The Woke Right · When Culture War Flips Sides

In this episode, we unravel the rise of the “woke right” — a label that’s being thrown around by anti-MAGA conservatives, mainstream media, and political strategists like it was focus-grouped to trigger both sides.

From cable news punchlines to tactical rebrands of identity politics, we trace how poetic truth and gaslighting have collided in a cultural hall of mirrors — where even George Washington might be canceled for minding his own business.

Think of it as a decoder ring for the latest weaponized buzzword… and why you’re probably being played no matter where you stand.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Think First
• 0:26 The "Woke Right" Phenomenon Explained
• 1:19 Origins and Media Reactions
• 2:44 Political Gaslighting in Action
• 4:41 Show Closing and Podcast Promo

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

This is Think First, where we don't follow the script. We question it Because, in a world full of poetic truths and professional gaslighting, someone's got to say the quiet part out loud. Is the word woke still a left-wing slur, or did someone just switch jerseys at halftime and forget to tell the refs? So, apparently, if you oppose foreign wars, ask questions about Ukraine or don't want your tax dollars funding missiles with pronouns on them, congratulations, you might be part of the woke right. Yes, that's a thing now. We'll wait while your eyebrows recalibrate. Yes, that's a thing now. We'll wait while your eyebrows recalibrate. Who decided that woke now includes anyone who hesitates before launching World War III?

Speaker 1: 0:52

Why does this insult work so well on cable news but fall apart after one deep breath? Are we seeing a new movement or just the same consultants testing new insults on a whiteboard? If the right starts canceling people for being insufficiently hawkish, is that still the right or just cosplay authoritarianism in camo? And why does it suddenly feel like George Washington would be labeled too woke for Fox News? Let's rewind the phrase woke right, bubbled up back in 2022. Representative Dan Crenshaw muttered it first, kind of like when your uncle says something half true and half tequila. But it exploded when James Lindsay, a conservative who hates Marxism more than CrossFit guys hate leg day, rewrote the Communist Manifesto in MAGA language and fooled people into thinking it was a new conservative gospel. You can't make this stuff up? Well, actually you can, and he did. Cue the think pieces. The Atlantic said this new woke right obsesses over race, tribe and identity, just like the woke left, but with more tactical vests and fewer preferred pronouns. Meanwhile, msnbc started whispering things like the woke right has replaced the woke left, which is kind of like replacing kale with boiled chicken. Still unpleasant, just differently seasoned. Even Tucker Carlson, in between existential monologues and that thousand-yard stare, mocked the idea that opposing war makes you woke. Mark Levin jumped in, joking that under this logic, george Washington is now part of the woke right, just for saying maybe we should mind our own business. You really can't parody this stuff anymore. They're already doing it for us.

Speaker 1: 2:44

Here's where the gaslighting kicks in, because when both sides call each other woke, the word doesn't clarify, it clouds, it becomes emotional napalm meant to burn, not to illuminate. And somehow we all start debating who's the real cancel culture, cult, instead of asking what matters. Who's actually pulling the strings and why does every one of these labels smell like it was tested in a room full of consultants with their ties half-loosened and a whiteboard that says find a word that pulls worse than communist. So where does that leave us? On one side, the right accuses the left of wokeness. So where does that leave us? On one side, the right accuses the left of wokeness. On the other, the left accuses the right of being woke. And somewhere in the middle, people who just want lower gas prices and a weekend off are wondering how.

Speaker 1: 3:35

Don't Bomb? Iran became an identity crisis. If everything is woke, then nothing is. And if disagreement automatically makes you a Nazi, an anti-Semite or a deep-cover TikTok activist, we're not debating anymore, we're LARPing. Label first, debate later has become the laziest form of political mind control since.

Speaker 1: 3:58

Well, the TSA, the real gaslight here, it's not just the term woke, right? It's the idea that words no longer mean what they meant five minutes ago and that this slippery reality is your fault for noticing. That's not debate, that's disorientation and it's, by design, poetic. Truth means we don't need accuracy, just vibes. And now those vibes come with tactical gear and an America first hashtag.

Speaker 1: 4:27

You don't need all the answers, but you should absolutely question the ones you're handed, especially when they're handed to you wrapped in the same label they used last week on someone else entirely. Until next time, stay skeptical, stay curious and always think first. If this episode made you raise an eyebrow, you're going to want to hear what's coming next. It's called Uncharted, my newest podcast for the conversations that don't fit cleanly in red or blue, fact or fiction, left, right, or even polite company. It's where we go off map. And if you want in head to jimdetchincom and get on the list First to know First to listen First to jimdetchincom and get on the list First to know First to listen First to go uncharted.