Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a first-of-its-kind executive order on Thursday prohibiting state officials from using specific “woke nonsense” language as it relates to gender and pregnancy.
Ironically enough, when you ban words, your opponents will still have plenty to say.
The Republican from Arkansas and former Trump White House press secretary announced on Thursday she will prohibit certain “woke” words from use in state documents, and a social media furor erupted, with one user noting that “when you can’t help your constituents, you offer culture wars.”
Huckabee has long loved to troll liberals, ever since her days working for former President Donald Trump. Like her one-time boss, she gained a lot of support from her right-wing base by bashing LGBTQ causes, and rode that wave to the governor’s office previously held by her father, Mike Huckabee.
Without citing examples of how this has been an actual problem, last week the Republican governor signed an executive order prohibiting state officials from using words that take the gender out of references to women.
“Those include words like pregnant people, laboring person, birth giver, and several other nonsense terms that have cropped up in recent years,” Huckabee told reporters, adding that her order is “banning a number of all sorts of ridiculous words from state government documents.”
“We’re just getting started,” she said.
Huckabee added that her aim is to protect and honor the role of women, especially mothers, in society.
“We’re taking a stand against wokeness. We’ve had enough… Enough trying to erase women and girls, enough denying our biological differences from men, and enough of the craziness that is taking over our country,” Sanders said.
Speaking from the office once occupied by Bill Clinton, Sanders said it is up to conservatives like her to fight against gender-neutrality and other “woke” language, which she said “started as a fad” by university students but has crept into society and government.
“It’s demeaning to women and it needs to stop,” Sanders said. “Some on the left will accuse us of being nitpicky, that Arkansas should just lay down and accept the cultural revolution without complaint. I say it’s the exact opposite.”
Sanders was a senior adviser on Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 and served as the third female White House press secretary from 2017 to 2019. Last year, she became the first woman elected as governor of Arkansas.
Sanders made clear in her press conference that she is eager for a fight over acceptable language.
“It’s the left that decided that ‘woman’ is a dirty word. It’s the left that decided we needed to toss out basic biology and basic grammar along with it,” she said. “I think they’re just mad that conservatives are starting to fight back. And they better get ready, because we’re just getting started.”
Apparently the blowback on X, formerly Twitter, is also just getting started.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an Executive Order banning woke or nonbinary words from state documents, even though such terms have never been used there. The latest woke word for a grandstanding Republican asshole is "Huckabutthead" pic.twitter.com/dxJdtOgfSP
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) October 20, 2023
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has issued an executive order banning "woke" language at state agencies.
— Robert Reich (@RBReich) October 22, 2023
Meanwhile, Arkansas has one of the highest rates of child poverty.
If only conservatives put the same energy into fighting poverty as they do into fighting wokeness.
Ironically, this woman has more balls than most male politicians these days….
— Wittgenstein (@backtolife_2023) October 21, 2023
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) signs an executive order banning "woke" terms like "pregnant people" from being used in state government.
Source: Forbes Breaking News (YouTube) pic.twitter.com/QwHSOTtXdI
Banning them from what exactly? Will people go to jail if they utter these words? She's a joke.
— GingerSpice❄️💙 (@thedesertginger) October 20, 2023
Its not right to take away peoples freedom, because they say something you don like or agree with…. not even if they try to take away some of yours… just dont let em get away with it.
— Trohn Haakonsson (@Trohn_DK) October 21, 2023
We all have our own responsibilitys to carry for the way things are to day… and we all…
If you’re afraid that words might change someone’s thinking, you’re not afraid of words, you’re afraid of thinking.
— Andrea Junker (@Strandjunker) October 20, 2023
