The most memorable laugh line from the 2007-2008 presidential debates came from then-Sen. Joe Biden, discussing the presidential campaign of Rudy Giuliani: “I mean, think about it! Rudy Giuliani. There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence — a noun, a verb, and 9/11. There’s nothing else! There’s nothing else!”
The same joke can be recycled in the 2023-2024 presidential debates with respect to Gov. Ron DeSantis of the fascist state of Florida: “I mean, think about it! Ron DeSantis. There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence — a noun, a verb, and “woke.” There’s nothing else! There’s nothing else!” “C’mon man!”
When the demagogue Ron DeSantis says “woke,” he is using it as code for anything that is not White Christian Nationalist and white supremacy for the MAGA Fascist crazy base of the GQP that he needs to steal away from Donald Trump in a GQP primary. I doubt this fool even knows, nor does he give a rat’s ass, what “woke” actually means: per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition is “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).”
But the MAGA Fascist crazy base of the GQP hears this code word and understands it to mean those “others” (anyone who is not a White Christian Nationalist) who at best we are indifferent to, and at worst whom we hate and want to eliminate (because they are a threat to our White Christian privilege). Much of the 2024 GOP field focuses on dark, apocalyptic themes, i.e., eliminationist rhetoric focused on existential dangers and demonizing Democrats. This is the apocalyptic evangelical cults influence in MAGA fascism.
Ron DeSantis is appealing to an ever-shrinking base of GQP MAGA extremists.
The majority of Americans in a new poll view ‘woke’ as positive term:
A majority of Americans in a new poll have a positive association with the term “woke,” understanding it to mean “to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices.”
The USA Today-Ipsos poll released on Wednesday found that 56 percent agreed with the more positive definition, while 39 percent had a negative association with the word and understood it to mean “to be overly politically correct and police others’ words.”
However, Americans in the poll are divided on whether they consider it an insult to be described as “woke,” with 40 percent calling it an insult and 32 percent calling it a compliment.
Both of these measures break down along party lines, with Republicans more likely than their Democratic counterparts to have a negative understanding of “wokeness” and to consider it an insult.
While 56 percent of Republicans said “wokeness” meant being overly politically correct [“you mean I can’t use racial or homophobic slurs whenever I want”?], 78 percent of Democrats understood the term as being informed on social justice issues [the actual definition].
When asked how they would respond if someone called them “woke,” 60 percent of Republicans said they would consider it to be an insult, while 46 percent of Democrats said they would describe it as a compliment.
The discussion around the term comes as GOP politicians wage a so-called war on “wokeness.” Leading the charge, Florida Gov.Ron DeSantis (R) has previously declared that the Sunshine State is “where woke goes to die.”
“We fight the woke in the legislature. We fight the woke in the schools. We fight the woke in the corporations. We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob,” DeSantis said after securing his second term as governor in November.
The USA Today-Ipsos poll was conducted March 3-5 with 1,023 adults and had a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.
Theme for an imaginary conversation:
Rhonda Santis: You’re nothing but WOKE!
Wileybud: Better to be a WOKE like me than a JOKE like you! You tiresome JAMOKE!
Thank you thank you. I’ll see myself out now and meanwhile, try the veal!