Katy Tur Gloats Over 'Cult-Like' MAGA Members Defecting

On Thursday's The Moment show, MS NOW host Katy Tur gloated over some MAGA members deciding to defect from the pro-Donald Trump movement as she had on reporter David Noriega to discuss a piece in which he depicted some Trump supporters as "cult-like" and in need of a support group to recover.

Tur played up the notion that a substantial number of Trump supporters were switching sides as he she introduced the segment:

What once seemed unbelievable is now starting to be believable. The MAGA faithful are leaving the movement. We've seen that happen in a number of high profile cases recently, and it's true for many of the president's hardcore supporters who are disillusioned and let down by what they say were empty promises and conspiracies.

After playing a clip of a former Trump supporter explaining why he has been disappointed in the President, Tur brought aboard Noriega and introduced the word "cult" into the conversation: "Joining us, MS NOW reporter David Noriega. I want to show that billboard again: 'Thinking of Leaving the Movement?' It's almost like, 'Thinking of leaving this cult? We can help you.'"

Before conceding that MAGA overall is not a cult, Noriega began:

Yeah, that's exactly what it is. Look, when I found out that there existed a support group for people who were leaving MAGA, I was very skeptical because I've reported on cults before, and this group adopted a lot of cults language -- deradicalization language.

He added:

And MAGA is not, in fact, a cult. It is the prevailing political ideology of the United States, right? It's a -- it's a -- it's a political movement. And voting for Donald Trump does not mean that you belong to a cult. But what I learned from talking to these folks that you see on the screen right now, or what I was reminded of rather, is that there are corners of MAGA that are in fact, very cult like.

The MS NOW reporter then introduced a clip of an ex-MAGA woman who claimed that Trump supporters want to stop women from voting:

NORIEGA: So I want to play a little bit of the interview that I did with one of the people in that group. Her name is Stephania. She and her husband were very evangelical. They were part of a very tight knit church community, and that led her, led them as a couple down some dark internet rabbit holes. Listen to this.

STEPHANIA MESSINA, LEAVING MAGA: I became heavily indoctrinated into tradwife culture. Household voting was something myself and my fellow tradwives in the church. We were all absolutely fine with household voting and that.

NORIEGA: So, just to clarify, for people who don't know, household voting means a woman does not vote.

MESSINA: So the Save Act, in essence, is to take that right away from women.

Noriega then added: 

So, just to clarify, the Save Act does not say disenfranchise women, but it does make it much harder for women who get married and change their names to vote. So some people in that movement actually do see it as a back door to -- to household voting, as they refer to it.

As the two discussed misinformation believed by MAGA supporters, Tur jumped in to hint that the COVID lab leak theory is not credible in spite of all the reporting to the contrary.

It took until near the end of the segment before it was revealed that the support group Noriega spoke with only has a few dozen members.

Transcript follows:

MS NOW's The Moment

June 26, 2026

2:51 p.m. Eastern

KATY TUR: What once seemed unbelievable is now starting to be believable. The MAGA faithful are leaving the movement. We've seen that happen in a number of high profile cases recently, and it's true for many of the president's hardcore supporters who are disillusioned and let down by what they say were empty promises and conspiracies.

RICH LOGIS, LEAVING MAGA: You know, I had believed that when Trump ran that he would be somebody who would be different as an outsider, I -- I think that he was correct in pointing out a lot of the flaws of our political system. It just turned out, unfortunately, that he didn't try to solve those or remedy those ills, that he exacerbated them.

TUR: Joining us, MS NOW reporter David Noriega. I want to show that billboard again: "Thinking of Leaving the Movement?" It's almost like, "Thinking of leaving this cult? We can help you."

DAVID NORIEGA: Yeah, that's exactly what it is. Look, when I found out that there existed a support group for people who were leaving MAGA, I was very skeptical because I've reported on cults before, and this group adopted a lot of cults language -- deradicalization language. And MAGA is not, in fact, a cult. It is the prevailing political ideology of the United States, right? It's a -- it's a -- it's a political movement. And voting for Donald Trump does not mean that you belong to a cult. But what I learned from talking to these folks that you see on the screen right now, or what I was reminded of rather, is that there are corners of MAGA that are in fact, very cult like --

TUR: Yeah.

NORIEGA: -- right? You know, everyone who voted for Donald Trump in the last election --

TUR: No, that's not what you're saying.

NORIEGA: Exactly. And there are specifically online cultures -- subcultures that are closely aligned with MAGA that are, in fact, very cult like. So I want to play a little bit of the interview that I did with one of the people in that group. Her name is Stefania. She and her husband were very evangelical. They were part of a very tight knit church community, and that led her, led them as a couple down some dark internet rabbit holes. Listen to this.

STEPHANIA MESSINA, LEAVING MAGA: I became heavily indoctrinated into tradwife culture. Household voting was something myself and my fellow tradwives in the church. We were all absolutely fine with household voting and that.

NORIEGA: So, just to clarify, for people who don't know, household voting means a woman does not vote.

MESSINA: So the Save Act, in essence, is to take that right away from women.

NORIEGA: So, just to clarify, the Save Act does not say disenfranchise women, but it does make it much harder for women who get married and change their names to vote. So some people in that movement actually do see it as a back door to -- to household voting, as they refer to it. So this group exists to provide support for people who are extracting themselves -- not just deciding that they're going to vote for somebody different, but actually extracting themselves from these parts of the MAGA movement that are, in fact, very sort of totalizing in the way they dominate someone's worldview and someone's social and family life, right.

And what they talk about is that leaving those groups can be as hard as leaving a cult. There are exit costs that involves, you know, jettisoning important personal relationships, relationships with people as close as your father or mother or your children or, you know, one degree further out, your church, your social community. And what the people who founded this group decided to do was say, "Well, look, okay, so MAGA is a community. Let's give these people a different community that they can turn to.

TUR: Is it just a handful of people? Do you have numbers on there?

NORIEGA: They told us that it's several dozen. You know, it's -- so that makes it a small group. But I think its significance is the resonance that it has with people. And what some of these folks that I met with told me is that they have realized that more people in their lives than they realized were kind of teetering on the edge in this way and needed something that they could perceive as an exit route, right?

Especially because -- and this is another thing I talked to them about -- when you've been convinced for many years of a certain truth, and all of a sudden you're presented with a situation where you're questioning that truth -- and again, not just an opinion, not but -- but like a whole, a fully self-contained and coherent sort of truth --

TUR: Worldview.

NORIEGA: -- worldview that tells you that the 2020 election was stolen, that COVID, you know, wasn't real, or at least that you, that, like -- I don't know exactly what they believe about COVID. I don't exactly remember. But --

TUR: It wasn't as dangerous as people said --

NORIEGA: Yeah.

TUR: -- or it was manipulated in a lab or made by Fauci.

NORIEGA: Exactly. And one thing that was interesting is that a lot of them had these moments of kind of questioning or even awakening when, for whatever reason, they were caused to diversify their media, right? So one of them was shown a PBS documentary on January 6th by her new husband, and she was like, "Hang on a second -- is this stuff true? Like, did this happen?" And they said, "Yes, in fact, it is true." And then you can sort of feel your world crumbling beneath you in that kind of situation, your identity. And that's what a group like this is for.

TUR: And it's more possible now because there's so many information silos where you don't actually see what happened on January 6th. You're not privy to those images and the reporting because you -- you live in a very specific, very contained and very tightly controlled algorithm. David Noriega, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate the reporting as always.