Madison Ford, February 14th, 2025

Doris Lanzkron-Tamarazo: I'm Doris Lanzkron-Tamarazo. It's February 14th, 2025, and I'm here with, please say your name.

Madison Ford: Madison Ford.

DLT: Can you please spell your name?

MF: M-A-D-I-S-O-N F-O-R-D.

DLT: Alright, thank you. Where do you live?

MF: Currently I'm living in Birmingham, Michigan.

DLT: And how long have you lived there?

MF: Basically my whole life. During school, I lived here on Wayne State's campus, and also in downtown Detroit. And then I've also lived in Eastpointe as well, after school.

DLT: And when did you first hear about COVID-19?

MF: Let's see. Probably— I remember being at my job, I was just, I just got promoted to be a manager at this smoothie place, health food store, called Beyond Juice. And, I, yeah, I remember hearing about it at work, and I remember just a lot of, a lot of confusion. And I was, I think I was just on the, I was just on the line making food for people and making salads. [Laughs] And I just remember my coworkers talking about, oh, what's going to happen? Is it going to be, is it really that serious? You know. So, I think I heard about it in February of 2019, or, yeah, February 2020.

DLT: And were you initially worried?

MF: Honestly, honestly, there was, that when President Trump shut down everything, March 13th, Friday the 13th, I remember taking it seriously for about two weeks. I remember Fauci came out and he was talking about, you know, two weeks to stop the spread. And I remember that I did take it seriously for about two weeks. And then once people started getting it that I was working with, I started to take it less and less seriously. [Laughs]

DLT: And when you were concerned about it, what steps did you take in response?

MF: For that initial, you know, when everything started shutting down— I mean, I just, I was, I mean, I took the masks seriously for about two weeks. And then after that, I started to slowly and slowly become less and less worried about it.

DLT: And why exactly did you become less worried over time?

MF: It just seemed like I was around all these people that were getting it, and I, I wasn't. And the people that had it, I only remember a few people that had it, that got it, I only remember a few people actually getting really, really sick. And I think it was because of the lifestyle they were living, you know, heavy drinkers or overweight people. And, I mean, it just seemed like everyone that, everyone that was around me that was getting it, most of them were totally fine. So, I played by the rules for two weeks, [Laughing] basically. And, um, everybody was scared, and I've never wanted to live my life in fear. So.

DLT: And were you in school at the time of the pandemic, or just at a job?

MF: I was out of school for about a year and a half. And COVID kind of peeled the onion back of my reality. And it kind of made me see things the way that I see them today. And a lot of people, I feel like— I just didn't, I just didn't really believe, I didn't believe it. So I was the one that was on the front lines. I was the one that was the only person that wanted to do deliveries. I was the only person that wanted to talk to the customers. I was the one that was facing it head-on, and I just didn't want my life to change.

DLT: And how was your job affected by the pandemic?

MF: Not at all. We actually got a permit to become a grocery store. And we filed— Well, first I had to get a permit in order to work. We had—

[Recording paused]

MF: But yeah, working out all my nerves. I guess I was a little, I guess I was a little nervous, but I'm slowly adapting back. Well, I'm slowly adapting to not being so nervous on being recorded. But my job wasn't affected at all. I was actually, we got a permit to become a grocery store. And so, we were a health food restaurant. And we got the ability to stay open, to be classified as an essential business. And I was given the option to not, to not work. I was given the option to take unemployment. And I chose to stay because I just didn't want anything to change. I had, my girlfriend at the time, we were living together. And I didn't want that to, I didn't want that to end. And so I did whatever I could to provide for myself and try and stay happy and live a normal life.

DLT: And did you change your activities at all? Did you pick up any new activities during the pandemic like many people did?

MF: No, I just, I was working really, I was working really hard. And in terms of, like, new hobbies or anything, no. I was trying my best to work as hard as I possibly could in order to live the lifestyle that I was already living. And I didn't want, I didn't want that to change. So in terms of new hobbies or anything, I mean, like I said, it just kind of exposed me to the world around me. And I think the only thing that changed was I did more— I have a very, I have a science degree, and I did more research about the world around me and got more involved in— I was always involved with scholarly articles and things like that. But trying to peel the onion of the reality that, and the cards that I was given. And so that's all that really changed was that I would research the world more and trying to find proof and evidence of my beliefs and backing things up in that regard.

