White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller tore into Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Wednesday over her recent comments about the so-called “woke 1” era, arguing that the consequences of those policies were devastating and have not simply disappeared.
Appearing on Fox News’ “The Will Cain Show,” Miller pushed back on the idea that the period could now be dismissed or treated lightly, pointing to what he described as the real-world consequences of “woke” ideology.
“The result, the wages of that policy, were a historic increase in murders until President Trump came along. A historic increase in shootings. Dead bodies, drug overdoses, gangs run amok, citizens living in fear, public spaces ceded to violent, thuggish, armed robbers. That was the policy,” Miller said.
Miller argued that the human consequences were far too serious to be treated as something politicians could simply laugh about in retrospect.
“We’re all going to have a good laugh about that? ‘Sorry your husband was murdered.’ ‘Sorry your mom was killed.’ ‘Sorry your loved ones are six feet under the ground now.’ We’re going to have a good laugh about that?” Miller said.
“It’s sickening, it’s disgusting and the thing is, it never stopped,” he added.
Miller’s comments came after Ocasio-Cortez discussed former Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong’s previous positions during a Sunday interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl.
Karl questioned the New York Democrat about Hong’s past statements and positions, including her push for Americans to “cancel Thanksgiving.”
Ocasio-Cortez said Hong had since “moved away from it” and referenced a phrase used by a local New York City Council member.
“And I have a local city councilman that has this saying that ‘woke 1 was crazy,’” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And I think that what’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now.”
Karl pressed Ocasio-Cortez further, asking whether the broader movement had gone “too far” with some of the ideas that were being promoted at the time.
Ocasio-Cortez pointed to the circumstances surrounding the COVID era, arguing that the shutdowns and accompanying economic conditions dramatically expanded the range of policies people were willing to consider.
“Well, you know, I think that during this time and during, especially during COVID, there was a huge opening of the Overton window,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
She noted that the country was shut down and experiencing some of the highest unemployment rates it had seen because of those shutdowns.
“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,” she said.
Miller, however, rejected the notion that the era and its consequences could simply be left behind, insisting Wednesday that the effects of those policies remain serious and should not be treated as a joke.
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