‘Woke 1’ Never Really Went Away
Progressives may be less forthcoming, but they haven’t changed their beliefs since the mass lunacy of 2020.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has popularized a new way for lefty Democrats to excuse their ideological excesses of the recent past. “Woke 1 was crazy,” she told ABC News on Sunday. The possible 2028 contender made the comment to excuse previous extreme positions taken by the Wisconsin socialist politician Francesca Hong, dismissing them as all part of some youthful indiscretion. Hong and the rest of the left have now grown up and aren’t so crazy, we are told.
The main problem with AOC’s statement is its past tense. Woke 1 is still around and just as crazy as ever. Leftists have just gotten better at tailoring their radical positions to the public. Only fools would think the left has ditched Woke 1.
Wokeism has been evident in many Democratic primaries, if you look deeply enough. Wisconsin’s Democratic governor primary, for example, does look at first like a rejection of woke: In spite of Hong distancing herself from her woke past, she still lost to a respectable moderate. But this is a shallow interpretation.
Hong didn’t really disavow her past. A month ago, she still supported defunding police and abolishing prisons as an “aspirational goal.” Hong’s own campaign told Fox News that she hadn’t truly moved on from her controversial views on the topic: “Her values haven’t changed, but the way she talks about this issue has.”
Hong later offered a mealy-mouthed statement trying to explain her past support for defunding the police. She claimed she doesn’t believe in abolishing police and no longer believes law enforcement represents white supremacy. But she left enough room in her statements to let supporters know that she still wanted to restrain police and potentially cut their funding.
While Hong has complained about literally every American holiday, she tried to laugh it off as just her being a “curmudgeon.” In Hong’s answer after first being asked about her desire to cancel “racist” Thanksgiving, she said that the holiday is “painful” for many. After facing more criticism, she decided to say it was her favorite holiday.
While she tried to change her tune about abolishing police and Thanksgiving, she didn’t relent on wanting to eliminate immigration enforcement. She was very open on the campaign trail about her support for abolishing ICE and turning Wisconsin into a sanctuary state.
Her opponent was also pretty woke. Crowley is hostile to ICE and would like the Badger State to curb immigration enforcement. He’s also used woke rhetoric to police his critics. Crowley, who is black, pulled the race card a week before the election: “I’ve worked extremely hard to be where I am today and so when people try to call me the establishment, I look at that as a slur, particularly as an African-American candidate,” he told reporters.
In 2020, Crowley, as Milwaukee County executive, called racism a public health crisis. He’s also fervently advocated for DEI. He’s hardly a rebuke of woke.
If Woke 1 was so crazy, which positions were wrong to take? “Abolish ICE” is even more popular today, with both “moderate” and DSA candidates entertaining the idea. No Democrat is rebuking DEI or the idea of reparations. No Democrat is apologizing for pushing gender theory and white privilege training onto kids. The only discernible change is that they no longer openly call for the end of policing. They now use more palatable language on the issue—while still backing soft-on-crime policies.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is the master of creating artificial distance between himself and Woke 1. He campaigned on bread-and-butter issues instead of on an Ibram X. Kendi wishlist. It’s how he became mayor. But he still supports all the same standard woke issues. He’s spending taxpayer dollars supporting “gender-affirming” care. He still wants to tax white New Yorkers more than other residents. He wants to abolish ICE. He’s open to reparations for slavery. And he unveiled his own radical “racial equity plan” earlier this year.
The one non-woke thing about Mamdani is that he isn’t pushing to cut the police budget.
However, the Democratic Socialists of America—of which he is a part—officially aims to abolish prisons and the police. Their candidates have enough freedom to take a different line, but on every other issue, the group remains woke as ever.
Even in primaries where both candidates try to get away from woke, it creeps back up. In the hotly contested Texas Democratic primary for Senate, Jasmine Crockett’s supporters accused James Talarico of encouraging white supremacy. There was zero evidence of this, and no one with a functioning brain would see Talarico as a Klansman. Talarico, a supposed moderate, has a long record of apologizing for his whiteness, among other woke statements. Even in red Texas, Democrats can only field woke candidates to take on Republicans.
The 2028 presidential primary will likely revive many aspects of Woke 1. Candidates will vie to be the most anti-ICE. They won’t shy away from defending DEI and trans rights. Many will go on record entertaining reparations. And a few will probably “share their pronouns,” as woke progressives call the strange practice. There will probably be very few differences between the timbre of 2028 debates and Woke 1.
There’s an incredibly insulting aspect to AOC’s “Woke 1 was crazy” statement. It dismisses responsibility for the mass insanity on the part of those who made it possible, as though wokeness was a fun party that got out of hand. Kids will be kids and no one should hold anyone responsible for the mess. It was no big deal! And anyway, they’ve learned their lesson.
But Woke 1 was no harmless act. It hurt people. It made crime skyrocket. It opened our borders to millions of illegal migrants. It taught white students to hate themselves. It convinced some students to change their gender and permanently damage their body. It encouraged leading lawmakers and celebrities to openly hate America for being racist, sexist, and homophobic.
It was not some harmless party that got out of hand. It was not just some loopy rhetoric of irresponsible kids. Woke 1 became policy and ruined the country. And laughing about it doesn’t change that fact.
Especially when Democrats can’t explain how they’ve changed. Their newfound rhetorical carefulness shouldn’t convince voters they’ve left the lunacy behind. It’s a cynical ploy to win over voters, all while not taking any responsibility for the ruin wrought by wokeness.
Woke 1 didn’t go away. If anything, it’s likely to be AOC’s 2028 platform.
The post ‘Woke 1’ Never Really Went Away appeared first on The American Conservative.