Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Don't Let AOC Retcon Her Starring Role in 'Woke 1'

Would President AOC eschew wokeness? I doubt it.

Robby Soave | 8.10.2026 4:22 PM

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AOC (Bill Clark CQ Roll Call/Newscom)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D–N.Y.) raised eyebrows this weekend when she merely shrugged off her previous enthusiasm for electorally toxic far-left cultural positions.

"I have a local city councilman who has this saying: 'Woke 1 was crazy,'" said AOC with a laugh. She was referencing a tweet by Chi Ossé, a New York City councilman, who similarly uttered this line in an attempt to explain why he had previously said a "white man should not be the next speaker" of the City Council.

Simply put, this attitude is far too blasé. While it's encouraging that so many progressives have backed away from some (though by no means all) of their really terrible ideas, no one should be so naive as to accept these conversions at face value. Moreover, it's quite deflective of them to act as if "Woke 1" was something bad that just sort of happened—like a hurricane or an earthquake—and they passively accepted it because what else could they do?

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