DLT: Could you tell me a little bit more about this research?

MF: So, essentially backing up to being at Wayne State, I got a tour in my lab safety class in 2013, 2014. I got a tour of the Science Building at Wayne State. And a lot of people don't know this, but Wayne State is a Division I research college. And in my lab safety class—they probably don't do this anymore—I got a tour of the underground tunnels of Wayne State. The whole campus is connected with these tunnels and the Science Building and the Chemistry Building right where State Hall is, essentially. And I went there, and I saw lots of extensive laboratory research being conducted. I saw a lot of people in hazmat suits, and they were essentially conducting gain-of-function research. Messing around with viruses, trying to make things more contagious. I don't have 100% proof of that, but I did see a lot of hazmat, a lot of things being done in isolated chambers and going through rooms within rooms. And so, the research that I've been doing is just, some of it was finding that the whole country, we have about 100 gain-of-function laboratories. And there's about, on average, I mean two in every state. And it just blew my mind, not only seeing that, but then applying that, that these things are everywhere, and that this lab leak theory ended up being true. And seeing that, having that come to fruition, it just kind of blew my mind. I started in getting out of the MAGA cult. I was really into, I drank the Kool-Aid, so to speak, and now I'm, I would say, more radical than ever. I thought that Donald Trump was going to get us out of the wars, and I've had so many friends die from drug overdoses. And I thought that was going to be the beginning, you know. I thought that the Trump administration was going to start putting an end to all the chaos at the border and all that flooding out and coming into our streets. And I thought that was, I thought that was true, and I thought that we were going to expose the, you know, the deep state, drain the swamp. I believed all that and the COVID was the beginning of me seeing that we were being, that everything was a lie.

And Trump was supposed to treat us like Sweden. And we were supposed to stay open. And if you wanted to make that decision to leave your house, that should have been up to you. And he didn't and we were locked down. I started seeing that this is going to get worse and worse and worse. The children didn't see faces. Drug addicts didn't get the treatment. And the inflation got so bad because everyone's not working. People are getting unemployment and then the stimulus checks. And it was just painful to see all that. And it started opening my eyes to the reality that we're all living in. And so, the research is that everything started becoming clearer and clearer. And I was, I realized that. Went on a tangent there. But that, in a way I'm thankful for. I started to, when I was at work, started developing these stabbing sensations in my gut. And I went to the back of the restaurant in the fetal position and was crying, crying. And I got taken to the emergency room because my girlfriend's mother said that I have appendicitis. And while I was there, everyone around me was coughing, coughing on me. Everyone was testing, everyone was testing positive for COVID. And I'm there at the hospital around all these sick people. And you're not supposed to know what people are going to the hospital for. But at the Detroit Medical Center, they, at the time, I went there and they said all the, you know, when I went there, people would say what they're in the hospital, what they're going in for. And I heard all of that, and I just didn't want to, I didn't want to believe that this was as serious as the media said it was. you know? There was Operation Mockingbird, which is essentially the media saying the same thing on all the stations. And then you had Operation Warp Speed, and this vaccine was not being properly vetted. And it just stunk like high heaven. And all these people, you know, no judgment for anything about decisions. But the vaccine wasn't, did not go through all the trials.

And you hear about, you know, the Great Reset and the Fourth Turning. And Donald Trump played the simulation, the Great Reset at the World Economic Forum. He was there. He was the one that played this card the way that he played it. And Klaus Schwab, you know, leading the whole thing and Fauci telling us that a cloth mask is going to do something. It's not. It didn't do anything. It made people more scared. And these babies not seeing faces. These people in school not being able to see each other, socialization. And now look at Gen Alpha. They're cooked. Gen Alpha is really, I mean, the education that these people are receiving was so terrible then and they're just getting bypassed. These people didn't realize what they were doing. People becoming more addicted to their drugs and not being able to receive help. So many people just lost. And you're seeing it now with these children. When I go to do substitute teaching, they're so behind. And we’re going to be dealing with this for years and years. Because you had kids that are, you know, with George W. Bush, with No Child Left Behind, they're just getting pushed through the system. And no one's doing anything about it. We should be working way harder on education of the children. Because it just seems like they're all lost and behind. And so, in terms of the research, I mean, just seeing the, hearing about the simulations that they do at the World Economic Forum. I mean, it's all, everything's all planned out. It's not a coincidence about this cryptocurrency. It's all a plan. They want to have it be a cashless society. And there's a quote from it. You can look it up. It's like, you'll own nothing and be happy about it. You'll have nothing and be happy about it. The whole thing about, everything's going to be tracked. Everything is all calculated. And for people to think that Donald Trump is this messiah, this savior. He was the one that was a part of all of this with the World Economic Forum. All of it was calculated. They have these simulations where they practice all this. You know, the Great Reset is real. That's a real thing. All these big leaders, the, you know, the Clintons, the Bushes, the Bush dynasty. They all go to these conferences where they talk about us as members of the society, of the world, like we're cattle. And hearing all that, seeing all that, everything was played out. But it got me out of the MAGA cult.

