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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., dismissed her and other socialist politicians’ past extreme controversial comments on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, joking that the “Woke 1” era was “crazy.”
Host Jon Karl asked Ocasio-Cortez to comment on Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong and her controversial comments, such as calling for Thanksgiving to be canceled or for prisons to be abolished. Hong has sought to backtrack on some of her past views as she seeks the Democratic nomination in her state.
“I have a local city councilman that has this saying, ‘Woke 1 was crazy,'” Ocasio-Cortez said laughing, adding, “And I think that what’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now.”
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Rep. Alexandria Oacsio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was asked about controversial past statements by socialist candidates. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
Karl followed by asking if there was a point where the socialist movement went “too far,” remarking that Ocasio-Cortez had previously supported defunding the police as well. Ocasio-Cortez clarified that most of these comments were made during the height of the COVID shutdowns with people more open to change.
“And I think that the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place. And I actually think that the discussions that were had in that time were quite fruitful,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
She added, “I think that when we talk about crime today, it’s fundamentally different than the way that we talked about crime in bringing crime down, right? And I think that we all share the goals of having as low a crime rate as possible. I think that during lockdown, of course, rhetoric in that time is not rhetoric that we would use today. And I’m grateful that these candidates have the opportunity to present who they are to their electorate, and what they’re campaigning on in this moment.”
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Karl added that the national program for the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), an organization behind several rising Democratic politicians, including AOC, still lists abolishing the police as a position. Ocasio-Cortez responded that she is currently a member of the New York City chapter of the DSA rather than the national organization and does not agree with all its positions.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., previously supported efforts to “defund the police” in 2020. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez and the DSA for comment.
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Though Ocasio-Cortez was previously endorsed by the DSA throughout her political career, the democratic socialist has now caused infighting among the organization in recent years.
In 2024, the group withdrew its endorsement of Ocasio-Cortez’s re-election, citing that she had not met its conditions, including opposing all funding to Israel and publicly supporting boycott and sanctions for the country.
The Democratic Socialists of America have pulled its support for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in recent years. (Getty Images)
More recently, the group was split on whether to offer an early endorsement of Ocasio-Cortez for the 2028 presidential election, according to Canary Mission.
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Despite tensions within the DSA about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a spokesperson for Canary Mission told Digital last month that an AOC presidency would still “give that movement more than influence: it would give its agenda access to the full power of the executive branch.”
‘ Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
