by Idrees Kahloon. The Atlantic, Aug. 16, 2026 - On Sunday, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made two striking remarks that seem related. ... Second, she tried to laugh off stances that progressives in her wing of the Democratic Party had taken in the preceding years: “‘Woke 1 was crazy,’” she said, echoing a comment that one of her allies had made about the heyday of ideas such as “defund the police.”
... The fact that she is declining to defend—and indeed wishing to move past—these positions shows how radioactive they have become. ... Democratic politics have been reshaped by an ideology centered on systemic oppression and the radical policies ostensibly needed to correct it.
... Members of Congress were photographed taking a knee while wearing African-inspired kente cloth.
Companies rolled out diversity, equity, and inclusion action plans and donated huge sums to Black Lives Matter and other racial-justice causes. Universities denounced themselves as complicit in systemic racism. Staffers at news outlets revolted against colleagues they deemed counterrevolutionary, and nonprofit leaders and corporate executives treated the books of the anti-racism gurus Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo as revelatory.
... Cities that cut police spending reversed course after murders spiked. Elite universities built up large DEI bureaucracies to manage every oppression—yet embarrassed themselves in their inability to address campus anti-Semitism ...
... Woke 1 may be over, but progressives have not given up their attempt to take over the Democratic Party apparatus. ... One DSA-aligned candidate who is expected to be elected to Congress, Darializa Avila Chevalier, is a prison abolitionist who cannot bring herself to say that murderers should go to jail. (read it all)
Rods Comment:
Woke and Socialist Democrats are making it hard to create a broad coalition focused on derailing Donald Trump's agenda and ending his corruption, his mismanagement, and his authoritarian and unconstitutional enactments. As much as I want to see a check on Donald Trump and his agenda, I will not support any candidate who wants to defund the police, abolish prisons, ban Thanksgiving, have open borders, enact amnesty for all illegal immigrants, enact Medicare for all, and enact universal childcare.
I could overlook some of this. I could hold my nose and vote for someone advocating policies that I disagree with for the greater good of stopping Donald Trump's threat to our country and the world. For example, despite opposing a complete government takeover of health care, knowing that doing so would be very difficult and likely unachievable, I could support a Democrat advocating Medicare for all. To stop Trump's damage to our nation and the world, I could overlook a lot. However, I could not support any candidate who at one time or still favors defunding the police and closing all prisons.
More and more, I feel like we are screwed regardless of which party governs our country in the future. The choices in front of us are bleak.
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