For the first time in memory, Americans are bearing witness to what seems like a note of contrition from radical leftists following years of political brinksmanship that culminated in the 2020 George Floyd riots and Joe Biden’s empty-suit presidency.
Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), who is hoping a socialist sweep in November will position her for a 2028 presidential run, suggested that “Woke 1 was crazy” during an interview Sunday on ABC's “This Week.”
She asked, in true Orwellian form, that voters relegate the past comments of heretofore extremist candidates to the (fiery but mostly peaceful) ash heap of history and instead “assess what a candidate is saying now.”
Yet, even media loyalists like The Atlantic admitted that AOC’s attempt to “laugh off” her party’s tyrannical excesses would be easier said than done.
“Even if Democratic-primary voters were not endorsing DSA candidates, Woke 1 would still be menacing Democrats running for office, for a simple reason: Republicans will never let voters forget this,” the leftist magazine said.
“Republicans have presented themselves as the party of the common man against the party of the faculty lounge,” it continued. “Even as Donald Trump has, in so many respects, inverted what it means to be a Republican, anti-wokeness has worked to unify the party and has now become a core tenet of GOP dogma.”
The sudden shift in tactics may reveal what some have long suspected: that the Far Left’s over-the-top rhetoric was never meant to succeed, per se, but simply to move the dial on what was considered to be reasonable and conciliatory. After demanding a mile, leftists suddenly signaled that they would be willing to settle on a couple of inches.
The game plan was confirmed by Fox News token Democrat Jessica Tarlov, who took her case to “The Five” to argue that, relative to AOC’s fellow card-carrying socialists, the once-fringe “Squad” leader was now deemed downright “moderate.”
Tarlov’s claim was largely rejected by conservative critics on X, as Twitchy reported. But leftists may still have one chip left to play following a yearslong gambit that relied on using emotional blackmail to sway hearts and minds toward their doomed dystopian vision.
To deliver the terms of their parley, they trotted out America’s first transgender congressman, Democrat Rep. Sarah McBride (DE-AL), who addressed LGBT “allies” during a podcast with a mousy Elizabeth Warren lookalike, as reported by Breitbart.
“Many of the strategies and tactics that we employed over the last five years didn't work,” McBride conceded.
“That includes a strategy of cutting off relationships,” McBride added. “We need you to stay in conversation with people who aren't on our side.”
On one level, the appeal painted yet another comically myopic picture with its notion that conservatives, steeled by years of toxic cancellations over matters like their religious convictions and personal health choices, might readily welcome back into the fold their prodigal leftist ex-friends and relatives simply to reopen old wounds.
McBride made clear that surrender was not about meeting the other side halfway but continuing to wheedle away until the Overton window that was slammed shut on the trans agenda reopens once more.
“I want my friends and family and allies to be able to be proximate to that person so that they can continue to have conversations — to push back, to hold them accountable,” McBride said.
But with the lawmaker’s baritone siren song beckoning a temporary return to normalcy, it may be tempting for some on the Right to be the bigger man.
As X user @chapdog6, a Massachusetts resident, observed, there were just a few red lines that most conservatives were unwilling to cross in the trans negotiation:
Efforts to indoctrinate and transition minors
Men in women’s sports and restrooms
Policing speech with mandates over preferred pronouns
“Cut thoes [sic] out of your trans agenda and nobody gives a s**t about how you live your life,” Chapdog wrote in reaction to McBride’s olive branch.
No socialist supplicants have turned up yet to beg for a do-over. But just as the Trump administration continues to bring a recalcitrant Iranian regime to the negotiating table, MAGA’s spurned must at least consider the terms of armistice.
Naturally, the scope of offense is likely to be the biggest factor. Re-accepting a Facebook friend request from an old classmate carries much less risk or reward than restoring ties with a family member who stormed out of Thanksgiving over an insufficient “stolen land” acknowledgement or reported a suspected J6 sympathizer to Jack Smith’s tipline.
It is up to each cancel-culture victim to reflect privately on what personal grudges are worth keeping.
Still, in addition to the terms offered by Chapdog, there may be a few other dealbreakers that conservatives should insist upon from their current position of leverage.
With that in mind, I submit the following for the approval of the MAGA Council of Elders:
Reps. AOC and McBride:
We have received your recent communiqués seeking amnesty for the offenses of “Woke 1,” a period marked by the first emergence of the TDS-16 virus brought on by the Steele Dossier and ending with the last preemptive autopen pardon by President Joe Biden on Jan. 20, 2025.
We are giving due consideration to your offer but must first insist that the following preconditions be met:
An unequivocal rejection of all Marxist policies in spirit and deed. Superficial, semantic rebrandings are a nonstarter. Any attempts to hack democracy in order to effect its dismantling will be considered hostile acts of sedition
The immediate cessation of all rhetoric glorifying or justifying political violence, as well as an end to spurious panicmongering about the threat to democracy posed by dissenting opinions
An end to malicious lawfare that seeks to weaponize the judiciary by using activist judges and prosecutors to overrule coequal branches of government and institutional power
Unanimous passage of the SAVE America Act and a recognition of its good-faith effort to close election-integrity loopholes that were evident in the disputed 2020 election
An admission of wrongdoing and heartfelt apology for all that transpired over the past decade under “Woke 1,” and a sincere effort to make whole those adversely impacted by it
The above terms, and the acceptance thereof, are not to be construed as exclusive to any other fundamental policy and cultural issues, including: DEI, immigration, criminal justice, and profligate government spending that is detrimental to affordability of basic needs like burritos. These shall be negotiated and resolved through the standard political process once normal relations are restored.
In return, we the people agree to engage in civil debate for as long as the conditions are upheld and to limit Donald Trump to no more than one additional term in office.
Respectfully yours,
MAGA
https://redstate.com/ben-sellers/2026/08/13/magas-terms-of-surrender-for-woke-1-supplicants-n2205530?utm_source=rsmorningbriefingvip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl
