Thelife- Danny Collins, a former Trump fan, shared why he stopped supporting him.
- He said being a Trump supporter made him realize "how horrible of a person" he was.
A former Trump fan has gone viral after explaining why he stopped supporting the former president in a TikTok.
Danny Collins said he used to agree with Trump's words, then realized they reflected the "worst" of himself.
Collins responded to another creator who was asking Trump's critics why they "hate him so much."
"It's simple for me," Collins said in his video, which has been viewed over a million times. "Because he made me realize how horrible of a person I really was."
Collins said he "drank the juice" and "joined the cult."
"I was on the Trump train, baby," he said.
@dannyfcollins #fyp #mytruth #truestory #love #humanity ♬ original sound - Danny Collins
Collins said when Trump would speak about building a wall around Mexico and keeping immigrants out of the US and that Muslim people were a threat to the US, he agreed.
"All of those internalized beliefs, the worst of me that I used to keep suppressed, he brought to the surface," he said. "He showed me how much of a racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, misogynistic, woman-hating, Christian white nationalist I truly was."
He said he felt Trump's slogan, Make America Great Again, with "every fiber" of his being.
"And he made me believe as a white, straight Christian male, that I was under attack, that I was being discriminated against in America today," he said.
Collins said he was an inmate in the Florida Department of Corrections for 10 years and was never tempted to join a gang until he was convinced that "the white man was under attack."
In 2021, he was an inmate at the New River Correctional Institution and was "cheering" on the crowd during the January 6 US Capitol attack while in the TV room. He said at that time, he believed people were taking their country back.
Collins said he was released in June 2021 and had "every intention of telling the world how great Trump is."
"You know what I hate most about Donald Trump? Is that I actually believed the lie," Collins said. "I believed that he actually cared about me, the poor, common folk. I hate that he brought out the worst in me and everybody else that I was closely associated with."
Collins started to change his perspective thanks to a friend he made in prison, who was a Black Muslim man. He realized that everything he identified in Trump was reflected in something in himself.
"He didn't make me be a bad person — he just emboldened me to be the person I already was," he said. "Donald Trump appeals to the worst of America. In 2024, we need to bring out the best of America."
Collins' video hit a nerve with thousands of people, who thanked him for his "self-awareness" and "humility."
"Sir, this level of self awareness, personal growth and humility is something most people never achieve," one person wrote. "Much respect. Thank you for making this video."
Another said the video was "the single most inspiring thing I've seen all year."
"We can all do better," they said. "Bless you for your journey."