“Woke 1” is a term AOC invented in a recent interview when she flashed that big bartender smile and casually said that Woke 1 came at a time when we had a health crisis and that “no one really believes that radical stuff anymore.” Obviously, it was a panic-driven fib, but a number of radical-left Democrats have already tried to change their positions and just wave aside their past remarks on the grounds they have “evolved.”
AOC laughingly quoted an unnamed city councilman as saying, ‘Woke 1 was crazy” and “that rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today.” I mean, what sane person would say that the world was going to end in 12 years? She further explained that Woke 1 arose during a public-health crisis and implied that no one believes such radical ideas anymore. Really?
After years of lecturing Americans, intimidating dissenters, and treating differing opinions as moral crimes, the radical left would now like everyone to believe that woke politics was nothing more than a temporary fever. Apparently, the fever broke just in time for the midterm elections. How convenient.
Woke 1 is, of course, a marketing term invented after wokeness as an ideology became politically toxic. By rebranding woke as Woke 1, AOC magically placed wokeism in the past. It makes the movement sound like an outdated computer program that has been removed and replaced. Mistakes were made, passions ran high, and everyone has moved on. Nothing to see here, folks.
Unfortunately for Democrats, Americans have memories—and YouTube videos. Woke 1 gave us “defund the police,” the claim that America is systemically racist, an open hostility toward capitalism, biological men competing in women’s sports, sanctuary cities, open borders, pronoun mandates, DEI bureaucracies, and the cancellation of anyone who questioned the party line, to name but a few its more deranged beliefs.
It’s now up to Republicans to remind voters that Woke 1 was not a handful of college kids experimenting with childish ideas. Democrat politicians, corporate executives, university administrators, media personalities, and government officials embraced it enthusiastically, and anyone who objected was called a racist, sexist, transphobe, xenophobe, fascist, or—the all-purpose dagger—a threat to democracy. The woke crowd did not merely disagree with its opponents; it tried to make disagreement socially and professionally dangerous.
Now that gullible independents and semi-sane Democrats appear to have had enough, the same wokesters are rushing to recast themselves as moderates. Democrats who previously supported radical positions on policing, immigration, and gender issues are softening their language, modifying their biographies, deleting old social-media posts, and behaving as if their past statements were nothing more than youthful indiscretions. Very cute, except for one inconvenient reality: These people were not rambunctious teenagers when they embraced Woke 1.
This mass retreat is especially noticeable on policing. Candidates who once flirted with “defund the police” now insist they never intended to abolish police departments. They merely wanted to “reimagine public safety.” Likewise, “abolish ICE” is becoming “reform immigration enforcement” and uncontrolled immigration is being repackaged as “a humane border policy.” In other words, the vocabulary has changed, but not the objectives.
So, what can we expect Woke 2 to look like? Perhaps there will be less shouting, finger-pointing, and theatrical self-righteousness. Perhaps it will avoid mean spirited slogans and phrases meant to incite violence. Perhaps there will be more smiles and hollow talk about things like affordability, fairness, freedom, and common sense.
Regardless, radical policies will not disappear. They will simply be presented as something nebulous like “administrative adjustments.” Instead of demanding that police departments be defunded, woke politicians will just gradually and quietly divert their funding. Instead of announcing that borders should disappear, they will make enforcement increasingly difficult. Instead of openly promoting racial preferences, they will bury them inside regulatory language. In short, while Woke 1 was ideological aggression, Woke 2 will be ideological camouflage.
In all fairness, not all Democrats are secretly committed to every radical proposal. There are still a small number of practical Dems who understand political and social realities. But, trust me, the party’s activist base, donor network, academic allies, and media supporters have not undergone a mass conversion to moderation. Rather, they are undergoing a mass education in political repackaging.
Will the ruse work before the November midterms? It could if enough low-information voters come out of the woodwork and feckless Republicans fail to pass the Save America Act. People want to be assured that the craziness is over. They want to believe that Democrats have learned their lesson and are ready to return to sane policies, and the corrupt media will be happy to reinforce that false impression.
The job of Republicans is to remind voters specifically what policies Democrat politicians supported in the past and whether they have genuinely experienced a change of heart. A sincere political conversion includes three things: an acknowledgment of error, an explanation of what caused the conversion, and a willingness to oppose former allies who continue to promote rejected policies.
Realistically, most Democrats are not likely to engage in such a conversion. Remember, AOC did not say that the underlying worldview of Woke 1 was wrong. She said it was “crazy,” that it was tied to a crisis, and implied it had expired. It was a rebranding exercise rather than an apology.
The question for voters is not whether or not Democrats will continue to use the word woke. The question is whether they have abandoned their ideological beliefs and their contempt for any and all dissent. I’m pretty certain that the answer to that question is a resounding no, which means Woke 1 is not dead. It has simply refreshed its wardrobe.
That said, Republicans can take heart in the fact that Democrats cannot control themselves. They cannot resist overplaying their hand. They never apologize and are never embarrassed. True, Republicans are the worst messengers on Planet Earth, but, as the great Thomas Sowell once said, “Democrats are the best reason to vote for Republicans.”
From Sowell’s lips to voters’ minds.
Copyright © 2020 Robert Ringer
ROBERT RINGER is a New York Times #1 bestselling author who has appeared on numerous national radio and television shows, including The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, ABC Nightline, The Charlie Rose Show, as well as Fox News and Fox Business. To sign up for a free subscription to his mind-expanding daily insights, visit www.robertringer.com.
