Republicans Say They Hate Wokeness—Until Bobby Pulido Is Not Woke Enough
Republicans have spent years telling Americans that liberals are too sensitive, political correctness has gone too far, and nobody should have his life destroyed over an old joke.
Donald Trump called cancel culture a political weapon used for “shaming dissenters.” He later reduced the entire argument to five words: “Everything woke turns to shit.” Ron DeSantis built a national reputation declaring that Florida was where “woke goes to die.” (Trump White House Archives)
But now Republicans have discovered Bobby Pulido’s old jokes, crude social-media posts and politically incorrect language—and suddenly they sound like the human-resources department at a university in California.
The National Republican Congressional Committee condemned Pulido for laughing at vulgar jokes about women’s bodies. Its spokesman called the remarks “disgusting, disrespectful, and completely out of line.” (NRCC)
A Republican organization demanding sensitivity from a Mexican American entertainer because his jokes might have offended somebody?
In the language of the barrios: Ain’t that some shit.
The language did not come from nowhere
I do not know anybody raised in the barrios who never heard—or used—language that would now get somebody dragged across social media.
That does not make every joke acceptable. Some jokes are cruel. Some are sexist. Some embarrass us when we hear them years later. Bobby Pulido himself has acknowledged being embarrassed by some of his old posts and has said that humor aimed at audiences in Mexico and South Texas does not always translate outside that culture. (AP News)
But let us not pretend that Pulido was raised in a faculty lounge.
He came out of South Texas and the Tejano music world—a culture that developed in the fields, dance halls and barrios of this region. He spent three decades around musicians, entertainers, working people and audiences on both sides of the border. AP described Tejano music itself as having evolved in the fields and barrios of South Texas. (AP News)
I am not saying everybody raised in a barrio speaks alike. I am saying that nobody familiar with working-class South Texas should act shocked that rough humor existed there.
Context does not erase responsibility. But context matters—especially when the people expressing outrage have spent ten years telling us that context no longer matters when Donald Trump says something crude.
If Pulido were a Republican, they would call him authentic
Imagine Bobby Pulido running as a Republican.
The same party operatives now condemning his language would probably advertise him as someone who “tells it like it is.” They would say he is not polished, politically correct or controlled by Washington consultants. They would compare his entertainment career to Trump’s and describe his rough edges as proof that he is genuine.
Trump’s vulgarity was not treated as disqualifying by the Republican Party. It became part of his political brand. His refusal to apologize was presented as strength. People who objected were dismissed as woke, weak, or unable to take a joke.
Pulido is being judged by a different standard because he has a D after his name.
Republicans are not attacking him because they suddenly became defenders of political correctness. They are attacking him because he is a Democrat who may be able to win a South Texas congressional district they thought they had secured.
If the crude language truly offended their principles, they would apply the same principles to the leader of their own party.
They do not.
The real disagreement is about policy
The argument over old jokes is useful because it prevents voters from discussing what Bobby Pulido says he wants to do in Congress.
I cannot tell you what is inside any politician’s heart. But I can read his published platform, and Pulido is plainly presenting himself as a candidate for working people.
He talks about the price of groceries, gasoline, rent and health insurance—not the numbers flashing on Wall Street. He says small businesses, working families and entrepreneurs drive the South Texas economy. He supports apprenticeships, skills training and higher-wage jobs. He talks about protecting farmers and ranchers, reducing prescription-drug costs, strengthening Medicare, paying teachers better and preserving public schools. (Bobby Pulido for Congress)
He also takes positions that do not fit neatly into the national Democratic mold. He supports a secure border, removing violent criminals who are in the country illegally and attacking cartel drug routes, while arguing that border enforcement should not destroy families or the South Texas economy. (Bobby Pulido for Congress)
Those are the policies Republicans should debate.
Do they oppose his defense of Medicare? Do they oppose better-paid teachers? Do they disagree with his position against school vouchers? Do they support the tariffs he says are raising costs for farmers and families? Do they disagree with his call for higher-wage jobs and protection from corporate price increases?
That would be an honest political campaign.
Digging through decades of jokes is easier.
Pulido has apologized enough
Pulido told Politico that he would apologize broadly to anybody offended by his jokes, but that he could not keep revisiting every individual remark for the remainder of the campaign. (Political Wire)
That is reasonable.
An apology does not require a person to spend the rest of his life crawling from one old joke to another while political opponents decide whether he has shown enough remorse.
Voters can examine the comments. They can decide that some were offensive. They can decide whether Pulido has matured. But they should also examine the people presenting themselves as the guardians of respectful language.
These are the same Republicans who warned that cancel culture was destroying America. They said people should not lose careers over old statements. They ridiculed Democrats for policing language and demanding endless apologies.
Now they have found an exception:
A Democrat who might defeat them.
Bobby Pulido is not a perfectly manufactured politician. He comes from the barrios, dance halls and stages of South Texas. He has spoken like an entertainer, sometimes joked badly and sometimes crossed lines. He has also spent decades working, running businesses, employing people and living in the culture of the district he wants to represent. His campaign says its priorities are working families, affordable healthcare, public schools, farmers, small businesses and a border policy that is both secure and humane. (Bobby Pulido for Congress)
Republicans are free to oppose those policies.
But watching the party of Donald Trump attack Bobby Pulido for failing to be sufficiently woke is more than hypocrisy.
Ain’t that some shit.
