Senator-elect James Talarico (D-TX) railed against what he calls “performative” politics that are common on the hard left.
During an appearance on The Diary of a CEO podcast days before the midterm elections, he was asked about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (NY-14) recent comments about distancing herself from what she called “woke 1.0.”
Talarico, who defeated Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton by double digits, responded by saying, “I do think that there was a rise in performative politics, in people who are more concerned about using the right words, usually determined by academia, versus bringing people together around some common values like: ‘racism is wrong,’ that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.”
He added, “But when you start policing people’s language, when you start judging people because they’re not up on the right terminology, you’re no longer building a coalition to address those real problems that need addressing.”
He concluded, “Instead, you’re performing a kind of politics that’s about your own intellectual and emotional needs and not about actually making change.”
James Talarico responds to AOC calling woke 1.0 crazy, policing people's language is performative politics, and it stops you from building a coalition “I do think that there was a rise in performative politics in people who are more concerned about using the right words, usually determined by academia” “Those are unifying values that we all agree on.” “But when you start policing people's language, when you start judging people because they're not up on the right terminology, you're no longer building a coalition to address those real problems” “you're performing a kind of politics that's about your own intellectual and emotional needs and not about actually making change.” w/ @jamestalarico
— Kaiz 🐂🀄️ (@Kaiz_294) November 4, 2026
Obviously, Talarico is correct. For over a decade, critics have slammed the folks on the hard left for embracing a performative version of woke politics that favored empty virtue signaling over actual solutions.
What’s funny about Talarico’s comments is that he’s one of the prime purveyors of this brand of performative politics. After all, he’s the one who claimed there are “many more than two biological sexes — in fact, there are six” during a 2021 Texas House committee hearing.
He is famous for claiming that “God is nonbinary” during a 2022 sermon. He also railed against those who oppose abortion, saying, “Every one of our neighbors with a uterus became the property of the state. He expressed remorse at having used the word “women” at all.
Talarico has been obsessed with the LGBTQ community, especially those who identify as transgender, all through his political career. He has referred to parents who do not affirm gender ideology with their children as “abusive.”
To be fair, the senator-elect disavowed many of the silly comments he made in the past and distanced himself from some of his extreme views. But it’s not clear whether the change of heart is genuine or yet another performance.