I was born in Benin City, in the south of Nigeria, about 100 miles east of Lagos.

I’m the oldest of five kids; I grew up around my extended family. My grandfather had three wives, so I had a lot of uncles and aunts and cousins.

I was reserved as a kid; I wasn’t much of a people person. I connected with the world through reading. My mom really encouraged that and as I grew up, my father’s extensive library was there to satisfy my appetite — he was a bibliophile. I read a lot of books by western authors. I also watched a lot of American movies and interacted with American culture through the media.

My parents didn’t really talk about politics when I was growing up. Most people didn’t talk much about politics. Things only get heated politically when there’s an election.

Like many Nigerians, I had an idealized impression of America in my head as the land of opportunity and freedom.

I had always followed foreign news, especially CNN. I got interested in American politics during the 2016 presidential race. I first listened to Hillary Clinton and was impressed by her. I thought she would be good for the job with all her government experience.

Then I started hearing about Donald Trump and all the terrible things he was saying. I thought, “How is it possible for an American politician to say these things and still have a political career?” American politicians were always trying to say the right thing, do the right thing, and have the best public image; this was out of character for an American politician.

But then I found some of the things Trump said resonating with me. He was hyperbolic, but I thought he was simply using common sense. I was a very strong nationalist at the time; I believed in people being patriotic to their country, to their national identity. I felt Trump was restoring pride in American national identity. I didn’t understand why anybody wouldn’t want that.

It’s important to understand that growing up in Nigerian culture meant I had very traditional views about marriage and cultural issues. I opposed gay marriage and transgender rights. I believed you had to respect authority, have faith in God, and be loyal to your family. So it was natural for me to align with the Republican Party.

In 2016 the Democrats seemed crazy to me. I saw people losing their jobs over what they had said because of cancel culture. I may not agree with what you’re saying but you should be able to express your opinion. And again, with the Democrats championing homosexuality and transgender rights, I thought they were delusional. So the Republicans seemed more grounded in reality.

I thought Trump would be an effective counter to the Democratic Party’s extremism. I thought he would do a good job with the economy. I liked that he was very open to speaking his mind, that he wasn’t censoring himself. He seemed fresh, different from typical American politicians. He seemed more relatable, an everyday guy. And he was talking about combating abortion, gay marriage and the trans agenda.

Throughout Trump’s first term, I was MAGA all the way. I absolutely supported everything he did, except for when he talked trash about the FBI and Justice Department. That seemed off; he was president and yet he was attacking his own security agencies. But I just waved it aside and kept supporting him..

I thought Trump was good for the world in terms of America not being involved in so many wars round the globe. I liked that he was bringing China to the fore as an enemy for reasons I cannot now explain.

In terms of my media consumption, I watched CNN, but I never watched Fox — even though I agreed with most of their talking points, something about Fox news really put me off. I read the Daily Wire, and I followed Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, Candace Owens, Glen Loury, and Thomas Sowell.

When Covid hit, I very much supported Trump. I felt he was doing all he could; it was a global pandemic, after all. At first I ignored the crazy things he was saying, like people should take bleach.

As I became more aware of his bad behavior regarding the pandemic, I still rationalized it. I’m a pharmacist, so I should have known better. I told myself, “Ah, typical Trump, we shouldn’t take him seriously regarding certain things.” Or I would characterize criticism of his actions as just a personal attack against him.

I expected Trump to win reelection in 2020; I was one of those who thought the election was stolen. He was leading at first and by the next morning he was losing. I felt sick to my stomach. That’s how invested I was in the man; the cult of personality he had built totally seduced me.

I started questioning my faith in Trump and MAGA over the next few weeks. I expected him to come forward with credible evidence. But then he went to play golf; he wasn’t presenting anything besides his claim that the election was stolen. I told myself, “This guy actually lost.” That’s when my image of Trump began to dissipate.

