38. Conviction: A Redemption Story with Danny Collins
Flipping Tables
Monte Mader
5.0 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 October 2025
⏱️ 92 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Danny Collins once had everything lined up — talent, ambition, and a fast track toward the major leagues. Danny signed with the Atlanta Braves in 2002 but his life began to unravel. Addiction took hold, leading to 14 felony convictions and years behind bars. In prison, desperate for protection and belonging, Danny joined a white supremacist group — a decision that would define his beliefs, his future MAGA support, but also become a key insight into leaving MAGA and becoming an advocate for prison reform.
But inside those walls, something began to change. He started confronting his own pain, his past, and the hate he had inherited and embraced. Through education, introspection, and the influence of other inmates who faced the racial discrimination of the justice system, Danny began dismantling the ideology that had shaped him.
Today, he stands as an outspoken advocate for racial justice, prison reform, and personal transformation, using his story to expose how fear and indoctrination breed hate — and how courage and empathy can break the cycle.
In this powerful and deeply honest episode, Monte sits down with Danny Collins to talk about addiction, ideology, accountability, and the hard work of redemption.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Daniel or Danny F. Collins was born on April 12, 1983 in Fort Pierce, Florida. |
| 0:07.3 | He would later go on to play college baseball and was drafted by the Atlanta Braves, but that's not what's important for our story. |
| 0:13.2 | Following a motorcycle accident and a subsequent opioid addiction, Danny would then spend 14 years in prison where he became part of a white supremacist group. |
| 0:21.9 | He deeply, deeply supported Donald Trump in his first election, claiming that it would save the white race. |
| 0:28.3 | And now he speaks out against racism, against the injustice of the incarceration system in America, |
| 0:34.6 | and how we've now expanded that to immigrants. |
| 0:38.4 | And this today is a journey about hope and education, learning, transforming yourself from the |
| 0:45.0 | bottom up, professional baseball player, drug addict, homeless, now speaking, being active, |
| 0:52.6 | trying to change hearts and minds. Danny F. Collins today on |
| 0:56.8 | flipping tables. Danny, welcome to flipping tables. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. |
| 1:08.3 | So we were just talking before we got on about the craziness of life and our |
| 1:13.5 | circumstances and surrounding. How are you holding up with everything that's been going on the last |
| 1:17.6 | month? I mean, doing fairly well, all things considered. As I said, it's difficult when you live in a |
| 1:26.2 | community that doesn't align with your your beliefs and values. |
| 1:30.8 | So it's full throttle 24-7. |
| 1:33.3 | Yes. |
| 1:33.8 | It's pretty hot and heavy. |
| 1:35.6 | And I gave a little bit of an intro in the beginning of the episode, but I would love to hear like your story because you have a platform built on changing your mind. And I would, |
| 1:47.3 | I would love to hear about, you know, you getting into MAGA in the first place and then how |
| 1:52.2 | you eventually ended up leaving. Okay. Well, just to give you a little backstory, I used to |
| 1:58.0 | play professional baseball. I grew up in a small town in South |
| 2:01.7 | Florida. I signed with the Atlanta Braves at the age of 19. I played for about three years. |
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