“I have a local city councilman that has this saying: ‘Woke 1 was crazy,’” the New York congresswoman said on ABC’s “This Week,” before laughing.

Ocasio-Cortez, who once supported defunding the police, went on to suggest Covid had expanded the range of acceptable political discourse. But she said that it’s “not rhetoric that we would use today.”

This might be a politically deft explanation for Ocasio-Cortez and her ilk. But it’s a bad one for the body politic. It continues a troubling trend of major politicians asking Americans not to take the things they say — or more specifically, that they once said — at face value.

The article goes on to describe other politicians laughing it off as a weird or crazy time. Well, it was indeed that, but they said what they said and are responsible. And it’s only gotten weirder and crazier.

More on those years, from Wisconsin’s gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong:

“I had some hot takes, some bad takes on Twitter, but when you’re a business owner running a restaurant during Covid, trying to pay bills as a student, you’re putting feelings out there into the world,”?Hong told Politico. “But I’ve evolved, I’ve learned.”

Yes, she’s learned to dissemble in order to fool voters. She wasn’t trying to appeal to voters back then.

But I’ll leave it to Ami Kozak to give you an idea of what AOC would be saying if she were to be honest. I love this guy:

The post AOC giggles her way to an excuse appeared first on The New Neo.

Here’s how one candidate for the US House of Representatives from Michigan’s 7th District, William Lawrence, dealt with it (the clip is about two and a half minutes long):

William Lawrence’s life story resembles so many other DSA member profiles, although it doesn’t include immigrant parents or having been born in another country. Lawrence was born in Madison, Wisconsin, a deep blue university community, but was raised in East Lansing, Michigan (another university community), son of two law professors at Michigan State University. He graduated from Swarthmore (sociology and anthropolgy degree) – a deeply leftist college – and was a climate activist there and ever since, as well as having been trained in community organizing. And of course, he says Israel has committed genocide.

In that clip of Lawrence explaining his DSA membership lapse, he looks a bit like a deer in the headlights. And yet he managed, in a fairly purple district, to defeat two formidable (and fairly moderate) rival Democrats: Ambassador Bridget Brink and former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam. Brink was an ambassador to Ukraine appointed by Biden, and in her mid-50s as opposed to Lawrence’s 36.

If you look at the primary results, you can see a familiar pattern. Lawrence got less than half: 43.7%, to be exact. But his two opponents split the difference fairly evenly: 28.8% for Brink and 27.6% for Maasdam. What would have happened had one of them dropped out? I can’t say, but there’s certainly a good chance the remaining candidate might have gotten nearly all the other’s votes and beaten Lawrence.

That didn’t happen. Lawrence will go up against Tom Barrett, the GOP incumbent, but it’s considered a swing district.

The post Card-carrying DSA members: more Michigan news appeared first on The New Neo.

Of course, El-Sayed has been eager to deny he’s a socialist or a DSA member; he knows it might scare people off in the general. But funny thing, he’s endorsed by AOC and Bernie Sanders. From the linked interview:

… “[W]hy don’t you consider yourself a member of the democratic socialist movement? Given your proximity in your relationship to all of these officials [AOC and Sanders].”

“Because I’m simply not a socialist,” El-Sayed said. “I believe in science. For me, you got to bring results. I’ve studied a lot of the solutions that I fight for, things like Medicare for All, things like rethinking the way that our financial system implies that corporate CEOs are more interested in a quarterly bottom line than they are in the long-term sustainability of their business.”

Oh, I get it – he’s not a socialist because he’s not a socialist. And because he’s a scientist.

And then there’s this:

Psaki pressed him again and noted that socialists would say that they believe in science as well, saying, “If you’re the nominee, Mike Rogers and the Republicans are going to try to label you as a democratic socialist. You’re going to say you’re not. But I’m saying, help us understand what’s the difference between your version of capitalism and their version of democratic socialism.”

El-Sayed then criticized Rogers, the presumptive Republican nominee for the Michigan Senate race.

“We’re so concerned about what they’re going to say about us that we forget that we also have mouths and can talk about that,” El-Sayed said. “Let’s talk about Mike Rogers. Mike Rogers is the worst kind of corporatist.”

The worst kind of corporatist.

More about El-Sayed and the DSA:

El-Sayed has attended Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) events over the years.

Between 2017 and 2020, El-Sayed attended and spoke at six events held by the DSA, including a 2019 fundraiser which he headlined. El-Sayed has distanced himself from the DSA in interviews and has previously outright rejected being labeled as a “socialist.”

