Radical-left activist and former politician Nina Turner is being widely mocked online after claiming anyone asserting to be a woman is one and the concept is not a “tough” one to comprehend.
The ordeal began on Saturday after Turner, a one-time Ohio state senator who cochaired Bernie Sanders’ failed 2020 campaign, called on 2024 presidential hopeful Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to “define woke” in light of his recent declaration of “war” on the radical ideology.
“As president, I recognize that the woke mind virus represents a war on the truth so we will wage a war on the woke,” DeSantis said at an Iowa campaign event over the weekend, in a speech resembling former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s during World War II.
“We will fight the woke in education, we will fight the woke in corporations, we will fight the woke in the halls of congress,” he added.
“Hey @RonDeSantis, please define woke,” Turner replied on Twitter. “And don’t use that ‘cultural Marxism’ line because that means nothing.”
“If you’re going to have a ‘war’ on something, say what you mean,” she added.
After one user called on Turner to first define the term “woman,” the Sanders’ campaign cochair asserted, “If someone says they’re a woman, they’re a woman.”
“Not a tough concept,” she added.
In response, many took to Twitter to ridicule the former Democrat state senator’s stance.
“I identify as a werewolf,” mocked conservative journalist Ian Miles Cheong.
“I’m a black woman. Period,” wrote evolutionary behavior scientist Dr. Gad Saad.
“Does this work if someone says they are black? Why or why not?” asked podcast host Stephen L. Miller.
“A biological man saying he’s a woman is not a ‘concept’; it’s insanity,” wrote Darrell B. Harrison.
“If someone says they’re Napoleon Buonaparte, does that make them Napoleon Buonaparte?” asked conservative filmmaker and author Dinesh D’Souza.
“The party of science weighs in,” wrote one Twitter user.
“Do you hold the same standard if someone says they’re black?” asked conservative writer and commentator Chad Felix Greene.
“You should be mocked relentlessly for this nonsense,” wrote Twitter user John Galt.
“What is a mass wake-up call event that could occur that would put an end to this ridiculousness?” wrote former congressional candidate Barrington Martin II.
“I know Nina doesn’t believe this, but the fact that she’s so willing to acquiesce to this mental illness shows how prevalent it is,” he added.
When asked by NBC correspondent Dasha Burns to define the term on Saturday, DeSantis explained that “woke” is a “form of Cultural Marxism” and “war” on truth.
“Look, we know what woke is, it’s a form of cultural Marxism,” he said. “It’s about putting merit and achievement behind identity politics, and it’s basically a war on the truth.”
“And as that has infected institutions, and it has corrupted institutions,” he added. “So, you’ve got to be willing to fight the woke, we’ve done that in Florida, and we proudly consider ourselves the state where woke goes to die.”
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Last week, former President Donald Trump said he disapproved of the term “woke” because people lack a clear definition of it.
“I don’t like the term ‘woke’ because I hear, ‘Woke, woke, woke.’ It’s just a term they use,” he said. “Half the people can’t even define it, they don’t know what it is.”
The matter comes as the media and major corporations continue pushing a woke agenda that includes blurring genders.
Last week, Women’s magazine GLAMOUR UK featured a “pregnant transgender man” — a.k.a. a pregnant biological woman identifying as a man — on the cover of its latest issue celebrating “pride.”
Last month, a Scientific American essay insisted human sex is “not binary,” while arguing claims to the contrary “are not about biology but are about trying to restrict who counts as a full human in society.”
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.