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Nearly a week after Election Day, political strategists are working to better describe what took place. In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Democratic candidates lost key races in Virginia and nearly lost the gubernatorial in New Jersey. Some feel that the events of November 2 were driven by a slower than expected economic recovery and disputes over the public education system. Meanwhile, Democratic political consultant James Carville attempted to pin disappointing results on "stupid wokeness."
“Well, what went wrong is this stupid wokeness,” Bill Clinton's former campaign manager, James Carville, said during an appearance on PBS NewsHour.
"All right? Don't just look at Virginia and New Jersey. Look at Long Island, look at Buffalo, look at Minneapolis. Even look at Seattle, Washington. I mean, this defund the police lunacy, this take Abraham Lincoln's name off of schools, that — people see that. And it's just — really have a suppressive effect all across the country to Democrats. Some of these people need to go to a woke detox center or something. They're expressing language that people just don't use. And there's a backlash and a frustration at that."
Carville's comments angered many Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. The second-term congresswoman feels that Carville's words will steer younger voters away from the polls. Not to mention, Carville didn't present any data to support his assertion that "stupid wokeness" determined the outcomes of key races.
"Before people disingenuously complain “woke” is denigrating to older people, it’s actually pundits like Carville using terms like “woke” to insult voters under 45 that’s denigrating. Don’t wonder why youth turnout falls when Dems talk about them like this. We need everyone," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
In contrast, certain political pundits went on air to express some of the same sentiments that Carville expressed. Specifically, CNN's Don Lemon argued that certain "woke" slogans like "Defund The Police" are "stupid" and one of the "worst slogan[s] ever."
"Defund the police, I agree more than 100 percent with him. Defund the police was a stupid slogan and should never have been brought under the political spotlight, into the political realm. It was an activists' term,” Lemon said on CNN over the weekend, according to The Hill.
“But as far as being woke and wanting equality for people who are in underserved communities or for minorities or for women, I don't necessarily agree with that.”
Much like Carville's comments, Lemon's remarks received push back as well. Similarly, he failed to present data that backed his assertion that the "Defund The Police" movement played a key role in these elections.
Despite pushback, Lemon doubled down on his comments during a recent episode of The Handoff with his CNN colleague, Chris Cuomo.
"Defund the police? That’s the worst slogan ever. I've had progressives & activists on my show who would say, 'You don’t know what it means!' But as I argue on this week’s episode of The Handoff, if you’re explaining, you’re losing," Lemon tweeted.
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