“I’m not technically or practically DSA,” El-Sayed told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month. In an interview with CNN, he similarly stated that “I am not somebody who is a socialist. I believe in capitalism, I just believe that capitalism has to be regulated.”

Let’s just call him a leftist who is favored by Democratic Socialists and very close to them.

Back to that poll on Democrats who support DSA. Some of their apparent characteristics:

According to CNN’s poll, Democratic-aligned Americans who identify as democratic socialists:

Tend to be younger (59% are younger than 45, compared to 46% of non-democratic socialists aligned with the Democratic Party) and are more likely to be White (57% to 49%)

Are less likely to have a college degree (66% to 54%) and more likely to earn less than $100,000 a year (76% to 65%)

Are more likely to say they are extremely motivated to vote this year (66% of those who are registered voters say so, compared to 57% for non-democratic socialists), though both groups overwhelmingly support Democratic congressional candidates (99% of democratic socialists and 94% of non-democratic socialists).

It’s not the least bit surprising that they’re young and that they’re white. What does surprise me is that they are less likely to have college degrees. It’s also not at all surprising that they are highly motivated to vote, which I believe is key in leading to these far-leftist primary victories.

Many Democrats are alarmed at this development. I wonder whether they’re alarmed because they find the viewpoints of the Mamdanis and the El-Sayeds of this world alarming, or whether their alarm is just that they think such candidates will end up losing to Republicans in elections in any city, district, or state that isn’t already deep blue. I think it’s the latter, especially based on that last quoted paragraph, which indicates that both the DSA supporters and non-supporters will almost certainly be voting for whatever candidate has a “D” after his or her name, radical or not.

I’ve read that some Republicans are crossing over to vote in the primaries for the most radical Democrats in the race, thinking that person will be easier to beat in the general. That seems especially dangerous to me for obvious reasons: don’t think you are able to predict that these candidates will be losers. Their supporters are exceptionally motivated to vote. Don’t discount the possibility of fraud, either, especially in the large blue cities.

The post And the Democratic nominee for senator from Michigan is … appeared first on The New Neo.

From this:

Former Republican Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene posted a photo this past weekend of herself, Tucker Carlson and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., along with the statement that “the movement has come.”

Last month, Carlson said he was planning to create a new political party, the Columbia Journalism Review reported.

Greene’s photo, posted on X on Saturday, featured the three, who have been sidelined over their opposition to President Trump’s agenda and suggests discussions on a third party are continuing.

Greene in particular, but Massie as well, are personally aggrieved at Trump. I’ve dealt with Kent in this previous post. How did Kent get in there? It has to do with this photo at Carlson’s home; they’re all sitting around a dining table, beaming. You can see the photo here if you have X:

We said no more foreign wars and we meant it and supported Donald Trump because he made that promise.
But he’s betrayed us all.
Our commitment is America First for all Americans, right, left, and center.
The movement has begun. pic.twitter.com/mZXadw0kBr

— Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene?? (@FmrRepMTG) August 1, 2026

Someone in the responses there posted an AI version:

pic.twitter.com/lXNrB5rhqo

— mallen2024 (@mallen20243) August 1, 2026

This group does have followers, but how many are US voters and how many of those were ever going to vote Republican anyway is completely unknown. I see the Carlson crew as motivated by revenge and power – people who find it more fun to destroy than to be powerless. It’s easier to destroy, too; you can be a spoiler with far fewer supporters when a political race is otherwise very close. Their goals short-term are similar to the goals of the NeverTrumpers in previous elections, such as the members of The Bulwark, although their positions are not identical.

Long-term, the Carlson wing probably does want to be more than spoilers. Long-term, they have more grandiose visions.

The post The anti-Trump crew on the “right” plan to go third party appeared first on The New Neo.

The post Fascinating discussion of voter fraud, the SAVE Act, and the filibuster appeared first on The New Neo.

Former U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, will serve as interim U.S. senator to finish his term following his death.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster made the appointment Monday, one day after Graham died. …

Graham became Nordone’s legal guardian after their parents died and later adopted her when she was 13 years old.

Before her appointment, Nordone worked with the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department and has served as Commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind since 2019.

Nordone, a resident of Lexington, serves on the SC State Workforce Development Board and is the president-elect of the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the College of Charleston, a Master of Arts in Rehabilitation Counseling, and is a Certified Public Manager.