DLT: So you would say that COVID, the management of the pandemic, is what helped change your perspective on the world.

MF: I would say so. If Operation Warp Speed didn't happen— People forget the vaccine is Trump's vaccine. And the handling of that, bypassing the pharmaceutical industries and the trials, him lying to us and saying that we're going to be open, two weeks to stop the spread. Fauci not admitting that gain-of-function research is even a thing. And this lab leak in China. I mean, they were saying all this crazy stuff that, you know, oh, it's two weeks to stop the spread. And, like I said, I played the rules, but not staying open as a society, and seeing everything crumble around me, really peeled the onion back. Seeing the layers and the lies and the deception really made me see clearly.

DLT: And what lessons do you hope were learned through this crisis for the rest of the world?

MF: The impact on children. I mean, this, this pandemic, it wasn't like the Spanish flu. When you look at the actuary tables, the mortality rates, babies, healthy people, in the Spanish flu, babies and healthy people were dying. And we didn't see that. It was people with, on average, 2 .7 comorbidities. The people— It's just that I don't think we understood what was going to happen when you shut the world down. And if people were given the choice, I think the world would have been a lot different. We didn't know what was going to happen with all this remote work and all that. And it ruined so much. So many people are behind. And I just think that you can't just listen to one doctor, and anybody with a dissenting view was shut down. And they weren't— People didn't, people weren't, people were just listening to Fauci, the highest-paid federal employee, higher payment than the president, which is illegal. And I just hope people don't shut down all viewpoints like they did. I mean, if you questioned the vaccine, if you questioned taking care of yourself, I mean, people need to hear, you need to hear more than one perspective. And to give this so much power to one person, it's unbelievable. Trump let it all happen. That's really rough.

So, I just think that when the next pandemic happens, that we understand the ramifications, and how it can— The sickness, yeah, that can ruin people's lives. But the way that we handled it was absolutely terrible. And, you know, the thing was George Floyd. There's so many police issues with Black culture, kind of. I mean it's, I've lost track of the names of everybody. But when you saw how if you're protesting for the right thing, quote unquote, that people will look the other way. I mean, the world was shut down. But if you were protesting in 2020 for that, people just look the other way and let it— But it's peak sickness. Just, I don't know. Everything was handled the exact wrong way that it should have been. We should have been focusing on, make the world healthy, and taking care of yourself. Taking care of your people that have the comorbidities, being there for them. I was the nurse for so many people. Everyone, people that were family members getting sick. And I was always there, and I helped a lot of people. And I'm happy I did that.

DLT: And did you have any final thoughts you wanted to share before we finish up the recording?

MF: I don’t know. I just, I hope that when this happens again, that we learn from our mistakes, and we take care of each other and ourselves. But I don't know if that's ever going to happen. Everyone thinks if you take a pill, take a shot, it's going to cure everything. It doesn't. You have to— It's an OSHA regulation. You can’t save someone if you can't save yourself. You have to take care of yourself so then you can take care of others. And I don't think Generation Alpha will ever forgive us, because once they become adults— I mean the whole everything, all the standards are going to have to be lowered. And I just hope that we don't end up in the— You know there's that, it's a comedy movie, Idiocracy. It's like we're living in it. And that's what I hope doesn't happen. And I hope that people can have an awakening. Maybe not the same as me, but I hope our country can wake up because everyone's sleeping.

DLT: Alright. Thank you very much for your time.