‘Based’ as the New Woke
America is currently threatened by a “Woke Right,” according to moderate conservatives and liberals. The term was popularized by anti-woke propagandist James Lindsay in his disputes with the New Right. Lindsay accuses his right-wing foes of being just as identity-minded, socialist, and tyrannical as the woke. “They’re using moral shaming, purity tests, and social media pile-ons to enforce loyalty, often targeting ‘fellow conservatives’ who don’t toe the line. They initiate purity spirals about being “right-wing” enough and punish conservatives who don’t go along enthusiastically,” he declared in a pamphlet co-written with “Grokkus Babeuf.”
The term has caught on. The New York Times released a video last weekend claiming the Right “has gone woke.” The caption stated:
Language policing. Cancel culture. Victimhood contests and cultural grievances. Despite attacking the left for partaking in such practices, there’s an emerging set of individuals on the right who have became exactly what they’ve criticized. Meet the woke right.
This is a dumb rhetorical point. “You claim to hate woke, yet you act pretty WOKE!” This argument is only possible when woke isn’t properly understood and just means “speech police.” Rarely is woke defined, but it can be. I offered a definition back in May:
It’s the belief that America exhibits systemic inequalities and only radical measures can solve them. Even if America no longer has segregation, it’s still inherently racist towards blacks and other minorities. It also disfavors women and gays. For the woke, whiteness is America’s cardinal sin–and it demands a purge.
By this definition, there is no Woke Right. The claim that the Right is now doing cancel culture and “victimhood contests” in the same tenor as the Left is asinine and not even worth contemplating. There is no comparison between the Left imposing DEI on our society and conservatives tarnishing a few leftists who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s death.
But there is something within the Right that operates in a similar manner as woke did for the Left. It’s BASED.
From the mid-2010s until the nadir of the Biden presidency, most liberal commentators and Democratic politicians wanted to be considered woke. They wanted to let their activists know that they were very progressive and down with the latest cause. This led to the insanity of the 2020 primary where the Democrats competed for who would be the most pro-reparations, most pro-trans, and most anti-cop. By the 2024 election, Democrats realized wokeness killed them with voters and pretended they never said the things they once embraced. The same happened with liberal columnists who pretended they never condemned America as white supremacist, endorsed open borders, and supported toppling the statues of Founding Fathers.
Ordinary Americans didn’t think “All Lives Matter” was a racist slogan. But the activists did, and they skewered politicians like Martin O’Malley who dared say it. The forgotten presidential candidate effectively buried his chances when he said those words before a left-wing audience in 2015. O’Malley was confused by the overwhelmingly hostile response. He was unaware of the new woke rules he was supposed to follow. 2020 presidential hopefuls didn’t make the same mistake.
Being woke was a good way for a Democratic politician to get clout, especially online.
The push for woke was not something emanating from the masses. Regular citizens weren’t demanding anti-white lessons in elementary school and drag queen story hour in every public library. This came from activists, journalists, and the culture of the Online Left. Social media and BuzzFeed were more responsible for the woke shift than traditional Democratic constituencies like labor unions and black churches. The new media environment of the 2010s allowed a fringe group to punch above its weight thanks to its ability to spread and control information.
A similar dynamic is now arising between the GOP and the Online Right. A number of Republican politicians and conservative operators want to appear BASED in the eyes of shitposters. This new dynamic allows the Online Right a tremendous level of influence. Unlike what the critics claim, it’s a positive development. In the past, Republicans and Conservative Inc. figures worked hard to please liberal reporters and tried to be moderates. Now many of them want to please the online sphere, and that requires them to be BASED.
There is no clear definition of BASED like there is for woke. One knows it when one sees it. Deporting lots of immigrants? BASED. Arresting leftists? BASED. Giving Afrikaners refugee status? BASED. DHS posting memes? BASED.
Generally, BASED is doing something that really upsets the Left. Anti-leftism is the core position of the modern American Right, so it makes sense that this defines BASED.
Republican politicians and conservative commentators want the credibility of BASED. This leads them to post a lot of edgy memes, defend causes (such as Shiloh Hendrix) that they would have previously condemned, advocate for an immigration moratorium, and call for mass arrests of leftists. These figures realize that the online sphere directs a lot of the energy of the Right. The BASED far outstrip the cuckservatives in virality and potency. It gets way more traction to tweet “We’re a nation, not an economy” than to declare America a “nation of immigrants.”
Those who share cucked views face the wrath of the BASED. In the same way a Democrat couldn’t say America isn’t a racist country or All Lives Matter, Republicans and conservatives learn they can’t extol mass immigration or minority aggrandizement without a backlash. Republicans who posted Diwali messages this week were ratioed. Senate Majority Leader John Thune was ripped apart online for celebrating South Dakota’s Native American Day instead of Columbus Day last week. Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett was pilloried for celebrating Indian immigration last summer, which even prompted him to respond to the uproar.
This fear of a BASED backlash works. A number of prominent right-wing figures proudly refused to condemn the Young Republican leaders involved in the group chat leak scandal. A few years ago, these same people would’ve fallen over themselves to loudly condemn these people as evil and racist. Now, many (but not all) shrug their shoulders and say the Left is far worse. You can see this in real-time in this clip featuring Charlie Kirk executive producer Andrew Kolvet denying the demand to condemn in a debate with a liberal. It should be noted he was more awkward rather than assertive in his refusal. It was like Kolvet was figuring out what to do, but he at least knew condemning would not be BASED. It’s the same process Democrats underwent when they tried to figure out how to be woke.
The critics who bemoan the Woke Right warn it will doom the GOP and restore the Woke Left’s fortunes. I’m skeptical. The public is far more supportive of mass deportation than it was of open borders. Americans aren’t demanding a return of white privilege training. Trump’s efforts against affirmative action are fully in line with mainstream opinion. The public is no longer worked up about random outrage stories like the YR chat leaks. BASED proving as politically toxic as woke, so far, has not been proven.
BASED, like woke, does not reflect mainstream opinion. What’s said on X is not how ordinary Americans think. But that doesn’t mean it will cripple the GOP. The economy matters more than what right-wingers post on X. There’s unlikely to be as big of a public backlash to BASED in the way there was for woke. Unless corporate HR departments start firing people for refusing to acknowledge the greatness of whiteness and schools start teaching Madison Grant’s racial theories, ordinary people are not going to come in direct contact with BASED like they did with woke. It remains something online and out of mind.
There’s nothing wrong with a small group pushing a major party into a radical direction, so long as its ideas are good. BASED is good. Woke is bad. And it’s a whitepill to see BASED take over the Right.