Skip to the story
All StoriesPoliticsConflict & SecurityBusiness & EconomyScience & TechHealthClimateMedia
All stories
Politics63 outlets ran this5 min read

AOC calls early progressive rhetoric 'crazy' in interview on Wisconsin candidate

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez distanced herself from past defund-the-police positions while discussing Francesca Hong’s campaign

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
AOC calls early progressive rhetoric 'crazy' in interview on Wisconsin candidate

What this story says

  • Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on ABC’s “This Week” that “Woke 1 was crazy”, quoting a phrase first used by New York City Councilmember Chi Ossé.
  • She was responding to questions about Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong, who has faced criticism for past social media posts calling to abolish prisons and cancel Thanksgiving.
  • Ocasio-Cortez stated she has not endorsed any candidate in the Wisconsin race and is focused on winning back Congress.
  • Right-rated outlets led on Ocasio-Cortez’s remark and her past support for defunding police; left-rated outlets emphasised her defence of evolving positions.

Who covered it

Left 18%(11)Centre 8%(5)Right 74%(45)

Percentages are shares of the 61 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 63 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

68/100

Craft

87/100

Hype

55/100

63 sources · methodology

Missing from the left

Only 11 of the 61 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

A reader who follows the left would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.

US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” on 10 August 2026 that the first wave of progressive rhetoric, which she called “Woke 1”, was “crazy”. The remark came during a discussion about Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong, who is running for the Democratic nomination in the state’s primary on 12 August 2026.

Hong has faced criticism for past social media posts, including one calling for the abolition of prisons and another calling for the cancellation of Thanksgiving. Ocasio-Cortez was asked by co-host Jonathan Karl to comment on Hong’s positions. She responded by quoting New York City Councilmember Chi Ossé, who had written in a May 2026 social media post that “Woke 1 was crazyyyy”.

Ocasio-Cortez said she had not endorsed any candidate in the Wisconsin race and was focused on “winning back the Congress”. She also stated that she is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter, not the national organisation, and does not agree with all of its positions. The national DSA has declined to endorse Hong.

What the coverage left out

No centre-rated outlet ran this story. None of the right-rated digests mentioned that Ocasio-Cortez stated she had not endorsed any candidate in the Wisconsin gubernatorial race. None of the left-rated reports quoted the national Democratic Socialists of America’s refusal to endorse Hong.

Tags:#AlexandriaOcasioCortez#WisconsinPrimary#DemocraticSocialists#ProgressiveRhetoric#USPolitics

Coverage settled. We checked this 15 times and stopped on 16 Aug 2026, 01:15. The figures above are what it finished at.

How other outlets pictured it

Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

AOC calls early progressive rhetoric 'crazy' in interview on Wisconsin candidate
HuffPostLeft

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

11 rated outlets

  • The two left-rated reports, both full articles, led on Ocasio-Cortez’s defence of evolving positions during the COVID-19 pandemic. HuffPost’s headline read “AOC Admits 'Woke 1.0 Was Crazy' While Defending COVID-Era Culture Shift”. The article quoted Ocasio-Cortez saying, “I actually think that the discussions that were had in that time were quite fruitful,” and noted her refusal to endorse Hong while focusing on winning back Congress.
  • Mediaite’s digest, which summarised its own full report, led with Ocasio-Cortez’s remark that “Woke 1 was crazy” and described her distancing herself from Hong’s past positions. The digest noted that Ocasio-Cortez had joked about Hong’s call to abolish prisons and Thanksgiving but did not quote her directly on those points.

Centre

5 rated outlets

  • The two centre-rated outlets led on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks about progressive rhetoric. Both digests reported her statement that early progressive positions were "crazy" and noted her call for the Democratic Party to focus on working-class priorities.
  • Attack of the Fanboy’s digest framed the story around Ocasio-Cortez’s comments on party unity and her emphasis on economic issues. It did not mention the backlash from progressives or the specific context of Wisconsin’s candidate.
  • Wonderwall.com’s digest highlighted the backlash from progressives, describing it as a turn against Ocasio-Cortez. Neither digest included direct quotes from the interview or named the Wisconsin candidate she referenced.

