Where There's Woke
by Thomas Smith and Lydia Smith
Every single time the right, or even center-left, goes ballistic over a "woke" controversy, the slightest bit of investigation shows the scandal is almost entirely bogus. This is not a new phenomenon; it dates back decades. It's an intentional tool used to protect the powerful and preserve the status quo, while further scapegoating and otherizing those who push for political progress. This podcast digs into not just today's fake scandals, but those of yesterday and yesteryear. The terminology has changed some, but the pattern has not. Listen in as hosts Thomas and Lydia Smith shine a light on the panic, the fragility, the overreaction, and the lying that ignites 'Where There's Woke.'
Episodes
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WTW154: Ken Paxton, Dan Patrick and Vivek All Lost on the Same Night
It's election night recap time, and Thomas and Lydia fly state to state checking in on the anti-woke villains WTW has covered in the past: Ken Paxton and Dan Patrick in Texas, Vivek Ramaswamy for Ohio's Governor, Susan Collins's Senate streak in Maine, voter ID measures across the country, James...
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WTW153: Texas School Board Cancels Little Shop of Horrors Over a Girl Playing Seymour
A Texas school board got so spooked by a girl playing the male lead in Little Shop of Horrors that they canceled the whole show and tried to swap it for Frozen. Their legal justification shifted citations mid-scandal, from the 2023 drag ban to a 2025 parental-rights bill, and somehow neither one...
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WTW152: Joe Rogan Has Spent Two Years Raging About a Made-Up California Voter ID Law
Elon Musk told Joe Rogan that California made it illegal to show ID to vote. Rogan ran with it, Rand Paul repeated it, and now it's a ballot fight. Lydia walks through what California's 2024 law, SB 1174, actually does: it stops cities and counties from adding their own voter ID rules, and that's...
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WTW151: Remember the Anti-Woke Amazon? Yeah, Us Neither.
Remember Public Square, the self-declared "anti-woke Amazon" that promised conservatives shopping without funding a rainbow flag? Yeah that didn't work. But not for lack of trying! Lydia has the history and also the business that DID work out: infinite grift and corruption. Please pretty please...
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WTW150: Bari Weiss's Renegade Academy Can't Even Set Up a Chessboard
WTW150 and we're celebrating with Bari Weiss's baby, the University of Austin (UATX), which wants you to know it's a "Renegade Academy" with FREEDOM, rigor, and merit. You sure about that? Lydia brings the receipts on the money, the exits, and one very questionable man with a million dollars and…
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WTW149: Dan Patrick Wants to Fail Texas Schools Over Books Rated by Random Volunteers
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is a legit nut job. But don't worry, he's platforming EVEN NUTTIER jobs. Like this random church lady who can't stop banning books. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to [email protected].
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WTW148: Meet Erin Scavino, the Nepo Hire Purging Woke Art From US Embassies
Dan Scavino's wife who has absolutely no experience in art whatsoever definitely got her job as "person in charge of all art worldwide at every US Embassy" for completely merit-based reasons. Why would you even insinuate otherwise? Anyway she's tearing paintings off the walls if they're too...…
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WTW147: No, the Woke Aren't Protecting Shooters By Calling Them "Trigger Pullers"
A grab bag of woke panics this week, and Lydia has receipts for all of them. Seattle's interim police chief said "trigger pullers" at a press conference, and conservative media decided this was a brand new woke euphemism. You sure about that? Then: Nike fell out of the S&P 100 and everyone is...
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WTW146: Jordan Peterson Has One (1) Study Proving Activists Are Psychopaths
Jordan Peterson wrote a very long article for The Telegraph about climate change. He has a study. Well, sort of. He has a reference to a study that he didn't bother to link, that doesn't say what he claims it says, and whose own authors explicitly warned against the exact conclusions he's…
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WTW145: Jordan Peterson Rises, Lazarus-like, to Do Climate Change Denial
Jordan Peterson is back, sort of. He hasn't been on camera or a microphone, but he has been writing, and his big return piece for The Telegraph is... a lot. He set his sights on "Climate Catastrophism" and barfed the usual 40 page manifesto. Lydia digs into the claims, the creative use of the...