January 6 was another watershed for me. I wanted Trump to step down, peacefully transfer power, and run again in 2024. But the attack on the Capitol — that made me realize this guy is actually dangerous. He wasn’t committed to a peaceful transfer of power.

After a conversation with my Canadian friend one fateful day, I decided to be much more active in trying to critique my conservative beliefs. I was going to try to tear them apart, to see if they held up. I started looking for other sources of information, like Leejah Miller, The Majority Report with Sam Seder, Kyle Kulinski, Daivd Pakman, and some other left-leaning commentators. They didn’t seem as crazy as I had envisioned them. They seemed very reasonable, and their arguments were much more evidence-based and researched than what I was hearing from the right wing.

That belief was reinforced when I joined Twitter in 2021. I was immediately exposed to a whole lot of nonsense from right-wing Republicans and conservatives. It was just vile.

I still thought the Democrats were crazy, particularly on cultural issues. So as crazy as the Republicans seemed, they seemed like a better option than what the Democrats were offering.

I continued reassessing my positions on MAGA and Trump throughout 2021 and 2022. More and more things about Trump made less and less sense. I found it harder and harder to explain away his incessant lying as inconsequential. To me, his insults started to sound lame and overused, his rhetoric became disgusting, and his lack of character was more and more evident.

I finally broke with MAGA and Trump for good in late 2022. A couple of things tipped me over the edge. One was Trump’s attacks against Ron DeSantis, who was clearly positioning himself to run for president in 2024. He started calling him Ron DeSanctimonious, just like he had used name-calling in the past with his other Republican opponents. Back then it had seemed cool. Now it just seemed childish, like a tired act.

The other thing involved a spat between Trump and Candace Owens over the Covid vaccine. The particulars don’t really matter, but what stood out to me was that Trump treated Owens rudely despite her having been a loyal supporter for years.

Trump’s willingness to throw a friend under the bus for no verifiable reason showed a lack of character and integrity, and there is nothing I hate more than a lack of integrity. 

Today, I’m not fully aligned with the Democrats, but I think their positions make more sense for a multicultural society. They’re trying to expand freedoms for people, and Republicans are trying to do the opposite. And Republicans are now acting in exactly the same way they accused Democrats of acting: being thin-skinned, trying to stifle speech, and canceling people.

Some of my attitudes have shifted. I still think marriage should be between a man and a woman, and that a man can’t be a woman. But on the other hand I think people have the right to express themselves the way they want to. Who am I to tell you how to live your life? Why should I be crusading against your lifestyle?

I thought personal freedom was what Republicans were about. But there’s nothing substantive on the right anymore. There’s no intellectual depth among Republicans and conservatives. It’s all shallow, all identity politics — which they used to rail against.

Trump’s second term is a shit show; look at the people he appointed, like RFK, Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, who for all intents and purposes is a Russian agent. They’re woefully underqualified and underprepared. Now I see that when Trump talks about draining the swamp, those are just the words of a slick-talking fake.

He isn’t targeting the right people to fire. I thought he was talking about going after the corrupt officials in DC. Instead, he’s going after federal workers, not politicians. I don’t understand what Trump and Musk have against those people. They were hired for their competence, and had skills relevant to the jobs they were doing. They’re dismantling agencies without even understanding how they function. It just seems so haphazard; there’s no thought behind any of it.

Why did Trump become friends with Russia while asking Ukraine to accept conditions no American would accept? And why is Trump picking fights with his allies, starting trade wars? It seems he’s an anarchist who wants to burn down the US and start again from the ashes. It all seems so irrational.

What really breaks my heart is that after all this madness there are still people who rationalize what Trump’s doing, who say he’s doing the right thing.

When I look at Trump now I see an African strongman: despotic, nepotic, corrupt, and breaking laws with impunity. In Nigeria, politicians flat out ignore the law. I never thought in my wildest dreams that it would happen in a country like the US.

                                                                                                                                                                          — March 2025