With a grin from ear to ear and a chuckle, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) hoped beyond hope that Americans would laugh along with her and just forget her terrible record, including her “woke” crime and gun control agenda, and wipe it all away, as if the past several years never happened.
Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday news and politics talk show, host Jonathan Karl brought up the Democratic gubernatorial race in Wisconsin that included Francesca Hong, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Karl rattled off several positions that Hong holds, including abolishing prisons, abolishing the police and even her recent statements that Thanksgiving should be abolished.
“Those are positions that are not supported by most of—,” Karl began before the congresswoman interjected.
“I have a local city councilman that has this saying, woke one was crazy,” Rep. Ocasio-Cortez stated. The two shared a big laugh and Karl — as if wearing kid gloves — gently reminded Rep. Ocasio-Cortez that she, too, once supported defunding the police. But the two moved right along.
AOC on Francesca Hong's old tweets calling for abolishing prisons and the police:
"Woke 1 was crazy." pic.twitter.com/OuqYhSwtbk
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 9, 2026
Nice try. But you don’t get to just wipe away the progressive “Woke 1.0” era of the past few years like you’re cleaning off a dry erase board. Those policies were devastating. They ruined lives and livelihoods. That includes the firearm industry and in communities where innocent law-abiding Americans lost their lives due to these polices.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reacted to the congresswoman’s comments succinctly.
“We’re all going to have a good laugh about that? Sorry your husband was murdered. Sorry your mom was killed. Sorry your loved ones are sickened under the ground now,” Miller stated. “We’re gonna have a good laugh about that? It’s sickening, it’s disgusting, and the thing is it never stopped.”
And Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was a ringleader of it all.
Ringleader of ‘Woke 1.0’
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s absurd comment reverberated quickly, and mostly with scorn and anger by those who saw the comment for what it was. It was a quick dismissal of devastatingly unpopular past policy positions held by someone recalibrating as she seeks higher office and more political power.
What is most appalling about her comments is that the New York representative to Congress, and current member of the DSA, was one of the loudest cheerleaders of those policies going back to 2020 and the years under former President Joe Biden.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez was a loud frontrunning proponent of the defund the police movement, a policy that ultimately leaves innocent Americans, including those from her New York City congressional district vulnerable to violent criminals. Her record of supporting the most extreme gun control laws around — including bans on entire classes of commonly owned firearms — would limit the ability of law-abiding Americans to exercise their God-given Second Amendment rights and empower criminals to commit more acts of violence.
Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez would eliminate both constitutional rights and limit the ability of law enforcement to adequately protect New York neighborhoods from violence.
No worries — do over!
Foreboding Revelation
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s statement on “This Week” and Karl’s ridiculous response to laugh along demonstrated a worrisome theme that needs to be vigilantly paid attention to. As The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman noted, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez deemed that troublesome period “1.0” in real time, as if to suggest there’s actually a “2.0” coming down the pike.
“AOC’s use of ‘Woke 1’ is revealing. Nobody numbers something unless she expects another version. World War I did not get its numerical attribution until World War II followed it,” Lyman writes. “By numbering the left’s woke ideological escapades, AOC is not declaring Woke 1 as dead, but rather describing it as though it’s the first installment. And ‘Woke 2’ won’t be less radical than Woke 1 either — it’s just going to be accompanied by better PR.”
As an example, Lyman references New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the DSA party platform — remember, both of which enjoy Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s support—of “seizing” property, including private property and even the means of production. That includes firearm industry businesses.
“New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani used ‘affordability’ to peddle his socialist shtick,” Lyman reminded. “But beneath these ‘nice’-sounding promises are radical Marxist ideologies that seek to fundamentally upend America. We will use every single tool at our disposal, including seizing buildings from slumlords, to ensure that each and every New Yorker is given what is their right, a safe place to call their home.”
As DSA candidates continue to win more elected positions in government, both at the city and state level, as well as federally, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez will no doubt do her best to continue white-washing the past and present to “smooth over” these radical positions just like she did on “This Week.”
Voter Backstop
There are less than 90 days until the November 2026 midterm elections. Second Amendment supporters and law-abiding Americans who want safe streets and neighborhoods need to pay attention to what is actually happening and not fall for the false narratives perpetuated by DSA officials like Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Mayor Mamdani and others. Their policies have real and dire consequences—and the track record is readily apparent to anyone who looks.
NSSF’s Protect Liberty Political Action Committee launched with the express goal of electing candidates who are dedicated to preserving and protecting liberty, freedoms and the Constitutional rights of all Americans. This especially includes the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
The firearm industry can’t afford more legislative and regulatory attacks from Washington, D.C., partisans like Rep. Ocasio-Cortez who seek to end the lawful commerce in our industry. The balance of power in Washington, D.C., rests on a razor’s edge, and Protect Liberty PAC will focus on federal elections to ensure American freedoms have a bulwark. The battle lines are drawn, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Protect Liberty PAC will take a leading role and be more dynamic and outspoken this year because the stakes are too high and there’s too much at risk. For more information on Protect Liberty PAC, visit the website.
Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
They kinda do get to.
Not to people like you or me but there are plenty of people out there either by virtue of TDS, fond Boomer memories of JFK or Clinton or people who just always voted (D) because it was expected of them.
They don’t have to really believe the lunatics have walked back from the edge or learned their lesson. They just have to hear it so they can lie to themselves on election day.
Then, when the obvious and inevitable happens, they can claim innocence because, once again, they were lied to.
The simple fact that they themselves refer to it as “woke 1” guarantees a “woke 2” is coming.
“past policy positions”
“as if to suggest there’s actually a “2.0” coming down the pike.”
There has been no change in policy positions. Woke 2.0 isn’t coming, it’s been here for some time. They’ve said this out loud. No, they didn’t call it “2.0.” They said the strategy used by Abigail Spanberger in Virginia should be their strategy going forward for all Democrats.
Spanberger ran as a moderate. She didn’t loudly push pro-tranz rhetoric because she isn’t an idiot. As soon as she took office, she was down for the “past policy positions.”
Even at the peak of woke, Joe Biden’s senile brain still seemed to understand enough about politics that he didn’t come across as extreme. He came across as “Uncle Joe,” talking about conversations working families have at the dinner table in Scranton. Then, he turned out to be the most radical president (puppet) we have ever had.
Get it? There is no “radical” wing. Democrats are radical revolutionaries. They’re all implicated, from AOC to Puppet Joe. If they come across as “moderate” then they’re lying.
Ask every Democrat which part was crazy. Why didn’t host Jonathan Karl ask that? Because he’s just another propagandist helping to rehab damaged Dems.
A DNC committee just voted to make eliminating ICE part of their platform. Not the DSA. Not the “radical wing.” The DNC.
At its summer meeting in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, the Democratic National Committee’s Resolutions Committee approved a resolution that calls for the abolition of ICE. It could be approved by the full DNC as Democrats mull their message ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The resolution, which passed 25-12, was introduced by Michele Johnson, a DNC committeewoman from Louisiana.