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WTW144: The Reactions to AOC's Comment Show Why We Should Just Not
We still need to talk about the AOC "woke 1 was crazy" comment. While well-meaning wokies might want to engage in some self-flagellating, the reaction pieces show why we just absolutely should not entertain that for one moment. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You…
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WTW143: No, Woke 1 Was Not Crazy
AOC told ABC News something that set off a thousand hot takes: was "Woke One" actually crazy? Meanwhile a Wisconsin governor's primary decided by a few thousand votes means DSA is dead. Also, AOC please consider our proposal(s). If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You...
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WTW142: James Lindsay Unveils Woke 2.0
Which is great because it's in plenty of time before the holiday season so now you know what to get your loved one! This extremely weird person has a whole framework for Woke 2.0. Thomas and Lydia sit through the entire launch event so you don't have to. If you enjoy our work, please consider...
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WTW141: The Anti-Woke Crusade Against Knowing Things Continues
Congress hauled the Smithsonian's top history museum director in for a grilling this week, and it got dumb fast. Republicans wanted to know if Mickey Mouse is racist, whether RuPaul is transgender, and why she cares more about butterfly wings than aborted fetuses. Lydia digs into the White…
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WTW140: $3 Million Anti-Woke Program, 1 Enrolled Student
Netflix rebooted Little House on the Prairie and Megyn Kelly declared war on it a year before anyone saw a single frame. Meanwhile West Virginia funded a taxpayer-backed "anti-woke" civics center run by a philosophy professor with some truly unhinged advice for testing your own free speech, and...
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WTW139: They're Literally Destroying American Science Because Woke
The Trump administration quietly filed 400 pages of regulations that could gut science, housing, arts and victim services funding across the entire country. Political appointees would get veto power over grants once decided purely on merit, and money could vanish mid-project with zero appeal.…
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WTW138: Graham Platner Is a R*pist
Politico just published new allegations against Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, and they are about as bad as it gets. It is not a close call: Platner is done. We did an emergency, live unedited response. We thought it was warranted given our previous coverage. Sources: Politico: woman says...
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WTW137: America $2.50
However bad you think the Freedom250 nonsense is, it's worse. It's actually straight up crazy how much grift and ineptitude there is. And Vanilla Ice. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to [email protected].…
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WTW136: Debunking Junior Varsity Anti-Wokist Gad Saad's PragerU Propaganda
Gad Saad, a marketing professor who calls himself an evolutionary behavioral scientist, made a PragerU video called Suicidal Empathy, based on Paul Bloom's book I MEANNNN his own "new" book. This pile of crap has 2.8 million views. Lydia and Thomas go through every single claim. Sources: Gad…
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WTW135: The Straights, Near Extinction, Watch in Horror as Pride Month Erases Them Yet Again
It's Pride Month, so conservatives are DYING. The MLB team in SAN FRANCISCO has anti-gay bigots who can't STFU. Fox News airs a segment fear mongering over the mere presence of rainbows places. And more raging fragility. Lydia breaks down the Republican effort to literally rebrand June. Sources:...
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WTW134: Graham Platner's Me Too Moment?
A second wave of coverage has hit Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, and this time it's a New York Times deep-dive into his past relationships. Thomas breaks down both the texting article and the "several women" piece: who the sources actually are, what the reporting can and can't…
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WTW133: The Trump Playbook Comes for LA - Spencer Pratt for Mayor
If you have lived in blissful peace not knowing who Spencer Pratt is, Lydia is so sorry, but it's time. The former The Hills reality TV villain is a serious contender in the Los Angeles mayoral race (as of recording - votes are still being counted) and Lydia breaks down everything: who he…
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WTW132: But Who Influences the Influencers? with Kat Tenbarge!
We're SO excited to welcome journalist Kat Tenbarge to Where There's Woke! Over the years Kat's beat has been focused on internet culture and influencers, and the transformation of that space pre-COVID to now. Naturally, we had tons to talk about -- Why does it matter to pay attention to these...
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WTW131: Anti-Woke School Board Bans Song Mere Days Before Recital
A Wisconsin school board was so appalled by a song selection for a high school wind symphony concert that they held a board meeting to determine if the students should be allowed to play it at all. Lydia breaks down this full story, why the song was so "controversial", and gives us more details...
