On Monday, November 24th, the left-wing organization, Women's March, https://www.womensmarch.com/, collaborated with Rich Logis, founder of "Leaving MAGA," to produce a 1.5-hour livestream entitled "Uncomfortable Conversations: How (and Why) to Talk with MAGA Family".
If you are a MAGA supporter and you are interacting with a family member who attended this workshop, here is what to expect: facts and reality don't matter, their feelings are your fault, and no matter what you say, you are assumed to be morally inferior. The left doesn't want to listen and understand the other side. They want to dominate, manipulate, and blame conservatives, including their own family members.
I attended this workshop to gain a deeper understanding of leftist ideas and learn about their strategies and tactics. I wanted to hear their earnest efforts to communicate. However, they didn't exchange ideas or a concrete plan. Instead, this webinar emphasized feelings of overwhelm, despair, and moral superiority. I heard about why uncomfortable feelings are always the MAGA person's fault, and I was encouraged to exit a conversation with a family member at any time, for any reason.
The webinar opened with the seemingly good intention of starting a dialogue, listening, and "leading with curiosity." This phrase was repeated several times throughout the workshop. However, the audience was never prompted to ask genuine questions and listen to the answers, but instead assumed that the MAGA relative is "openly hurtful and harmful" and "pushing into authoritarianism".
The opening speaker, Resa Barillas, emphasized the challenge of talking to a MAGA supporter. She said we need to "prepare for heavy conversations" and it is "not easy work, but it is important". She then provided a brief tutorial on utilizing the five senses for emotional grounding. I am a licensed therapist, and these are the same techniques I used with people who had recently been discharged from inpatient psychiatric care. These skills, originally designed to manage aggression and self-harm, are now broadly normalized for conversations at Thanksgiving dinner. Your leftist relatives are being treated like people with a mental health condition.
The main speaker was Jess St. Louis, a male who is a self-described transwoman/lesbian. He is an expert in politicized somatic coaching and communications strategy, according to his website. St. Louis had a soft tone with an affect reminiscent of a teenage girl. He instructed his audience to "lead with values".
He sounded kind and open with the instruction to, "Get really curious about the people you are talking to about the values they hold and why they matter to them." However, he then followed up by saying, "This both helps you understand them better and also identify values you find useful to also invite them away from authoritarian thinking and away from MAGA thinking, towards a more pro-democracy, feminist and anti-racist future." In other words, not listen at all, weaponize their words, assume the worst in the person, and lecture them about critical race theory and queer theory. St. Louis seemed to be open to a MAGA perspective when he stated, "any organizer listens." However, he then quickly dehumanized the MAGA family members of his audience with the follow-up statement, "Changing a white supremacist's attitude doesn't happen overnight."
The other main speaker was Rich Logis, founder of "Leaving MAGA", an organization that mirrors Brandon Straka's Walkaway movement. Logis described himself as a vocal Trump supporter since 2016. Still, he became disillusioned with Trump because of what he describes as Trump's mismanagement of COVID, specifically when Ron DeSantis "platformed COVID anti-vaxxers". He characterized the COVID vaccine as a "medical miracle" in a recent interview with The New Yorker, dated November 21, 2025. This is a surprising statement, considering that everyone who received the vaccine got sick, and according to VAERS, there are more recorded COVID vaccine injuries than any other vaccine.
Logis used most of his speaking time to apologize to the audience for his politically incorrect remarks, and the live chat lit up with positive comments. He said what they long to hear from their MAGA family, and most never will.
Jess St. Louis, the male-lesbian coach, exhibited the "right" way to speak to a MAGA family member in a role-play. He used the word "like" more times than I could count in his demonstration. He attempted to sound caring and to listen attentively by using phrases such as "I hear you saying that", but then quickly shifted the subject and blamed Trump for "cutting SNAP benefits" and causing big grocery store lines, even though Democrats caused the government shutdown.
St. Louis's response was insincere and backed by lies, yet strangely, many people in the chat said he was great. The same audience also pretended that this man is a lesbian woman, so in this way, their ability to acknowledge reality was consistent.
If neither skewed facts nor manipulating feelings are effective strategies, the workshop instructed the audience to tell their MAGA family members that they are being hurtful, even if they aren't intending to be. The MAGA supporters should be invited to "take responsibility" for all of Trump's actions and perceived wrongdoings. St. Louis said it isn't effective to "shame" a family member. Nevertheless, these Trump supporters must be reminded that they are accomplices to horrible actions, including sexual assault, war crimes, and putting so many people's rights at risk.
St. Louis modeled an example response with the statement, "I hear your values, and I believe in your ability to do better." This sounds like a Chinese communist struggle session to me.
Finally, if blaming a MAGA relative and putting them through a struggle session doesn't work, I, as a workshop participant, was explicitly encouraged to exit the conversation at any time. I should stay in "(my) truth" and "Have a deep grounding in (my) self-worth". I was told, "If you are activated, it's ok to exit." In fact, according to this workshop, "the exit strategy shows great restraint". Nothing shows "curiosity" like leaving a conversation when the other person doesn't comply.
Sometimes I wonder why our country is so divided, and then I attend a workshop like this and no longer wonder.
Pamela Garfield-Jaeger is a licensed therapist and no longer shares the values of the modern Democrat party. Pamela is the author of A Practical Response to Gender Distress: Tips and Tools for Families, and Froggy Girl. www.thetruthfultherapist.org.
