Ashley St. Clair was a rising star in the MAGA movement, a true believer who dropped out of college to join what she now describes as “a cult” populated with “degenerate” grifters whose north stars are wealth, power, and relevancy.
Today, she’s an outspoken critic of the group she helped build, appearing on podcasts to spill tea on how MAGA creates hateful top-down talking points echoed by social media minions, the hypocrisy of its allegedly “Christian” adherents, the deranged white Supremacy of Stephen Miller, and the cruelty of Elon Musk, her baby’s father, who allegedly bragged to her about using lasers and technology to influence the 2024 election.
He exploited an “anomaly in the matrix,” according to St. Clair. A source close to Musk, who honestly was probably Musk himself, responded by saying he was simply using a “three-dimensional chess metaphor” that St. Clair couldn’t understand.
St. Clair stands by her claim.
The first time I met Ashley was in NYC for a Piers Morgan panel during the week of the 2024 Presidential election. Behind the scenes, she was a friendly young mom playing with her kid. When the camera went on, she became a dutiful MAGA bot repeating all the cliché talking points. Her ascent included joining the staff of The Babylon Bee, serving as a brand ambassador for Turning Point USA, and writing a transphobic children’s book, Elephants Are Not Birds.
Over the years, she became more skeptical of MAGA and her role in it, but says it was hard to leave a group that had provided her community, validation, and economic stability. Also, she says many women like her who are still very prominent are afraid to leave due to fear of intimidation, threats, and violence. St. Clair says she has refused to sign a $40 million NDA offered by Musk and has instead chosen to speak out with the hopes this will encourage more young people to leave MAGA and make amends for the harms they’ve caused.
She joins The Left Hook, and we get into all of it.
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Thank you Ellie Leonard, Caro Henry, Robin Payes, Dena Eakles, LeftieProf, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ashley St. Clair! Join me for my next live video in the app.
