Dems being advised to cut out ‘woke words’ they tried forcing everyone to use is a rich irony

The Dems have a novel strategy as they look towards 2028: sound normal.

This comes from a new policy memo, published online by left-leaning think tank Third Way, that suggested politicians scrap 44 words — such as “privilege,” “cultural appropriation,” “the unhoused,” “birthing person,” “Latinx” and “justice-involved” — from from their vocabulary ASAP.

Dems are a little late in realizing that everyday Americans are turned off by the academic gobbledygook that’s been coming out of politicians’ mouths. 

The great irony is, after years of policing everyone else’s speech to enforce the standards of wokeness, Democrats now need to speech-police each other to sound less woke — that is, if they want to stop hemorrhaging popular support.

The memo breaks down alienating language into six categories, the first of which is “therapy speak.” Third Way advises that these words — such as “triggering,” “safe space,” “holding space,” “body shaming” and “centering” — condescendingly imply to voters that “I’m more empathetic than you.”

Similarly, “seminar room language,” the report claims, suggests “I’m smarter and more concerned about important issues than you” and “your kitchen table concerns are small.”

The terms that communicate that message include “subverting norms,” “systems of oppression,” “critical theory” and “Overton Window.”

This is the very sort of language that reveals that Democrats are no longer the party of the underdog. They have taken up the side — and the language — of the educated elite.

The report also advises getting rid of terms that suggest one is “beholden to groups, not individuals” and that “people have no agency,” such as “radical transparency,” “stakeholders,” “food insecurity,” “housing insecurity,” and “person who immigrated.”

Explaining away crime is also a no-no, according to the report. Terms that suggest “the criminal is the victim” and “the victim is an afterthought” include “justice-involved,” “carceration,” “incarcerated people,” and “involuntary confinement.”

Kamala Harris has been known to use some of these now-banned phrases, including “incarcerated people” and “unhoused.”

Third Way additionally suggests dodging any language that communicates to voters that “you will be called a racist if you do not use the latest and correct terminology,” such as “BIPOC,” “allyship” and “intersectionality.”

Similarly, language that suggests voters’ “views on traditional gender and gender roles are quaint at best” must also go.They include “inseminated person,” “chest feeding,” “cisgender,” “heteronormative” and “LGBTQIA+.”

“Much of the language above is a red flag for a sizable segment of the American public,” the report asserts. “It is not because they are bigots, but because they fear cancellation, doxing, or trouble with HR if they make a mistake. Or they simply don’t understand what these terms mean and become distrustful of those who use them.”

Even progressive nighttime host Jimmy Kimmel has come around to the same conclusion, saying of his own side on a podcast earlier this month: “It’s the loud voices that scare people from saying what they believe … A lot of their points are valid, but a lot of them are also just repulsive, in that they repel people. They go like, ‘Oh, you’re no fun. I don’t want to be around you.’”

This is all entirely true … but it might be too little too late.

Everyday voters are fed up with years of finger-wagging and language policing, and the left has finally woken up to this reality. It only took two Trump victories — thanks in no small part to a growing multiethnic coalition — to wake them up.

The Democrats have ceaselessly poked fun at President Trump’s simple diction since he ran for office a decade ago, but by doing so they’ve ignored an important insight: The American people would rather elect someone who sounds like a family member at their kitchen table than a humanities professor at a liberal arts college.

“We got to talk to people like real human beings,” Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear told Politico in February. “We’ve sanitized different language so significantly that, you know, people don’t feel like we’re talking to them … It’s hard to communicate when you’re not using some normal language.”

Perhaps more Democrats will have the balls to stand up to the woke scolds in their own party. Maybe such resounding defeat and plummeting polling numbers will be a wakeup call. But, so far, the party has succumbed to fear of the mob and allowed the squeakiest wheels to seize control.