Republicans use ‘wokeism’ to attack left — but struggle to define it

[BidenPresident]

And last week, a reporter from the conservative-leaning Newsmax asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre: “Is President Biden woke?”

Jean-Pierre demurred, but the blunt query underscored a phenomenon coursing through conservative politics: Republicans have alighted on a strategy of decrying the dangers of “wokeism” and all things “woke” — catchall terms they have weaponized to include a host of liberal policies and positions they don’t like.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/21/wokeism-republicans-liberals/

 

[BidenPresident]

"More recently, when conservatives began using “woke” in pejorative terms to undermine Black and liberal ideals, it was not an accidental choice, Smith said. “It’s important for us to remember that woke initially became a way to mean Black and to derisively refer to Blackness, and so to use this word that evokes Black folks or Blackness on other things kind of spills over,” she said. “I don’t think that’s a mistake.”