Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's recent comment dismissing past left-wing platforms as "Woke 1 was crazy" signals a strategic pivot for the Democratic Party, according to Mike Solana, Editor-in-Chief of Pirate Wires. Solana argues that the remark, rather than indicating a move toward the political center, points to a more aggressive focus on class conflict.
Ocasio-Cortez made the comment during an appearance on ABC's "This Week" when pressed by host Jonathan Karl about Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong's past calls to defund the police and abolish prisons. Ocasio-Cortez responded by quoting a city councilman who said, "'Woke 1 was crazy,' and I think that what’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now." Hong subsequently lost the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
Solana told Fox News Digital that Ocasio-Cortez's statement served as an "incredible obfuscation" that allowed her to avoid accountability for past progressive stances. He noted that the congresswoman has not explicitly renounced previous positions such as abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defunding the police, or supporting mass amnesty for undocumented immigrants.
"We kind of wrap it all in a neat little bow which is ‘woke one was crazy,’ and we move on and maybe she's not going to talk about those things anymore," Solana said. He added that while politicians can evolve, voters need clarity on which specific positions have been abandoned and why.
Solana posits that the Democratic Party's focus has shifted from identity politics, which he characterized as "less racist," to class struggle, which he described as "a lot more classist." "We're doing a class war now; the race war is kind of over. There's room for everyone of every color to eat the rich," he stated, echoing sentiments from a recent column suggesting a platform shift from what he described as "destroying White people" to targeting the wealthy.
This shift occurs as candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) achieve electoral successes across the country. The DSA, the largest socialist organization in the U.S. with over 100,000 members, advocates for policies such as opposing capitalism, abolishing the Senate, expanding the House, and establishing public ownership of major corporations.
Solana suggested that centrist Democrats are accommodating the growing influence of far-left members rather than actively pushing back. "They've won everywhere from obviously New York and [Los Angeles] to Louisville, Kentucky. They're winning everywhere. Everywhere there is a city, the DSA is ascendant," he observed. He posited that centrist Democrats face a choice: either fully exclude the more progressive wing or moderate their own positions within the broader Democratic Party framework.Representatives for Ocasio-Cortez and the DSA did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.