Among the idlest non-arguments of the right is the mantra ‘go woke, go broke’, which is often quoted unreflectively as if repetition makes it true. Advancing cultural egalitarianism in politics and business, the logic goes, secures your electoral or financial demise. Again, it can be true. Every now and then Hollywood plops out a film which is ‘woke’ without being anything else — like the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot or the 2019 Charlie’s Angels revival — and it bombs. But if I add half a bag of salt to a pasta dish and no one wants to eat it, that doesn’t mean ‘add salt, diners revolt’. Their problem is the excess of salt and not the inclusion. So it is with ‘woke’ messaging. If ‘go woke, go broke’ was true then corporations from Netflix to Nike would have collapsed. There are — and I say this with sadness — few signs of this happening. The problem with all of these non-arguments is that they challenge progressive tactics without challenging progressive ideas — and they do not even challenge them in a systematic or institutional sense. (For a more effective approach, look at how Christopher Rufo has been scrutinizing the teaching of ‘critical race theory’ in schools). Instead these efforts just appeal to comforting assumptions about the dynamics of media and discourse which allow the right to maintain a foothold in society without accomplishing anything — or even having to try.