She sounds like a very capable person, and they were extremely close. She sometimes helped him on the campaign trail.

This appointment also has the advantage of filling the position for the next few months with someone who is likely (although not certain) to lack permanent political ambitions. Since the election is in November, it should give room to others to campaign in a special election primary that will be held in mid-August.

Here’s her statement:

The post Lindsey Graham’s replacement will be his younger sister appeared first on The New Neo.

Sen. Mitch McConnell on Sunday broke his silence on his hospital stay with a statement issued by his office claiming he fell but didn’t suffer a stroke or heart attack — and it included a photo of the politician smiling for extra measure. …

The Kentucky pol suffered “minor injuries” in his fall but then contracted pneumonia, which complicated his health situation, the statement said.

“My doctors have confirmed that I didn’t break any bones or suffer a concussion. I didn’t have a heart attack or a stroke. I don’t have any tumors or hemorrhages,” McConnell said in the statement.

“But I was briefly unconscious and was taken to the hospital. While receiving excellent care over the past several weeks, I’ve also had to deal with a mild case of pneumonia.”

McConnell’s doctors attributed his fall to his post-polio condition. At the age of 2, he contracted polio, and since then, his upper left leg has suffered from paralysis.

The Office of the Attending Physician for the senator added, “Early in his hospitalization, he developed pneumonia, which responded rapidly to antibiotic treatment.

“The remainder of his hospital stay focused on physical therapy and strategies to reduce his risk of future falls. He has been medically cleared to continue fully participating in his intensive physical therapy program.”

This all makes a certain amount of sense except for a couple of things. The first is that, if he never had a concussion, why was he “briefly unconscious”? That hasn’t been explained at all. Second, his physical condition is probably worse than the statement indicates if he’s still in inpatient rehab and deemed unable to go to the Senate even to vote.

The post The turtle peeks out from its shell: McConnell releases a message appeared first on The New Neo.

Enjoy:

RIP Bonnie Tyler.

Speaking of kinky male heroes, it reminds me of the dilemma facing the Democrat Party, one that Graham Platner’s candidacy spotlighted. Some people wonder why Platner was chosen in the first place to run for office, and pushed by certain factions who thought he’d be a good candidate. I think the answer isn’t obscure: he was their designated working-class hero. At least, he could be presented that way. Because it’s all about casting. And sometimes an actor has to be replaced while the play is still in production.

Democrats have lost many members of a demographic that used to be a goodly portion of their base: white, male, working class. They don’t need those votes in deep blue states or cities, and are free to run rich Communists with a foreign background such as Mamdani. But in purple ones and in nationwide elections it’s a riskier proposition, although it can still happen (see Michigan and El-Sayed; but Michigan has a particularly large Muslim voting bloc). But Democratss would very much like to have those white working-class men voting for them everywhere.

Thus, you had the nomination of the abominable Tim Walz as Harris’s VP. It was an effort that failed because Walz was a leftist’s idea of a masculine guy, but he fell very short of that and just came across as weird (a descriptor he used for J. D. Vance but that fit Walz far better).

Vance, by the way, really did start out as a white working-class guy – or even more poor than that – but rose higher by dint of brains and hard work.

Initially Platner must have seemed like a good solution to the problem. Male, “oyster farmer,” young, tattooed, veteran, Maine native, possessed of a rugged quality. A leftist who didn’t look like a leftist. For a while he polled quite well against Susan Collins, who is old and female and has been in office for a gazillion years. But Platner had a past, and the past wasn’t all that long ago.

Who chose Platner? Like most of these working-class heroes and foreign academic Communists, he was chosen by people whose specialty it is to find them and back them:

Welp… pic.twitter.com/e3TgHWaf9T

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 10, 2026

It’s about one of these “finders,” Daniel Moraff. The Times article said, “He looks for a particular type: military veterans with blue-collar jobs and no electoral experience but an interest in politics and (typically) labor unions.”

Next in line in Maine for the role seems to be Troy Jackson. The difference is that he really is from a working-class background and really was a logger, although he lacks a history of military service. He also has been a Maine politician for about twenty-five years and was the president of the Maine Senate. However, he’s got the usual political baggage, in his case that he was originally an abortion-opposing and same-sex-marriage-opposing Republican and switched both his party and his positions. There’s also this:

Jackson initially maintained a close political alliance with Platner, with the two frequently appearing at campaign rallies together and running in a ranked-choice voting alliance during the 2026 primary cycle. However, after multiple scandals involving Platner, including allegations that he raped a former girlfriend, Jackson has distanced himself from Platner.

