The Left has finally admitted that woke was crazy. Except it has admitted nothing. When Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently laughed and said, “Woke 1 was crazy,” we were supposed to believe the movement had come to its senses.
Apparently, Woke 1.0 was the radical, identity-obsessed insanity of 2020, while Woke 2.0 is a mature movement focused on affordability and working people.
What complete and utter bullshit.
There is no Woke 1.0 and Woke 2.0. There is woke before the polls came in and woke after. Woke with a bullhorn and woke with a pollster. Woke with its tweets posted and woke after its consultants said to delete them.
The people, beliefs and goals have not changed. They simply discovered that Americans were listening and overwhelmingly rejected them.
Look at Wisconsin socialist Francesca Hong. Hong called Thanksgiving a “colonizer holiday” and said it should have been canceled in 1621. She supported abolishing the police, prisons, ICE and the United States Senate. Then she ran for governor. Suddenly, Thanksgiving became her “favorite holiday.” That is not evolution. She just got caught.
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed reportedly scrubbed more than 100 old videos criticizing Fourth of July fireworks, questioning football and suggesting the Second Amendment be replaced with a constitutional right to healthcare. Now he is challenging his Republican opponent to a tackle football game. You just cannot make this up.
Woke 1.0 lectured Americans about football and toxic masculinity. Woke 2.0 schedules a football game after the polling turns bad!
Meanwhile, the Democratic Socialists of America’s current program still calls for “fully abolishing the police and prison system.” It created national committees to abolish ICE and impose an arms embargo on Israel. That is not old rhetoric. That is their agenda today. They still want to abolish police, prisons and ICE. They still attack borders, Israel and America’s constitutional structure. But now they want to talk about grocery prices? Give me a break.
This is not an ideological transformation. It is a marketing campaign. Defunding police became “community investment.” Open borders became “sanctuary.” Illegal immigrants became “newcomers.” Racial discrimination became “equity.” Censorship became “safety.” Anti-Israel hatred became “human rights.” Socialism became “affordability.” Dismantling the Constitution became “democracy reform.”
Woke 2.0 is Woke 1.0 run through a focus group.
Nowhere is the insanity clearer than in the WNBA. The Women’s National Basketball Association exists to provide professional basketball for women. Its collective bargaining agreement says only women may play, but does not define what a woman is. When people asked the obvious question, the league condemned “bad-faith efforts” and announced more discussions about transgender eligibility. Discussing what? It is the Women’s National Basketball Association.
Defining who is/is not a “woman” should not require a task force, labor negotiations and three diversity consultants. It requires a dictionary and a backbone.
But this is about far more than sports or pronouns. It is a fundamental debate over America. Woke ideology says America was founded on oppression, not liberty. Thanksgiving celebrates colonialism. The Founders should be remembered only for their failures. Police enforce white supremacy. Borders are racist. Capitalism is exploitation. Merit is privilege. Faith is bigotry. Disagreement is violence. Criminals are victims. Biology is optional.
Traditional America recognizes that imperfect men created extraordinary principles. Woke America argues that because the men were imperfect, the principles must be destroyed. Traditional America teaches that slavery and segregation betrayed our founding promise. Woke America teaches that slavery and segregation were the promise. That is why statues were torn down, schools renamed and American history rewritten.
It was never about historical accuracy. It was about convincing Americans that their country is unworthy of pride.
The assault on faith is no accident either. America was built on the belief that rights come from God, not government. Woke ideology wants government, activists and self-appointed experts deciding what people may say, believe and recognize as true. It is itself a substitute religion: privilege is original sin, DEI training is confession, disagreement is heresy and cancellation is excommunication. The only thing they are missing is forgiveness.
The same oppressor-versus-victim nonsense now drives the attack on Israel. Israel is labeled the oppressor, so Hamas and its supporters must somehow be victims. Jewish history, October 7 and Islamic terrorism are inconvenient facts to be ignored. Again, same ideology. New target.
And where are the apologies: to people who lost jobs for questioning DEI, police officers branded racists, crime victims ignored, women pushed aside in their own sports, parents treated as extremists and Jewish students harassed on campuses? There are none. They do not believe they were wrong. They believe they were too honest.
America is not perfect. No country is. But it remains history’s greatest force for liberty, opportunity and human advancement. Our failures are part of our history. They are not our entire history. Our traditions are not embarrassments. Our faith is not a disease. Our Constitution is not an inconvenience. Our country is not an oppressive system waiting to be dismantled.
That is the real choice. Not Woke 1.0 versus Woke 2.0. Gratitude versus grievance. History versus propaganda. Reality versus ideology. Preserving America versus dismantling it. No apology. No repudiation. No change. Same people. Same beliefs. Same agenda.
Woke 2.0? New label, same bullshit.
