Radical Democrats gearing up for woke 2.0
by Robert Knight · The Washington TimesOPINION:
As the midterm elections loom in less than three months, voters had better get used to terms like “cherry-picked” and “taken out of context.”
Those are the standard replies of Democratic candidates caught saying indefensible things in past online posts.
Recently, podcasts from 2023 of Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed surfaced in which he called football part of a “toxically masculine culture.” He also said that historical violence in America such as “destroying Native Americans” and the “trans-Atlantic slave trade” are “echoed in the ethos of football.”
Michigan fans might remember his words when their Wolverines face the Ohio State Buckeyes on the gridiron. If they forget, Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate candidate, can remind them via campaign ads.
In a now-removed 2024 video from July 2024, Mr. El-Sayed is shown saying that “fireworks suck.” There have also been clips in which he argues that the Second Amendment should be replaced with a constitutional right to healthcare.
When CNN asked about these statements, his campaign replied, “Abdul is the former captain of his high school football team, loves Michigan football on Saturdays, and celebrates the Fourth of July with fireworks like the next Michigander. Cherry-picked comments from old podcasts don’t reflect his beliefs today.”
Indeed, the “old podcasts” were from the Bronze Age of 2023 to 2024. Conversely, Democrats constantly bring up American’s sin of slavery, which a bloody civil war ended 151 years ago, as though it were yesterday.
Texas U.S. Senate Democratic candidate James Talarico is backpedaling from comments about hating Christianity, God being “non-binary,” there being six genders and finding barbecue disgusting and veganism more appealing. That was just old stuff, he says.
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In a recent online photo, Mr. Talarico is draped in a Texas flag shirt, posing with a rack of ribs in front of his mouth. Are the Beyond Meat people making ribs now, or what?
Mr. Talarico’s disingenuous culinary ploy to fool Texans would actually work well in a campaign ad — for his Republican opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton.
It’s right up there with the much-mocked shot of 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis poking his little, helmeted noggin out of a tank turret to show off his masculine appeal against genuine war hero George H.W. Bush.
But perhaps the richest mine of all for opposition Republican ads is the Hasan Piker trove.
The online Twitch influencer campaigned with Mr. El-Sayed and other leftist Democrats, such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Wisconsin gubernatorial nutcase Francesca Hong, who wanted to cancel Thanksgiving and abolish prisons and police. Ms. Hong lost by less than 1% to a slightly less nutty leftist.
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Mr. Piker is an anti-American racist (against white people). He’s also an Islamist who in 2019 said, “America “deserved 9/11, dude. F—— it, I’m saying it.”
When asked about this, Mr. El-Sayed commented that it was “dumb” and continued campaigning with Mr. Piker.
Mr. Mamdani, in whose city nearly 3,000 were killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, Islamist terrorist attack, called Mr. Piker’s words “objectionable and reprehensible,” but he has kept Mr. Piker in his entourage.
Thanks to the internet’s bottomless feed, Mr. Piker’s foul-mouthed rants just keep popping up.
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In an undated video that came to light this past week, Mr. Piker proclaimed, “We’re going to keep bringing immigrants into this country on purpose. Just so they can f—- your sister, and then maybe even your daughter. We’re going to destroy the white race, b——!”
The party of tolerance and inclusion seems to have no trouble with stuff like this. Remember, it’s ancient history.
Since 2020, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, has appeared multiple times on Mr. Piker’s podcast. On Aug. 9, on ABC’s “This Week,” host Jonathan Karl asked her if Mr. Piker should play a role in the progressive movement. She declined to disavow Mr. Piker, pivoting to concern about how Democrats need to appeal to “young people.”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez also tried to put distance between previous comments that she and other leftists made previously, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, “I have a local city councilman that has this saying: ’Woke 1.0 was crazy’” and that it’s “not rhetoric that we would use today.” She then laughed. Ha ha ha.
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Oh, OK, then. So, trashing and censoring people who questioned the bat sandwich theory of origin, the lockdowns, masking, forced injections and all the ruined lives was just something we can all laugh about now? Wokeness also entailed smearing conservatives and Christians as “Nazis” and “fascists” and relentlessly pushing transgender insanity.
On a May 2024 podcast with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, the pro-Hamas Mr. Piker said the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of 1,200 Israelis was a “direct consequence” of President Trump’s pro-Israel policies and the signing of the Abraham Accords. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez responded, “10,000%.”
The Democratic socialists who are taking over the Democratic Party will be busy in the next few weeks, pretending to be harmless patriots.
Don’t believe them for a minute.
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They are still anti-law enforcement, still want open borders, a government takeover of healthcare, socialist economics, unlimited abortions up to the moment of birth, lopping off children’s sex organs, gun confiscation, no voter IDs and more subsidies for the free stuff army.
But all those bizarre comments they made over the years? Just cherry picking.
One more thing. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s joking about woke 1.0 is clearly part of an effort to recast herself for a wider electorate. This is not only dishonest and self-absolving; it should send a chill. It implies there will be a woke 2.0.
• Robert Knight is a columnist for The Washington Times. His website is roberthknight.com.
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