Is there family drama aboard Boston’s Trump Train?

Joao Zezito DePina, the longtime Boston activist turned increasingly right-wing political provocateur, spent several days publicly attacking Boston City Councilor At-Large Erin Murphy, a politician DePina says he previously supported and helped fund.

He accused Murphy of betraying him. He warned that “some white people” will smile in your face while stabbing you in the back. And, after tagging Murphy, he publicly asked for the contact information of a “voodoo doctor.”

Then came the plot twist.

DePina apologized after realizing Murphy had already texted him offering to meet.

The bizarre episode offers a glimpse into the volatility of Boston’s emerging anti-Wu political coalition, and into DePina's dramatic political transformation.

“I thought she had my back”

The feud appears to stem from a May encounter at City Hall.

On July 28, DePina posted video involving Murphy and a Boston police officer, accusing the councilor of failing to defend him during a discussion about his behavior.

“This is a women I’ve supported and funded her campaign,” DePina wrote. “I thought she had my back the way I had hers.”

The important part wasn't simply that DePina was angry with Murphy.

By his own account, she had been an ally.

That quickly changed.

Days later, DePina posted:

“Some white people will smile in you face while stabbing you in the back!”

He tagged Murphy directly underneath.

Another post accused Murphy of not keeping her word and “being messy.”

Then things got stranger.

Enter the “voodoo doctor”

DePina posted:

“I can’t wait to come across a good voodoo doctor.”

He tagged Murphy, Mayor Michelle Wu and others.

When a commenter said she knew “a good one in Brockton but costly,” DePina responded:

“give me his or her information because it will be worth every penny!”

DePina didn't explain precisely what he intended by the comment. But it came amid his public attacks on Murphy, whom he tagged in the post.

And then, suddenly, the feud was over.

He forgot about the text

Days after attacking Murphy, DePina acknowledged that she had, in fact, attempted to contact him.

He had apparently overlooked the message.

“I disregarded or forgot a text” from Murphy offering to sit down, DePina wrote, before apologizing for his “statements and misunderstanding.”

So DePina went from describing Murphy as someone he supported, to accusing her of betrayal, to invoking race, to seeking a “voodoo doctor,” only to discover that Murphy had already tried to meet with him.

Apparently, everybody's cool again.

A much bigger transformation

The episode is more notable because DePina himself has undergone a dramatic political transformation.

In 2021, DePina was a Democratic ward committee member running for Boston City Council on issues including affordable housing, racial equity and police reform.

Today?

DePina recently posted:

“I think It’s time for me to switch to the republican platform!”

His rhetoric has transformed along with his politics.

DePina's social-media feed is now filled with confrontations with politicians and community figures, including people he previously considered allies.

In May, he mocked Councilor Sharon Durkan's weight and suggested it was a side effect of Zepbound.

He has criticized Councilor Ed Flynn despite saying the two had “no issues.”

And several Black women in Boston's political, business, and community circles have publicly accused DePina–himself the founder of a local small business, JD Florist–of degrading, intimidating or abusive behavior.

Those accusations remain allegations, but they show that concerns about DePina's confrontational style predate the Murphy feud.

In November 2024, Dani Johnson, owner of SparkFM who, as we reported earlier, is on the precipice of owning her own real estate, accused DePina of showing up at an event where she was speaking, degrading and belittling her, and saying that she and her child should die. Johnson said she filed a police report.

“I will NOT protect a black man that continues to torment and harass black women,” Johnson wrote.

In October 2025, Toy Burton alleged that DePina called her after she liked a Facebook comment criticizing him, called her a “B****,” said “FU” and hung up.

DePina subsequently posted publicly about Burton:

“hope all your finances are in order! All the grants and federal money you got!”

Another community member, Shanta Simmons-Farley, publicly asked DePina:

“Now let's talk about abusing Black women in our community.. why do you keep doing it?”

And Jacques Dady Jean, writing in July 2025, accused DePina of verbally abusing and intimidating a Haitian woman. Jean said he had previously considered DePina “a brother” and offered him a warning that now seems especially relevant:

“You can’t make enemies of everyone and expect peace.”

The underlying accusations have not all been independently verified by NEL and should be understood as the accounts of the people making them. But taken together with DePina's own posts, they reveal a recurring pattern of public relationships deteriorating into intensely personal conflict.

It should be noted that New England Ledger reviewed a portion of DePina's public posts and found no comparable public apology to any of the Black women–elected or otherwise–who have accused him of degrading, intimidating or abusive behavior.

Trouble aboard the Trump Train?

That's what makes the Murphy feud politically interesting.

Boston's anti-Wu political coalition brings together conservatives, Trump supporters, public-safety hawks, disaffected Democrats and anti-establishment personalities who don't necessarily share the same politics.

Sometimes their strongest bond appears to be who they're against.

But an alliance built around common enemies can get complicated when allies start becoming enemies themselves.

Murphy is a perfect example.

According to DePina, he supported her.

He helped fund her.

He thought she had his back.

Then he decided she didn't.

Within days, Murphy went from ally to alleged backstabber to the target of a “voodoo doctor” post — and then right back to someone DePina was willing to sit down with.

All because of a text message he says he forgot.

Maybe everyone aboard Boston's Trump Train is headed in the same general direction.

The question is whether they can make it to the next stop without turning on each other.