like, at least from their reporting, that they're just boosting these numbers for donors to make it look like they have more of a student movement and operation than they do.
Wow. I mean, that wouldn't surprise me. I did a whole documentary. I think when she did the whole WWE funeral, I just I think that that on the national stage, some people that were kind of like, I like Trump's tax breaks, they saw that and they're like, this is some weird [ __ ]. Like, it is really weird [ __ ]. So, within the MAGA movement, I I think a lot of these men, it centers around um suppressed sexuality within the men. I think that you've got a lot of gay curious guys in MAGA, a lot of bi curious men, and then just like total sex addicts. And so you have mentioned before, I saw a clip, I can't remember whose podcast it was, that you when you were in MAGA circles, everybody's [ __ ] everybody. Everybody's partying their ass off. And then you've gone to some Democratic parties and people are like, "It's 9:00. We got to get home to the business."
I was like, "Oh my god, you guys don't want one more drink." And they're like, "No, we have to leave early. We have to go back to our kids."
So tell me about these MAGA men broadly.
So when my first experience was I go to the young women's leadership conference. I'm 20 years old. It's my first like Turning Point conference where I'm like a real special guest.
Okay.
And I meet this guy DC Drano Rogan O'Hanley who's like 10 years my senior.
He's like sweeping me off my feet having me move in with him. I leave college. I leave my college town.
DC Drano is like drain the swamp.
Yes. I I move into his bunkass Tampa apartment and he's like, "This is how you you know, here's what you write on the signs outside of the ICE detention center." He's telling me what to tweet. He's like molding my little brain. He's like, "Here, sell t-shirts. Sell MAGA t-shirts." Like, I was very much molded. But simultaneously, this guy is like, "Oh, I'm this Christian conservative. We need to take back America." And he's on all the time. He's always drinking.
Yeah. Or what? I can't remember how it's pronounced. I know what you're talking about though. The opiate thing.
Yeah. Yes. He's always drinking. He's always, you know, at least when I was with him, he always had his little weed pen. He was always on something and putting out this perception that he's just like, you know, this Christian godly man. He was pretending to be Jewish for a minute. Like these people are a mess.
These people are faking being Jewish.
They all do this. Anna Paulina Luna did the same thing. There's an article saying that she was saying she was Jewish and then it turns out her grandfather's a Nazi. What the [ __ ]
They were calling her the new George Santos.
Oh my god. I mean, they're just weird, Jen. Like, and and that's what I want to say. Like, these people are just people and they're very broken people.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
They're really broken. And that's why I find it incredible that they're so fixated on the trans issue. They're like, "Oh, you know, identity issues." All of those people have identity issues.
Totally.
They They think that they're men and they're actually [ __ ]. You're like, "You have the biggest identity issues I've ever seen in my life." I think the biggest argument for Democrats with the trans issue is to simply say, why are why is MAGA so obsessed with genitals? Why are they so obsessed with gay sex? Why? Because it's not like I don't wake up every day and go, "Oh my god, I'm so straight. Let's talk about straight stuff." But when you get into these MAGA men, they are consumed with trans issues and uh LGBTQ plus issues and gay sex. And then you start diving into it. Like if you look at I call the speaker of the house little Moses Mike Johnson is my name for him
because I call Benny Benny Grinder Johnson.
Benny Grinder Johnson. Like he told on himself with the gay cruise thing. And I'm just like, of course he's a*f. But the science backs this up, Ashley, because I found this study.
Trans porn is consumed the most in all of these bright red counties.
Yes. And so it's just really to me it's obvious but
it's all projection but at the same time there's the most gender-affirming care happens at Mar-a-Lago.
Okay. So they need to stop. They're spending far more than we are on our taxpayer dollars on trans youth or trans-affirming like they need to stop. Okay. None of those people um
they're all engaging in gender-affirming care.
I agree. Okay. Let's talk through this. I sincerely can understand how somebody can be impressionable and fall into groups and um then a deconstruction can ensue. The the co-host to my podcast, Angie Pumps, she when I first met her thought the earth was 6,000 years old, was a Republican, and now she is the biggest, you know, cheerleader for democracy and for human rights. So I have this kind of thing where I I want obviously I want people to evolve and as as people kind of get deconstructed from this you're going to get a lot of criticism.
Yes.
Like, oh right. And as you deconstruct from this I think you had written a book about the it was easy to hate like about trans Yeah. a children's book about trans
Elephants are not birds. And so as you I as I see you now trying to atone and tell the country about this movement and how toxic and broken these people are. What message do you have to people that are young like your demographic that are young and have fallen prey to this what they perceive as an in-club like the punching down in-club? Um, was there always an itch somewhere in the back of your brain that something wasn't right and you just caved to the worst impulses?
Yeah, there were there were moments where I was pushing back on it, especially in private because I worked a lot with higher lips at TikTok and I was like, you know, you can't
What's her deal?
She I you know, she's just stupid. Like she's genuinely like a cerebral speed bump. There's just not a whole lot going on up there. And so I give her a little bit of grace because she's just so dumb. I have more eye for the elected members who push her content and then make bills off of it. I think someone from your state, Oklahoma, you know, brought her up.
