Russell Vought has infected the mind of AOC sufficiently to make her laugh at the era during Covid when she stood with others to protest the callous, unlawful, behaviour of police aggression toward many black people.
She accepted she was ‘too woke’ then, saddling this Vought invented term on herself and all other brave and caring people of that time and who continue to battle on against the Kafkaesque Russell Vought death cult.
George Floyd (1973–2020) The death of George Floyd focused global attention on institutional racism and policy brutality. His life was marked by poverty, addiction, and bad decisions.
U.S. President Donald Trump listens to remarks during a swearing-in ceremony for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 18, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
On the second day of the federal government shutdown, President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated video set to the classic song “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult. ……….
……….In the video shared by Trump, Vought appeared as the scythe-wielding Grim Reaper of Washington, D.C……….
1. Vought went from the mail room to becoming the chief antagonist of his own party…….
4. Vought played a surprising role in popularizing the phrase “woke and weaponized.”
In 2021, Vought launched the Center for Renewing America, a think tank devoted to keeping the MAGA movement alive and preparing for a second Trump presidency. According to previously unreported recordings obtained by ProPublica, Vought accepted an assignment from Trump to come up with a way for conservatives to counter Black Lives Matter. He popularized the concept of “woke and weaponized” government — a phrase embraced by GOP politicians and activists to disparagingly label policies, people and even agencies that didn’t fit with the MAGA agenda.
“If you’re watching television and the words ‘woke and weaponized’ come out of a politician’s mouth, you can know that this is coming … from the strategies we’re putting out,” Vought boasted in a recording obtained by ProPublica.
When Vought’s think tank released a federal budget blueprint in 2022, calling for $9 trillion in cuts over 10 years, the word “woke” appeared 77 times across its 103 pages.
To hear Russell Vought speak out of the mouth of a young,potental Democratic presidential candidate, confirming ‘wokeness’ was a true descriptor of the Black Lives Matter movement, was a devastating moment to observe.
If leaders of DSA, an organization of which I am also a member, want to continue to grow as an electoral political home for people who believe these ideas are not only possible, but also worth pursuing, they must know that they are subject to the same lessons they are teaching establishment Democrats right now: do not laugh off the political demands of those who put you in office. For all of what their constituents, canvassers and staffers did as part of a fight on our behalf, is it worth treating years-long radical, Black and multiracial pursuits of freedom as mere pandemic pandemonium? No, it’s not. But more than what we are called by any of them is what we continue to call ourselves. Our own histories, convictions and clarity, not politicians, lead the way.
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
borderslynn 