On Israel, Jackson adheres to the requisite Democrat Party line:

“Anybody with eyes and a heart knows the Israeli government is committing genocide in Gaza. It has to end, and we as Americans have the power to end it.” Jackson added that he will “never vote in favor of US taxpayer-funded military aid to Israel” as a senator.

The article says that’s the first time he’s spoken much publicly about Israel, and it happened yesterday. Funny thing, that – he’s hopping on the bandwagon in an attempt to replace Platner. Jackson is also backed by Hasan Piker and Bernie Sanders. The same article helpfully lists the other contenders for the nomination as well, and mentions their attitudes on the Israel question. They exhibit different degrees of anti-Israel sentiment. But only one candidate seems to be supportive of the country, and that’s Shenna Bellows, the secretary of state of Maine.

One more thing about Troy Jackson – this allegation has emerged:

A progressive advocacy group on Tuesday accused former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson of striking a female colleague with a bottle he threw during a state Senate caucus dispute years ago, complicating his emergence as the leading Democrat contender to replace Graham Platner on the November ballot against Republican Sen. Susan Collins. …

In a post on X, the group said Jackson, “in a heated disagreement, struck a female colleague with a bottle he threw at her” during a caucus meeting when he served as Senate president, and it described the episode as “a widespread open secret” in Maine politics that was “not an isolated incident.”

The group conceded that people close to Jackson were denying the account.

The Democrats have until July 27 to make a decision. It will be the Party regulars of Maine who will choose Platner’s successor. They have an interesting task ahead – how to thread the needle.

[NOTE: If anyone’s interested in how it is that Platner can be on total disability from the service, here’s an article about that.]

The post The Democrats are holding out for a hero in Maine appeared first on The New Neo.

Micky Kaus pointed out that Platner “has the leverage. All he has to do to screw the Dem party is… nothing.” And my RedState colleague Bonchie described the Left’s “nuclear levels of cope” over their rapey Nazi: “He’s a mentally disturbed do-nothing who works for his mom. He doesn’t care about the party. Why would he? And there is no mechanism to forcibly remove him.”

You lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.

Platner seems like the kind of guy who likes to throw his weight around, and not just with women. Right now he’s the nominee, although the Democrats would like to forget that inconvenient truth.

From Devon Murphy-Anderson, the Executive Director of the Maine Democratic Party:

“We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Platner’s team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like,” she noted. “We have also reiterated that Graham Platner must drop out of this race so that Democrats in Maine can focus on defeating Susan Collins this November.”

No, neither Platner nor his “team” has a role in determining the next Democratic nominee from Maine for the US Senate. But he certainly as a role – a big one – in determining who is the present Democratic nominee from Maine for the US Senate, because at present he is that nominee and he can’t be forced out. Murphy-Anderson speaks of the “process” but acts as thought that process is that she will tell Platner what to do. But he’s not a party animal – that is, he’s not a Party animal. So he doesn’t need to do it – unless they make him an offer he doesn’t wish to refuse, whether it be money or status.

As I wrote yesterday:

… I think there’s at least a decent possibility that he’s such a narcissist, so tremendously full of himself and arrogant, that he might even refuse to drop out at all.

However, Platner doesn’t actually hold all the cards here. The Democrats have one huge card – at least, as far as I can tell – which is the threat of prosecution for rape. I looked up the statute of limitations in Maine for the crime, and although the law is fairly complex in that it depends on certain elements of the crime, it’s pretty clear that – since the incident is alleged to have occurred in 2021 – there is plenty of time to prosecute.

However, because this case rests almost entirely on the testimony of the alleged victim, she would have to agree to testify. That could be a stumbling block.

The post Will Platner stay or will he go? appeared first on The New Neo.

That would be quite something to see. After all, if you promote a scumbag, you have to deal with a scumbag.

So now I see this NY Post article. An excerpt:

Maine Democratic candidate Graham Platner appears to be holding the Democratic Party hostage — refusing to drop out after he was accused of rape unless he gets to approve his successor to run for the Senate, The Post has learned.

A source familiar with the campaign discussions said Platner, his campaign and political strategist Morris Katz are deliberating about the Maine Democrat dropping out but only if his replacement shares his left-wing values.

