Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the self-proclaimed socialist standard-bearer for a generation of left-wing activists, apparently thinks America's experiment with radicalism was just a bit of a laugh. Appearing on ABC's "This Week," the New York Democrat dismissed her past calls to "defund the police" and other extreme proposals with a chuckle, quipping that the "Woke 1" era was "crazy."
The casual dismissal comes as other far-left figures, like Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong, attempt to walk back their own controversial statements – including Hong's push to "cancel Thanksgiving" and abolish prisons. It seems when election season rolls around, yesterday's revolutionary fervor suddenly becomes today's awkward, forgotten phase.
Ocasio-Cortez, attempting to rebrand the dangerous ideas she once championed, explained her past rhetoric by blaming the "height of the COVID shutdowns," suggesting that "the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place." Apparently, common sense needed a permission slip during a national crisis, leading to calls to dismantle law enforcement that directly led to soaring crime rates in American cities. And somehow, they still expect Americans not to notice.
The notion that "defund the police" discussions were "quite fruitful" rings hollow to the families and communities devastated by the spike in violence that followed. While Ocasio-Cortez now claims, "rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today," the fact remains that these policies, driven by the far-left, inflicted real damage.
Even as Ocasio-Cortez attempts to distance herself from the most egregious excesses, the national program for the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) — the very organization that helped launch her political career — still proudly lists "abolishing the police" as a core position. Ocasio-Cortez now claims she's merely a member of the New York City chapter, not the national organization, implying a convenient disagreement when it suits her political narrative.
This political repositioning is not an admission of error, but a strategic pivot, as analyst Eric Ham suggests, to "appeal to the center-left" and consolidate power. The DSA itself has been in disarray over Ocasio-Cortez, withdrawing its endorsement for her re-election and even splitting on an early endorsement for a potential 2028 presidential bid, citing her failure to meet their radical conditions on issues like Israel.
Yet, the core danger remains: as Canary Mission notes, an Ocasio-Cortez presidency would "give that movement more than influence: it would give its agenda access to the full power of the executive branch." The American people deserve leaders who stand for law and order, common sense, and the security of our communities, not those who laugh off the radical ideologies that threaten them. The "Woke 1" era may be a punchline to its architects, but for countless Americans, its consequences are a serious, and ongoing, crisis.