Brian Walters. Yeah. Who
I have more. Talk about talk about gay curious. Ryan Walters is one of these.
So, and but I do have regret because I was just mean. And what you need to understand is that so many of these people who are being nasty online and and holding this moral high ground, they're they're just very insecure and broken. Yeah. Like I was just
I had no reason to say the things that I did. It was just mean. It was ignorant. I didn't understand the things that I was saying. And that's kind of how this entire thing is structured. Like the people who are on Fox News don't know what they're talking about. They would have me on Fox News and then ask me if I wanted to talk about Ukraine. Do I look like I know what's going on here?
Seriously, I don't. I hardly know why they're fighting. Okay.
So, these are just the the talking points that they want you to articulate.
Yes. And but that's what they need to realize is that so many of these people are bastardizing your attention and they don't know what they're talking about and they make an insurmountable amount of money off of your attention. Most of these big tech platforms optimize for user seconds. That is what they optimize for. And you should hold that in the back of your head every time you spend a second on there because you are a data point. They want you on there for longer. And what are they doing to keep you on there longer? What do you make of the uh Republicans that have power right now who you hear we all hear these leaks all the time, elected officials? Because I hold them to account. Like the Democrats piss me off every bit as much as the Republicans do quite honestly because they're I'm just like, be an opposition party. This is a layup. But what do you make of like Moses Mike Johnson and uh the Senate Majority Leader uh Thun? What do you make of them
not standing up?
They're cowards to Trump.
They're cowards. You need to sacrifice something if you're not sacrificing something. And guess what? Getting death threats on Twitter is not sacrificing something. Like you need to make some material sacrifice to do what's right. The fact that none of these judges being appointed by Trump when they're asked can say, no, he can't have a third term. Really? Clearly no, he did not win in 2020. This has gone too far. Um, and what I can tell you at least for the people
is that these individuals in power are much weaker than they like to appear. people who are thumping their chest, they're very weak individuals.
people need to fight back. They need to fight back about against what's happening, particularly as it relates to AI in these data centers and them gathering an amount of power that will be very difficult to take back. Do when you think back to your former peers in the MAGA group and their perception of like liberal people or woke people, do you think that there is a jealousy that like that that subconsciously they see those people as the cool kids or they just see these people as like blue-haired lesbians doing basket weaving?
I think it is a deep insecurity that they cannot live as themselves. You know, I got a comment the other day that was like, "Oh, she's even dressing more liberal." And then I was like, I am dressing different, but it's because I don't have to wear a MAGA costume anymore. I can go in my closet and say, what do I want to wear today? Instead of like, what's not going to offend MAGA? What's going to be more conservative? Like, what's going to seem professional? Like,
How old are you now?
27.
27. And so as you wake up now and you're not in that tent, do you walk my listener through like the differences or and/or liberation just personally that you feel not being a part of that group and now being yourself?
First of all, I'm not constrained in looking at everything so cynically. When you're in that, everything is like you're looking for the bad. You're looking for these crazy things. Like when I was in MAGA and I'm in New York City, I'm like, I'm going to find you. I could not imagine what I would be doing like in Zoron's New York if I was still MAGA. I would be out there every day. Can you believe Zoron didn't fix this? Like it just captures your entire being. Like everything you view is through this lens of MAGA and content. And like now I'm just able to be a real person. Like just exist, just read what I want. Just watch what I want. Like I would feel guilty if I consumed like liberal media.
So you would you're saying you would basically have to wake up and assign blame.
Yeah.
To everything or and/or praise. Like this is great because of Trump and this is bad because of
of the libs. And what do you think of
that's that's exactly and they say so much like, oh, it's not a victimhood mentality. It's not this. It's not that. But they live in the biggest victimhood mentality that they think the biggest issue is trans people. that they think it it's going to take away from them so much if you recognize black literature. Reading my first slave narrative at 25, I was like, "No wonder they don't want me reading this because this is horrific."
And so like I and then consuming black literature like reading Robinson, reading DeBois, reading these these things that I wasn't allowed to read because I was told it was anti-white propaganda. And it just read what you're not supposed to read what they're telling you.
How racist is the movement?
It's pretty racist.
That's what I mean. I think it's just Would you say that's at the epicenter of it? And then also owning the libs.
Becoming more and more at the epicenter of it. It wasn't so much before, but people like Steven Miller have really like, you know, I have texts from Steven Miller where he's like, "We need white boy." Oh, yeah.
You have texts from Steven Miller?
He used to text me every day during the election. He's like, "Share this." I don't I every time I've seen him, he's sitting down at the board with a drink. So, don't know. He
But what would he text you? We need what?
He would ask for retweets during the election. Like,
What did you say? White boy.
White boy November. He's like, "We need the white boys. This is going to be white boy November." Like, he's just a loser. And so, like, he's begging me for retweets. He's like, "We need to get the
Hold on. So, that guy is reaching out to you to reach
They're all so insecure. Losers.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I knew that. I knew all of this.
That's why I don't care. I'm like, who am I?
