Trump doesn’t like the term ‘woke’: ‘Half the people can’t even define it’

by Julia Shapero - 06/02/23 9:16 AM ET

GRIMES, IOWA – JUNE 01: Former President Donald Trump greets supporters at a Team Trump volunteer leadership training event held at the Grimes Community Complex on June 01, 2023 in Grimes, Iowa. Trump delivered an unscripted speech to the crowd at the event before taking several questions from his supporters. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Former President Trump said Thursday that he doesn’t like the term “woke,” claiming that most people “can’t even define it.”

“I don’t like the term ‘woke’ because I hear, ‘Woke, woke, woke.’ It’s just a term they use, half the people can’t even define it, they don’t know what it is,” Trump said at the Westside Conservative Breakfast in Urbandale, Iowa.

The idea of “wokeness” has been a central theme in the career and campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s biggest competition in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“We reject this woke ideology,” DeSantis said in his inaugural address in January. “We seek normalcy, not philosophical lunacy. We will not allow reality, facts, and truth to become optional. We will never surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die.”

The Florida governor signed legislation known as the “Stop WOKE Act” last year, restricting how race can be discussed in schools and workplaces in the Sunshine State.

More recently, DeSantis approved bills barring universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and expanding limitations on discussions of gender identity and sexual orientation in Florida classrooms, as part of his war on “woke.”

DeSantis derided “wokeness” once again Tuesday, as he kicked off his campaign with a with a rally outside of Des Moines.

Trump himself used the term just last weekend, claiming that “Disney has become a Woke and Disgusting shadow of its former self” under DeSantis in a Truth Social post on Sunday.