So the report is that he’s making demands and threatening not to drop out if they’re not met. Nice.

It certainly makes sense that the powers-that-be would like someone more moderate, in order to appeal to the somewhat purple state of Maine. Then again, Collins is pretty moderate herself. But my point is that Platner knows he has some power here and is loathe to give it up.

Needless to say, there’s been a ton of coverage of Platner in the last 24 hours, much of it about how the Democrats supported him till the current revelations about rape. Not date-rape, but what Whoopi Goldberg might or might not refer to as “rape-rape.”

Ace has a good summary of how the NY Times did a limited modified hang-out a while back by trying to get ahead of the rape and assault allegations without actually covering them truthfully. Rather, they mostly covered them up. It’s a long and involved post, but here’s some of it to give you the flavor:

The New York Times Knew All About Graham Platner’s Rape Allegation But Deliberately Buried It …

They also buried the allegations of non-rape abuse by Lyndsey Fifield — and she says she gave them the names of five friends who would corroborate the story (at least as far as her telling the same story contemporaneously).

Two of those friends, she told them, didn’t know about the abuse, but could corroborate the dates of their relationship. The other three could corroborate the abuse.

The New York Times chose to only contact the two friends Fifield expressly told them could not corroborate the abuse. They didn’t contact the three who could corroborate the abuse, deliberately.

Then the Times wrote that they contacted two friends “who could not corroborate” Fifield’s claims of abuse.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that the people who write at the Times are stupid. They may be both knaves and fools in the classic sense, but they are not stupid and they know how to write exactly what they want to write.

There’s also a good piece in National Review in terms of a summary of what went wrong with Platner. But it has a flaw that I’ve noticed is present in just about every article I’ve read from the right about Platner, an omission that puzzles me.

For example, here’s a quote from that link:

If Platner fooled you [he’s addressing reporters on the left], maybe you should find something to do with your life besides writing columns about politics. Because the U.S. political landscape is full of creeps, cretins, con artists, crooks, and cads of every kind, and it always will be. If the media has any useful role to play in our system, it is to look beyond the spin and the campaign-crafted image and to tell the world who these candidates really are, warts and all, so the electorate can make an informed choice.

Talk about an idealistic vision! The point is that Platner did not fool them, not for a single moment. Nor will they ever “look beyond the spin.” They proudly create the spin. There is no devotion to the principle of truth. It’s about winning, period.

What’s more, this story did not come out now in the interests of truth. It came out now because Democrats and the MSM (redundancy, I know) realized Platner almost certainly would lose. So they had to torpedo him. They had held back the rape story not only to protect him till now, but to use in case they needed it in the future. Now they need it, so it’s printed. I think it’s just as simple as that.

And so you have a flood of people (take a look here) suddenly saying he has to go, people who defended him mightily till now. I repeat: it’s not the result of the story itself. The story being revealed is the result of the polls. The outrage at Platner’s behavior is the result of the polls. That’s all it is. Now, maybe they were outraged and worried even earlier, but they had to keep their mouths shut and pretend to defend him, all in the interests of winning. Once he no longer was a winner, they’re free to suddenly virtue-signal about him.

[ADDENDUM: The allegations have gotten worse.

How could that be, you ask? Here’s how:

One of Graham Platner’s ex-girlfriends alleged Tuesday that the embattled Maine Democrat repeatedly removed his condom during sex without asking permission.

“He would pull condoms off,” Lyndsey Fifield said in an interview with the Washington Post. “He would do it in a sneaky way. He wouldn’t tell me.”

“I confronted him both during and after [sex] because he knew that I was not on birth control and how dangerous that was,” Fifield added. “He would act like cute about it, like ‘Oh sneaky me.’”

Actually, I’m not sure that’s worse than breaking and entering and rape. Then again, it’s pretty bad.

However, a caveat the left will no doubt point out is that this allegation is by the Republican ex-girlfriend, not the “progressive” one. So it’s more suspect, as far as they’re concerned.

My own question is why, after he did this, would anyone continue to see him or sleep with him? She said it happened six times. And he’s not so compelling a specimen; he’s a pretty repellent guy even without this kind of sleazy conduct, as far as I can see.

Then again, Sylvia Plath may have had it right – at least, about some women but certainly not all:

… I have always been scared of you,
With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.
And your neat mustache
And your Aryan eye, bright blue.
Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You——

Not God but a swastika
So black no sky could squeak through.
Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.]

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