There will probably be a lot of analysis in the upcoming weeks about the extent that Wokeness is responsible for the inroads that Donald Trump (of all people) has made with minority groups. Here’s a preview: most mainstream sources will largely discount that possibility, because wokeness has risen to a level of religious faith in those circles, that cannot possibly fail to produce favorable results, much less be incorrect on its face.
But even if some bold analyst goes so far as to say, “Yea, this is important, but the Democratic Party just needs to tone down the way it talks about it,” that is not going to be possible. Wokeness is too deeply rooted in a theory that posits that the “framing of the discourse” is the root of power and influence, and in that mindset to give ground in that framing is to relinquish that influence. If you have a legitmate or credibile authority to frame the discourse, you do indeed have great influence (as a college professor teaching a class for example). But what I think is unaccounted for is the fact that people don’t take too well to having that framing forced upon them by what they would see as illigitimate authorities.