And how badly do they want to own the libs? Would you say that is the driving force? Like the ethos that like bonds them together, owning the libs?
No, I think they're just hateful racists. Like I think like No, I think what bonds them together is hate and that they weren't cool in high school. Like they're really the these people are so deeply insecure.
Have you met Trump?
I a few times I was very much
Stink.
I didn't get close enough to smell. Um
What did the makeup look like in person?
Very bad. The spray tan. I think it's a spray tan issue, but like that's you kind of have to get a spray tan to go to Mar-a-Lago. Like as soon as I started getting in the Mar-a-Lago crowds, they're like, "Oh, here's Laura Trump's spray tan girl. Like here's get the Zimmerman dress. Get this." Like I was being put into this costume of MAGA and I think I look much better without a spray tan. But they all do the spray tans. like they wear a costume.
And do they do people think he's smart? Like where it was like, "Oh my god, Trump's incredible." I mean,
They view him more as like this caricature. They're like, "Oh, he's so awesome. Oh my god,
They think he's like a badass.
Can you believe he was at the McDonald's drive-thru?" Like, they're just so dumb.
Yeah, that's what I think.
I don't think they actually think, if you ask any of them, that Donald Trump is sitting there writing policy. Like, they know he's not.
Are they true? So, in the influencer class, because they're are true believers. I've been around them in Oklahoma in the Bible Belt that believe this man is smart, that believe he's this incredible businessman, that believe all this like that he's healthy, that he's a great athlete. They're people that believe.
Yeah, the base does, but
but within the influencer class, they would jump off that.
They're like, can you believe he DJs Mar-a-Lago? Like this.
What about JD Vance? Do they like JD Vance?
Um, it's kind of split on JD. Like some people just think he's weird, which he is. And then other people are like, "Oh, wow. He could be the next 20 to 28."
I think he
don't trust anyone who takes money from big tech.
Well, yeah. I think JD Vance is the country's top prostitute.
He's got a Yeah. He's got a bend over for Peter.
Peter. Yeah. I mean, it's just I always If you look at JD Vance,
Peter Thiel makes his boys work.
He does. I mean, he went out to Silicon Valley and he comes back thinner, dressed better, better haircut. I'm like, Peter Thiel queered-eyed JD Vance.
He queered him. I've never seen anything like it. It's like he went he got queered. Remember how he was chubby and kind of sloppy and then he comes back from Peter Thiel's gay and he got quirereyed?
He did.
Yeah. I just think there's a lot of What I see MAGA is they're it's all about these homosocial relationships. They're always in these male-dominated
Bros.
Yes. And and it's it's like even the whole Joe Rogan and all the bros sphere. I'm like everything is about always this homosocial setting. And so Ashley, do you have any closing thoughts for my listeners on um I know you don't you I know you don't give a [ __ ] what people think about you, but your message is more to provide an off-ramp to people in the aftermath of what this cult is. And what would you say to the people out there that have gotten [ __ ] over by these policies?
There's a lot of people that are in my DMs that are on your teams. Um, there's a lot of wives of MAGA that are in my DMs right now. And so this is not just me. And what I want to make really clear, too, is I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm not asking to be accepted. I'm asking people to understand like the pathology of this cult. And I'm not here to talk about like my big beautiful ideas for the DNC in 2028, you know. I'm just speaking about my experience. And I truly am optimistic that MAGA is fracturing. I I really do believe that. And I think at least for you guys on the left, when you say, oh, you know, Marjorie Taylor Greene and and Megan Kelly and Tucker, they're seeing the writings on the wall. That's the only reason they're leaving. But stick with that they're seeing the writing on the wall and that they're seeing where the wind blows. I think you guys also need to recognize where the wind is blowing and that you have a lot more power than than you're recognizing in this moment to mobilize and do something.
Yeah, I think so too. I always say that Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson are first and foremost financial Darwinists. And Trump is going to die. He's not a spring chicken. And so they're already even though the cult might be slow to come, but uh I'm just very grateful that you're speaking out because the Tea Party incubated MAGA. MAGA is incubating something worse.
And you were in that. And when you talk about the Gropers and all of the bro sphere that I've spoken about, it's really going to be worse than MAGA.
Well, and the marriage with the big tech oligarchs is really
Oh my god, it makes me Yeah. people have to fight back against they're speaking about AI as it's an inevitability and there was a a really great creator I wish I could uh remember her name. I actually think it was Francesca, but she said
Francesca Fiorini.
Maybe it was her or someone else. They were, you know, she said they they speak about um AI inevitability in the same way they talk about, you know, the R-word and assault like rape. And that to me, people need to remember that like they are really it's not an inevitability because we get to choose what happens.
Ashley, thank you so much for coming by and and uh for your bravery and speaking out, getting to the other side. I do for any listeners who want to criticize Ashley, you get to. But I just want to say personally that my beloved co-host that you love, she was up until like four years ago. I mean, totally, you know, in evangelical Christian circles. And so change can happen and you have to when people um are atoning, it's worthy of a listen. So be nice. All right. Thank you, Ashley.