Tomi Lahren at a campaign rally for former Arizona State Sen. Kelli Ward in Phoenix, Arizona on August 24, 2018 (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
Along with RINO (Republican In Name Only), "woke" is one of the top go-to insults of MAGA Republicans — who not only use the term to attack Democrats, liberals and progressives, but also, to insult Republicans they consider insufficiently MAGA. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), for example, are both conservative but are being attacked as "woke" by MAGA Republicans for voting against President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill."
Some people with a history of voting Democrat are also known for criticizing "wokeness," including "Real Time" host Bill Maher and veteran Democratic strategist James Carville. And California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office is using the term to make fun of far-right pundit Tomi Lahren.
Newcom lambasted Lahren after she objected to a social media post in which he mentioned Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina), who is running for governor in her state.
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On X, formerly Twitter, MAGA activist Scott Presler, who is openly gay, argued that Republicans have a shot at flipping Pennsylvania — a volatile swing state that has a Democratic governor (Josh Shapiro), a Democratic U.S. senator (John Fetterman) and a GOP U.S. senator (Dave McCormick). Shapiro is presently fighting with Republicans in the Pennsylvania State Legislature over funding for Philadelphia's mass transit system SEPTA, which is facing draconian 45 percent service cuts.
Presler wrote, "Republicans are 52,939 active voters away from flipping Pennsylvania. There are 1.1 million No Party Affiliated voters in Pennsylvania. Nothing would anger Governor Shapiro more than for the Commonwealth to turn red. Register as a Republican TODAY!"
In response, Newsom's press office sarcastically told Presler, "Thank you, Nancy Mace. Thank you so much for helping make this video go viral!"
Lahren took offense, posting, "You’re kidding me right? Your state and your b------- Governor rant and rave on a daily basis about protecting gay people, and you're really going to use your official press office account to troll a gay conservative and call him a woman?"
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Lahren also tweeted, "New lows unlocked by @GavinNewsom and his team of losers @GovPressOffice — to which Newsom's press office responded, "You sound woke."
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