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For the last few years, the GOP’s been working hard to rally voters and quash social justice movements via their “war on wokeness,” but you won’t hear much about it on the debate stage.
At the first Republican presidential debate in August, the word “woke” was heard only toward the end of the two-hour standoff, when Nikki Haley deflected a question about trans athletes in schools by alleging that “there’s a lot of crazy woke things happening in schools, but we’ve got to get these kids reading.” (As Vox points out, Haley did not actually define any of these alleged “crazy woke things.”)
Though the onstage frontrunner (not to be confused with the real frontrunner, who's skipping the debates), Florida governor Ron DeSantis, has centered his campaign and much of his recent career around anti-”wokeness,” he did not say the word “woke” once during the first debate.
Even Vivek Ramaswamy, the author of the 2021 book “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam,” described by early headlines as an “anti-woke tech bro,” refrained from using the word.
At the second debate on Wednesday night, the word “woke” never came up. Cohosted by Fox Business, the standoff focused heavily on the economy, jumping briefly into issues like immigration, school choice, and the war in Ukraine. Abortion was addressed at the 105-minute mark, with former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and DeSantis vaguely championing “pro-life” policies, and no mention of the 15-week national abortion ban Senator Lindsay Graham introduced in Congress last year.
Make no mistake: Whether or not the candidates say the word onstage, this election is still a war on woke. The party seems to have dropped the term as polling shows it's lost steam with voters, but their actions show that, even without the label, they're still hellbent on attacking our civil rights.
At one point, DeSantis defended his attacks on diversity programs and his idea of critical race theory in Florida schools. And when asked whether parents should be notified if their child changed their gender identity in school, Ramaswamy claimed that “transgenderism, especially in kids, is a mental disorder,” which is untrue, and vowed to ban gender affirming surgeries for minors. Former vice president Mike Pence appeared to take it even further, seemingly promising to ban all gender-affirming surgeries if elected (based on the context it’s unclear if he was specifically referring to minors or not, as he’s previously championed banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth).
The anti-wokeness warriors haven’t clearly defined “woke” (and it’s funny to watch them try), but Americans, largely, are not fans of the "anti-woke" agenda, especially around issues like diversity, equity, and inclusion. Polling shows that the majority of Democrats and Independents think Republicans should talk less about “wokeness,” and even most Republican voters aren’t onboard, preferring that their candidates focus on the economy or crime.
The "anti-woke” policies themselves don’t appear to be popular, either. Polls show that the majority of Americans support teaching about racism, sexuality, and gender identity, particularly to older students. About half of Republicans oppose statewide book bans. And national polls show the majority of voters oppose anti-trans legislation, including bans on drag and bans on gender-affirming care.
I assume the campaign advisers are aware of these polls, which is why even the most incendiary candidates are steering clear of the word “woke” during the debates, and the Fox News moderators have spent little time on these issues. Even frontrunner, former president Donald Trump, has distanced himself from “wokeness,” saying in June that he doesn’t “like the term ‘woke,’” though this particular culture war originated during his presidency. From an electoral standpoint, this is a losing battle.
These candidates don’t need to say “woke” anymore. The term originated in the Black community to refer to being conscious of social and racial injustice, but Republicans have transformed it into a catchall phrase demonizing any progressive social justice issue. They’ve done the work of ruining “woke,” and now everyone’s tired of hearing it. So, they continue their mission, just without the label. The GOP is still working to dismantle civil rights and social justice across the country. In the last year, book bans have sharply increased in states like Texas and Florida, often targeting books about sexual orientation, gender identity, and race. Six states, including Texas, Tennessee, and Montana have attempted to restrict, target, or ban drag performances. And 22 states have banned or restricted gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
And we’re seeing it all play out on a national level: At this very moment, a shutdown looms for the federal government, where GOP representatives in the House have shoehorned anti-LGBTQ+ measures into federal spending bills. “The economy” might function as a useful buzzword for GOP hopefuls, but Republican policies have been far more focused on the culture wars than on, say, successfully curbing inflation or reducing the national debt. The war on “woke” exists not because the Republicans actually care about all of these things, but because instilling fear in people gives the GOP the go-ahead to roll back rights, putting even more power in the hands of an increasingly Fascist-leaning party.
The Republicans vying for the GOP presidential nomination are no exception. DeSantis has made crusading against social justice a cornerstone of his governorship, literally signing a law that was once called the “Stop W.O.K.E.” Act last year. The state legislature in South Carolina, home state to senator Tim Scott and former governor Haley, has been advancing bills that would ban gender-affirming care and services for minors. Even Doug Burgum, who has railed against the “culture war” and kept redirecting debate questions back to his economic prowess as a businessman, has signed bills restricting gender-affirming care and taken other measures in North Dakota.
And sure, Trump, the all-but-certain Republican nominee, would probably spend his presidency again trying to empower and enrich himself if elected in 2024, but considering his previous administration’s war on racial equity and his judicial appointees, we can safely assume what will happen if there’s a President Trump redux. The GOP might be over the word “woke,” but the party isn’t over crushing “woke” issues. Don’t let them fool you.
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