Pam Hemphill on Leaving MAGA and Making Amends

Cults, Culture & Coercion with Dr. Steve Hassan

Dr. Steven Hassan

Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Education

4.7 • 843 Ratings

🗓️ 2 March 2026

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Pam Hemphill has been fighting MAGA propaganda since the day she realized it nearly killed her. A retired substance abuse counselor cancer survivor and one of the most visible former participants of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol Pam served a 60-day federal prison sentence for her role that day. Her decision to reject Donald Trump’s presidential pardon and become a prominent activist exposing the cult dynamics of the MAGA movement makes her story truly remarkable. I was honored to have Pam join me again for a conversation about her ongoing activism. She is one of the few January 6th participants who not only accepted full responsibility for her actions but rejected Trump’s presidential pardon after his inauguration. Since her release she has received recognition from Mike Pence testified before Congress and become a courageous voice pushing back against the propaganda that fueled the attack on American democracy. More and more true believers are leaving MAGA and I wanted to highlight her activism. She continues to go to protests against ICE. It was an interesting interview because we got into techniques and strategies for communicating with those still in the thrall of the Cult of Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Dr. Steve Hassan.
0:05.0	Welcome back to cult's culture and coercion,
0:08.1	the podcast where we explore the psychology
0:10.7	of cult influence, manipulation,
0:13.8	and how to subvert mind control
0:16.0	and protect your freedom of mind.
0:18.5	Before we begin, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, like this
0:23.0	video, share it with someone that might benefit from this conversation. It really
0:27.9	helps support my work. Today, I'm super excited. I'm joined by Pam Hempel, cancer survivor,
0:35.7	me too, by the way, and retired substance abuse counselor who was
0:39.7	swept up in the MAGA movement and ended up at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
0:45.9	She served the 60-day federal prison sentence for her role, and what happened next changed
0:51.6	everything.
0:53.1	Pam saw through the lies, recognized the coercive control she'd been under,
0:57.8	and actually rejected Trump's presidential pardon after his inauguration that he granted to other J6 people.
1:05.9	And I'll add, Mike Pence wrote you a thank you letter, which was awesome.
1:10.3	We'll talk about that.
1:12.1	And now you're speaking out, exposing propaganda, gaslighting cult influences that fueled
1:18.2	this attack on American democracy that continues.
1:22.2	You're an activist.
1:23.6	You're one of my heroes.
1:25.4	Thank you as an ex-Maga person for being a righteous, good human being.
	...

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