Right

45 rated outlets

  • All ten right-rated digests led on Ocasio-Cortez’s remark that “Woke 1 was crazy” and her past support for defunding the police. WCHS, the only right-rated outlet with a full report, quoted Ocasio-Cortez saying, “I think that during this time and, especially during COVID, there was a huge opening of the Overton window,” and noted her dismissal of her past comments on defunding police.
  • The Daily Caller’s digest described Ocasio-Cortez as “memory-holing her own madness”. National Review’s digest asked, “Will the Woke Own Up to Their Lunacy?” Newsweek’s digest said Ocasio-Cortez had “distanced herself from some of the policies she once backed”. Spiked’s digest carried the headline “We can’t let AOC wash her hands of woke so easily”. The Post Millennial’s digest quoted Ocasio-Cortez’s remark about the “Overton window” and described her urging voters to focus on what Democrats are saying now rather than their past “anti-white hate”.
  • TrendingPolitics, ussanews.com, nytimespost.com and Fox News all led with Ocasio-Cortez’s remark that “Woke 1 was crazy”. ussanews.com’s digest said Ocasio-Cortez “wants you to forget that ‘Woke 1’ starred AOC”. nytimespost.com and Fox News both used the headline “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shrugs off past 'defund the police' comments, joking 'Woke 1 was crazy'”.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover AOC calls early progressive rhetoric 'crazy' in interview on Wisconsin…?
Of the 61 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 18% are rated left, 8% are rated centre, 74% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 63. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is AOC calls early progressive rhetoric 'crazy' in interview on Wisconsin… left or right?
The story itself is neither. What can be counted is who has covered it, and 74% of the 61 rated outlets on it are rated right — so far this is a story carried mostly by the right. Coverage of this one has settled, so that is unlikely to move much now.
Is the coverage of AOC calls early progressive rhetoric 'crazy' in interview on Wisconsin… biased?
AOC calls early progressive rhetoric 'crazy' in interview on Wisconsin candidate is one event reported by 63 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting AOC calls early progressive rhetoric 'crazy' in interview on Wisconsin…?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered AOC calls early progressive rhetoric 'crazy' in interview on Wisconsin…?
63 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez say about 'Woke 1'?
Ocasio-Cortez said on ABC’s “This Week” that “Woke 1 was crazy”, quoting a phrase first used by New York City Councilmember Chi Ossé. She made the remark while discussing Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong’s past social media posts calling to abolish prisons and cancel Thanksgiving.
Did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorse Francesca Hong?
No. Ocasio-Cortez stated she has not endorsed any candidate in the Wisconsin gubernatorial race and is focused on winning back Congress. The national Democratic Socialists of America has also declined to endorse Hong.
Which outlets reported on Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks?
Twelve outlets ran the story: two left-rated (HuffPost and Mediaite), ten right-rated (including WCHS, The Daily Caller, National Review and Fox News). No centre-rated outlet covered it.

Read it at the source

64 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

11
Show 3 more

Centre

5

Right

45
Show 37 more

Not rated

3

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

More in Politics

All Politics →
NDP Leader David Eby creates social media reel after announcing a health-care plan to recruit workers from the U.S. at Peace Arch Provincial Park in Surrey, British Columbia, on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026. (Nav Rahi/CBC)3 min readDavid Eby says some Conservatives want BC as US protectorateRead storyMary Peltola Accused of Abusive Language by Former Staffers4 min readMary Peltola Accused of Abusive Language by Former StaffersRead storyUS Senators Push for Permanent Chinese Vehicle Ban During Xi Visit2 min readUS Senators Push for Permanent Chinese Vehicle Ban During Xi VisitRead story
AOC’s ‘Woke 1’ remark: how left, centre and right covered it | MediaBias News