Now that progressives are seizing power within the Democratic Party, one of their main hurdles is explaining away “Woke 1.0,” the pandemic-era of American politics in which progressives adopted a slew of ridiculous positions.

When asked in an interview about her own past ridiculous positions, as well as those of democratic socialist Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, explained it away as if it were nothing more than a bad fashion choice.

“I have a local city councilman that has this saying, ‘Woke 1 was crazy,’ ” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And I think that what’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now.”

Ocasio-Cortez, Hong and other progressives have struggled to distance themselves from the positions they took during the COVID-19 era, and for good reason: They were the enforcers of Woke 1.0 and the cancel culture that came with it. If progressives want Americans to believe they've changed, laughing it off won't cut it. They need to explain why the pandemic-era of progressive politics went too far – and why voters can trust them not to go down that road again.

Woke 1.0 was more than just 'crazy'

Ocasio-Cortez got the phrase from Chi Ossé, a New York City councilman who used “Woke 1 was crazyyyy” to rationalize his own past racist statement: “A cis white man should not be the next speaker of the Council.”

Hong, a Wisconsin lawmaker who lost the Democratic primary Aug. 11, has tried a similar whitewash.

“I had some hot takes, some bad takes on Twitter,” Hong told Politico. “But I’ve evolved, I’ve learned.”

Those “hot takes” included wanting to “cancel Thanksgiving” and........

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