Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised eyebrows Sunday by declaring that the earlier era of “woke” politics was “crazy,” an interesting assessment coming from someone who spent years positioned near the center of the progressive movement that defined it.
During an interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl, Ocasio-Cortez was asked about Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong and controversial positions Hong previously expressed on social media, including calls to abolish police and prisons and cancel Thanksgiving.
Hong has since moved away from some of those positions.
Ocasio-Cortez, who has backed other progressive candidates, told Karl she had not endorsed anyone in the Wisconsin race.
“My understanding is that… is that Francesca Hong has made clear her present stances to her electorate,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
When Karl pointed out that Hong had moved away from her earlier positions, Ocasio-Cortez offered a rather memorable description of the political shift.
“Right, she’s moved away from it. And I have a local city councilman that.. has this saying, ‘woke one was crazy,’” she said.
Karl laughed.
“And I think that what’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now,” Ocasio-Cortez added.
AOC on Wisconsin Democrat candidate for Governor Francesca Hong's previous calls to abolish prisons and police: “Woke 1 was crazy.” pic.twitter.com/dmlvnUnvcV
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) August 9, 2026
Fair enough, politicians can change their positions. Voters can decide whether those changes represent genuine reconsideration, political expediency or some combination of the two.
But Karl then asked the obvious follow-up.
Ocasio-Cortez herself supported “defund the police” politics during the same period. Had she changed her position?
Rather than offering a straightforward explanation of what she previously believed, what she believes today and why it changed, Ocasio-Cortez described pandemic-era debates over police funding as “fruitful.”
That leaves quite a bit unanswered.
The phrase “woke one was crazy” reportedly originated with New York City Council Member Chi Ossé, who used similar language in May while discussing one of his own comments from 2021. Ocasio-Cortez later tagged Ossé after clips of her interview began circulating online.
The reaction was predictable.
Rep. Brandon Gill criticized Ocasio-Cortez for attempting to distance herself from the political movement without clearly rejecting its underlying ideas.
“You don’t get to spend years pushing to fundamentally transform the country, divide it on racial lines, inject DEI into every institution, and then try to brush it off as a minor misunderstanding when your worldview turns out to be extremely unpopular with the American people,” Gill said.
Other commentators similarly argued that progressive politicians were changing their language without necessarily changing their policies.
That is ultimately the important distinction.
There is nothing inherently suspicious about politicians reconsidering ideas. In fact, Americans should probably encourage elected officials to admit when an idea did not work rather than stubbornly defending it forever.
But genuine political evolution requires more than announcing that the previous version was “crazy.”
Which positions were wrong? Defunding police? Abolishing prisons? DEI mandates? Border policies? Gender policies? Something else?
And what exactly has replaced them?
Without answers, “woke one was crazy” risks becoming less of a policy reassessment and more of a rebranding exercise.
The terminology may have changed because political fashions change quickly. The harder question for Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive Democrats is whether their governing philosophy changed with it.
Voters deserve something more substantial than a new slogan explaining away the old slogans.
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