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WTW130: Florida Got So Mad About Woke They Made Their Own AP Course
Ron DeSantis was so bothered by the mere IDEA of AP African American Studies in 2023 that Florida created a "competitor" to College Board's Advanced Placement, and they've just released their course framework for U.S. History. It's....not good. Historians are chiming in, and Lydia's here to break...
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WTW129: Woke In the Sheets, Criminals Out on the Streets
The woke in New York are getting ready to release allllll of the criminals! Murderers! Rapists! Sex offenders! The worst of the worst!!!!! At least according to the New York Post's latest rant. Lydia shares the details from this coverage specific to parole bills in New York State, and we break…
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WTW128: Crowdfunding Hate, with Naomi Bethune
How is it that every racist "Karen" or right-wing completely cancellable person seems to crawl out of their negative viral moment and sometimes land jobs, book deals, or other opportunities? Naomi Bethune investigated this phenomenon for her piece, "The Far-Right Cash Machine," with The American...
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WTW127: Debunking More of Buttfeld's "Comedy"
We conclude our visit to Greg Gutfeld's terrible corner of the world for now. What was that professor that so terribly triggered Buttfeld actually talking about? How wrong could he actually be about Zohran Mamdani's electoral win? Does he get any better at making jokes? SOGI-Inclusive Resource...
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WTW126: Greg Gutfeld Is a Cruel, Miserable F***Ing Loser
It's been a while since we've stopped by Gutfeld's corner on Fox News - and boy, was that a rude awakening. He's the biggest ass, and strips ALL context from anything he ever talks about in order to own the libs or something. Lydia's here to give us the context and debunk while we call out...
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WTW125: We Conclude Our Trafficking Series With... The Funniest Local News Segment Ever
You have to hear how badly local news fell for this completely made up trafficking story... it's so good. But before that, Lydia's got our vegetables with some "where are they now" and final thoughts and discoveries about the funding of these grifty orgs. Gaza and Trump's "Preference" of Private...
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WTW124: It Gets So Much Worse. Our Grifters Go to Gaza.
We reach the end of our journey into the human trafficking grift, and it's not a good ending. The very same lying idiots we've been tracking are now being paid government money to point guns at civilians in Gaza. And allegedly shoot them. "Amateur Hour": The Man Sending US Military Contractors to...
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WTW123: Remember That Time the Sound of Freedom Guy Was Himself Accused of Trafficking?
The deep dive into the right wing trafficking panic industrial complex gets even more interesting, as our web of characters expands to include Tim Tebow, Sound of Freedom, and that guy from Sound of Freedom who turned out to be horrible (surprise!). **If you enjoy our work, please consider…
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WTW122: Fox News Declares Project Hail Mary Anti-Woke Because Sure Why Not
Fox News declared that WOKE HOLLYWOOD is dead with the great success of anti-woke film, Project Hail Mary. Lydia takes us through the world of right-wing film critique as they attempt to make this bizarre claim. **If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always…
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WTW121: Trafficking in Fear
We finish off the discussion on bogus child trafficking/missing children statistics. Also, what should we ACTUALLY be worried about when it comes to our children?
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WTW120: People Simply Cannot Stop Believing Bogus Child Trafficking Stats
It's 2026, do you know where your Ashton Kutcher's 2011 anti human trafficking campaign is?
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WTW119: USA Hockey Shows That the Bar for Men Continues to Reside in Hell
We've got so much to say on this one that it's a WT-DOUBLE episode! (tm). After the USA men's hockey team won the gold, not only was Kash Patel in the locker room celebrating with them, but he also got Trump on the phone. Trump made an incredibly sexist joke and the men laughed. After they…
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WTW118: The Trump Administration Is Being Really Weird About Milk...
The New York Post went off on a bioethicist after he published his concerns surrounding the marketing after Trump signed legislation bringing whole milk back into federally subsidized school lunch programs. Lydia breaks it all down: the NYP's attacks, the actual article from the "woke professor,"...
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WTW117: Deeper Into Matt Murphy's Child Trafficking Cinematic Universe
Hoooooo boy. You thought we were having fun before? Just wait until you hear some of the claims in this one.
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WTW116: Did You Know That 7 out of 4 Kids Will Be Trafficked Right Now Yesterday?
We get to delve deeper into the right wing fear porn, moral panic that is human trafficking and child trafficking. If you're worried about this being too heavy, don't be, because Matt Murphy's claims are so absurd it becomes funny.
