One moment I was ordering a latte. The next, I was a free thinker.
As a former Democrat, I understand exactly how the Left thinks. I was one of them for most of my life—well, until about three and a half years ago. However, that’s basically a lifetime in political terms. I voted for Obama in 2008. I attended a Bernie rally in 2020, although I left after twenty minutes because parking was expensive. Nevertheless, I was *in it*. I knew the language. I believed the lies.
Then came the moment of my former Democrat awakening.
It was a Tuesday in Austin. I walked into a coffee shop—one of those places with oat milk and staff members who look like they’re auditioning for something. I ordered a medium coffee. The barista, who had blue hair and a nose ring shaped like a crescent moon, said: “Do you mean a *grande*?”
No. I meant a medium.
The Red Pill Was Served Hot
She then asked if I wanted to “add a pronoun pin” to my order for fifty cents, with proceeds going to a local collective. I said no thank you. She *sighed*. She looked at me like I had just revealed something about myself. And you know what? She was right. I had revealed something: I was done.
In that moment, seventeen years of Democratic voting dissolved like foam in an overpriced cappuccino. I walked out of that coffee shop a different man. I didn’t even wait for my medium coffee. I drove home, canceled three podcasts I’d been subscribing to, and started my journey.
Some people find their awakening through books or documentaries. As a result of my coffee shop experience, I found mine through a barista’s sigh. Many former Democrats describe a single moment when everything clicked. The Left doesn’t want you to have that moment. Thus, they control the coffee shops.
What The Left Doesn’t Want You To Know
Here’s what my years as a Democrat taught me about how they operate: they use language as a weapon. I know this because I used to do it too. For instance, I once corrected someone’s use of the word “crazy.” I’m not proud of that. In fact, I cringe when I think about who I used to be—which was basically who I am now, but agreeing with different people.
The beautiful thing about my former Democrat awakening is that it gave me clarity. Additionally, it gave me a platform. I now spend my time helping others see what I saw in that coffee shop. My ex-girlfriend says I “talk about politics too much” and that I’ve “completely changed,” but that’s exactly what someone still trapped in the matrix would say. Moreover, she still shops at Whole Foods, so consider the source.
My conversion was instantaneous and total. I went from one set of absolute certainties to a completely different set of absolute certainties, which proves I’m capable of independent thought. As my colleague Brent Flagstone has noted, doing your own research means finding sources that confirm what you already feel.
I felt something in that coffee shop. I still feel it. And I’m never going back to who I was—a guy who agreed with baristas instead of being offended by them.
The Left created me. Now I’m their worst nightmare: someone who went to one Bernie rally and will never stop talking about it.
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