How the woke right gained power in the US
The term has grown in prominence since Donald Trump returned to the White House

"I know you are, but what am I?" It's an insult that has long echoed around school playgrounds, but it is now being heard in political circles, too.
After years of the right insulting what it calls the "woke left" by charging it with cancelling opponents, focusing on identity politics, and imagining the world is rigged against it, a so-called "woke right" is now being accused of much the same tendencies.
An ideological doppelganger
The phrase "woke right" started "appearing with frequency" in 2022, said John McWhorter in the New York Times, and became "especially well entrenched" at the end of last year. This means rather than "applying specifically" to the "concerns" of the left, woke can now refer to any "conspiracy-focused" and "punitive orientation" to social change.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Like its "antithesis on the left", the woke right places "identity grievance, ethnic consciousness" and "tribal striving" at the centre of its "behaviour and thought", said Thomas Chatterton Williams in The Atlantic. In doing so, it tells white, male right-wing Americans that "they are the country's real victims".
So "woke right" is a "kind of ideological doppelganger", argued Andrew Doyle on his Substack, whose adherents "exhibit the same precisionist" and "absolutist tendencies" of their "leftist counterparts".
No tolerance for opposing views
An election campaign promise of Donald Trump was that he would "free Americans" from "ever having to worry about saying the wrong thing again", said Chatterton Williams. Yet, following his return to the White House, we "hardly find ourselves enjoying a culture of free speech" or "tolerance for opposing views".
Instead, the newly elected president has done the opposite of what he promised and "banned words" related to "gender and diversity", even employing "the force of the government" to enforce the bans.
Meanwhile, in Britain the "kerfuffle" about the "woke right" is only played out online for now, wrote Gareth Roberts for The Spectator, because here, "for the foreseeable" at least, there's "no chance" of the right "getting anywhere near the actual levers of power".
Still obsessed with identity
Not everyone is thrilled by the new term. Not surprisingly, it has "riled denizens of the internet" with "chiselled jaws" and "flinty conservative opinions", wrote Kathleen Stock for UnHerd, who are "outraged" at the "very idea" of it.
But, "to the extent that there is an anti-woke backlash", said Daniel Hannan in The Telegraph, all signs point to it being as "intolerant, unthinking and collectivist" as the trend it "dislikes". The woke right is "still obsessed with identity", but with the "goodies and baddies" labels "switched".
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
ICE: Targeting essential workers
Feature After a brief pause, the Trump administration resumes its mass deportation plan
-
'No Kings': A turning point for the resistance?
Feature Millions of Americans nationwide took to the streets to protest against the Trump administration
-
Trump: Making the military into a 'partisan militia'?
Feature Donald Trump held a military parade just days after sending troops to stop protests in Los Angeles
-
US assessing bomb damage to Iran nuclear sites
Speed Read Trump claims this weekend's US bombing obliterated Tehran's nuclear program, while JD Vance insists the US is 'not at war with Iran'
-
Is the US sliding into autocracy?
Talking Point Donald Trump's use of federal troops on home ground, dismissal of dissent and 'braggadocious' military posturing are all symptoms of a shifting political culture
-
Court allows National Guard in LA as Dodgers repel feds
Speed Read The team said they 'denied entry' to ICE agents seeking to enter their stadium
-
'Is it even possible to enjoy a trip without contributing to the problem?'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump ramps up Iran threats, demands 'surrender'
Speed Read Trump met with his top aides in the Situation Room on Tuesday