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WTW115: The SitRep on Sentinel Foundation
We go deeper into the bizarre (possible) grift that is rightwing anti-trafficking organizations. This episode delves into Matt Murphy's past. Sentinel is weirdly not even the first anti-trafficking org that he has been the president of....
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WTW114: Back to AmericaFest, Where the Grift Oerfloweth
AmeriKKKaFest is the gift that keeps giving. We venture into day 2, which turns into a QVC channel of right wing crap. Jason Aldean introduces us to the crazy world of rightwing non-profits grifting on a sex trafficking panic.
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WTW113: Harvard Professor Announces His Exit Because History Dept. Needs More White Classes
Professor James Hankins wrote a literal essay, published in Compact Magazine, about his decision to leave Harvard's History Department for greener pastures in...Florida. He wants more western civilization focus in history, and Thomas and Lydia break down why this is problematic. "Western Values"...
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WTW112: How the Right Convinced Everyone There Was a Free Speech Crisis: A Case Study
We watched No Safe Spaces with our friends over at God Awful Movies this month and there was SO MUCH from the anti-woke archive featured in that "documentary" that we couldn't possibly take over GAM to debunk it all. For this episode, we're focusing on one particular story that we hadn't covered...
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WTW111: Antifa Is Good and Effective, Actually
After nearly 10 years of covering the far right after Charlottesville, Chris Mathias has written an important book called "To Catch a Fascist, The Fight to Expose the Radical Right." In addition to modern efforts to out the fascists and racists, Chris takes us through some fascinating history of...
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WTW110: America Fest 3 - Tucker Carlson Hits Back at Ben Shapiro
Time to dig into the keynote speaker from Day 1 of AmFest 2025. That's right, folks! We FINALLY get to (have to) listen to Tucker Carlson! Tune in to hear how he handles the call out from Ben Shapiro earlier in the day, and stick around for some crazy Q&A - what seems to be a hallmark of TPUSA.…
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WTW109: Russell Brand Is Reallllllly Into Jesus. Oh and Michael Knowles Is Realllly Into White Nationalism.
Part 2. We continue working through the lineup of AmericaFest 2025, and this one's jam-packed! Kicking it off with Ben Shapiro and the SHADE he lays down against other folks on the Right, we then hear what upcoming criminal defendant Russell Brand has to say, and close out with quite a fashy...
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WTW108: AmericaFest Showed Turning Point's Massive Influence (and Bottomless Budget)
Part 1. Thomas watched the entirety of Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025 so the rest of us didn't have to! In this episode, in addition to talking about what was going on at this entire event, we listen to the most ridiculous National Anthem presentation and hear words from America's Widow,...
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WTW107: Hello Mr. President I Got a Bad Grade Can You Fix It Pwease
It's part 2 of this idiot Christian didn't do her homework and started a culture war over it. She and her terrible mom are bigots and since we live in the worst times, they get to win. But at least we have Eli Bosnick!
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WTW106: Oklahoma Christian Idiot Gets a 0, Then Uses Christian Privilege to Get Teacher Fired
Featuring special guest Eli Bosnick!!! An Oklahoma moron wrote some Christian diarrhea for her Psych homework. She got a 0 (which was generous) and then sent the mob after her trans teacher and got them shit canned. Meritocracy!
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WTW105: A 2019 DSA Convention Was a Little Weird and Now Bill Maher Can't Possibly Support Mamdani
Part 3 (and final!) of this terrible New Rules segment from Bill Maher last month. Maher attempts to go after socialism in America and the Democratic Socialists organization, and comes up with WILD examples. Reminder - this is all in an effort to scare people away from Zohran Mamdani. We tackle...
About this show
Every single time the right, or even center-left, goes ballistic over a "woke" controversy, the slightest bit of investigation shows the scandal is almost entirely bogus. This is not a new phenomenon; it dates back decades. It's an intentional tool used to protect the powerful and preserve the status quo, while further scapegoating and otherizing those who push for political progress. This podcast digs into not just today's fake scandals, but those of yesterday and yesteryear. The terminology has changed some, but the pattern has not. Listen in as hosts Thomas and Lydia Smith shine a light on the panic, the fragility, the overreaction, and the lying that ignites 'Where There's Woke.'
Hosted by
Thomas Smith and Lydia Smith