It took six long, painful years since the country began descending into the darkness of cultural Marxism before those who foisted that poison upon the rest of us were ready to admit, sort of, their culpability in a shameful era of politics and culture. In what should stand as a true cultural inflection point, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) – AKA AOC – said on ABC News that “Woke 1 was crazyyyy,” laughing as if it were all a big joke while implying that the left has evolved into some sort of Woke 2.0. AOC did not admit to doing a single thing wrong, however, and she did not apologize for dragging the nation into the gutter. She did not offer anything other than the usual leftist talking points to distinguish the new DSA-laced Woke 2.0 from the neo-Marxist censorship of Woke 1.0.
What perfect timing – AOC said this just as actual declared socialists are threatening and defeating old-time Democrats across the nation. It seems that the causes du jour back in the day – censorship, enforced anti-racism, transgender rights – have simply been superseded by different insane ideas peddled by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) such as abolishing ICE, nationalized healthcare, and eliminating the Senate, presidency, and Supreme Court. Seriously.
Of course, there are some oldies but goodies which will always be in the extreme leftist playbook, whether they continue to talk about them or not. Do you think these progressives no longer support open borders, the Green New Deal to eliminate fossil fuels, confiscatory tax rates, the queer agenda, and all the rest they stuffed down our throats? Of course they do; they are just lying low so they can champion the new socialist agenda of free stuff for everyone except billionaires.
Joining the Mob
What AOC and other progressive warriors like Graham Platner, Abdul El-Sayed, and Francesca Hong don’t seem to realize is that we live in the internet age, where every thought you once publicly expressed will be discovered and regurgitated for all to see. But beyond the ideology, these archived clips are highly instructive because they demonstrate how someone seeking public office reacts in the heat of crisis. Are they one of the cooler heads trying to prevail, or do they join the mob, jump on the bandwagon, and let no extreme thought go unexpressed?
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Kamala Harris learned that lesson the hard way after running fast and loose with her rhetoric in 2020, as Donald Trump famously exploited to great effect her statement supporting taxpayer-funded transgender surgery for criminal aliens. And given how they tried to bring the nation to its knees during the awful year of 2020, ask yourself how these extremists could be expected to react during the next health crisis, police scandal, or assassination attempt on the president. The question answers itself.
DSA Member Francesca Hong, who came within an eyelash of winning the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary, has over time used social media to call for the abolition of police, prisons, and, most famously, Thanksgiving, which killed “Indigenous folx.” She even cited her white ex-husband and half-white son as examples of her lamentable “proximity to whiteness.” Now she says: “I learned … you have some hot takes, sometimes bad takes on Twitter, and I let my feelings out into the world.” Yes, and now everyone knows what you really believed before you ran for governor.
Woke Finally Goes Broke
Remember when we were all forced to bend the knee to BLM, an organization founded by self-described trained Marxists? It is hard to forget a time when we were intimidated at every turn by the race police, the mask police, and the thought police. When silence about race equated to violence. When we were shamed simply for being white by deranged extremists who were somehow taken seriously. When terms like nonbinary, preferred pronouns, and gender-affirming care were forcibly inserted into the national lexicon. When “mostly peaceful” riots ripped apart every major city, resulting in dozens of deaths and billions in property damage that was excused by leftists and big media.
Will AOC ever renounce any of that? Admitting all that was “crazyyyy” or that “During lockdown, of course, rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today,” doesn't even scratch the surface. If AOC and her fellow travelers on the left expect to be accepted as serious people, they can hardly sweep the nightmare of 2020 and beyond under the rug without even a minimal admission that the way they behaved and ruled during that time was inexcusable.
Is this interview a sign that AOC is planning to run for president? With high name recognition and a massive social media following, it will be more than tempting for her to seek a Senate seat or even the presidency. But compelling evidence of her prospective candidacy is a 2024 article from a member of DSA New York arguing against endorsing her: “Ocasio-Cortez’s recent donation to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) while left-wing organizations face financial peril is the biggest red flag we have to date. In addition, her moderate position on Palestine and Israel has isolated herself from the rapidly growing Palestinian liberation movement.” Indeed, AOC is a radical evidently tacking to the center to position herself for higher office. But simply laughing off the horrors of the pandemic and George Floyd era only makes matters worse for those who are rightfully fearful of the rising tide of socialism.
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