This Major Conservative Just Went “DARK WOKE” — What Happened?

What this episode is about

The content discusses Ashley St. Clair, a former conservative influencer, who has rebranded her stance to embrace a so-called "dark woke" philosophy, a term implying an edgier form of wokeness. The discussion touches on her previous conflicts, including accusations of plagiarism regarding children's books, her connection to Elon Musk, and her evolving public persona in the conservative media landscape.

Key takeaways

• Introducing 'dark woke': the unexpected emo phase of the woke movement—like a goth band with no music.
• Ashley St. Clair's metamorphosis from anti-trans author to trans advocate illustrates the fluidity of modern ideology.
• The term 'dark woke' is just woke's attempt to wear leather jackets—edgy, but still fundamentally the same.
• From accusations of plagiarism to trans advocacy, St. Clair’s journey showcases the bizarre pathways of social media fame.
• Will the far-right's former darling find acceptance among 'woke' elites, or is it a case of too little, too late?

Who speaks in this episode?

• Matt Walsh (Host) · 12 min speaking
• Ashley St. Clair (Guest) · 2 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Johnny the Walrus, Ashley St. Clair, Wokeness
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Wokeness
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Team Sanity, Team Delusion
4. 9:00 – 12:00: Child Castration, Johnny the Walrus, Abortion Pill
5. 12:00 – 13:50: Child Castration

Notable quotes from "This Major Conservative Just Went “DARK WOKE” — What Happened?"

• Claims pretty quickly. And, since then, I haven't had any issues with her. Last year, of course, she announced that she's Elon Musk's baby mama. And, there was a big thing about that. I don't think I.

  about Ashley St. Clair · at 1:40

• But then someone responded to this tweet from Ashley and said, I think this is a trans activist responded said, You've previously engaged in blatant transphobia. How do you…

  about Trans Activism · at 3:48

• Ashley is referring to that boy as sister. So she's affirming the pronouns and all that. So apparently Ashley has now officially gone like full woke. This is not So this is…

  about Wokeness · at 4:48

• I can't think of another example. There have been many converts from team delusion over to team sanity. We've seen we've seen it go the other way plenty of times.

  about Team Sanity · at 6:33

• But most people don't realize that since Ro was overturned, the situation has actually gotten more complicated. Today, the abortion pill makes up more than 60% of all…

  about Abortion Pill · at 11:38

• And if you can't tell us that, then that only leaves the possibility of a incredibly cynical move of going over to the side of child castration when you know that it's wrong.…

  about Child Castration · at 13:22

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Ashley St. Clair — Person · Primary subject / referenced public figure · 1 mention · first at 0:14
  The episode centers on her abrupt shift from anti-trans conservative influencer to publicly apologizing and aligning with trans activism, which the speaker frames as cynical and morally wrong.

Books & papers

• Johnny the Walrus — Book · Referenced book (speaker's work) used in backstory · 3 mentions · first at 0:39
  The book is used to explain the speaker's prior interaction with Ashley, including her plagiarism accusation and their shared niche of children's books about trans issues.
  So, she accused me of stealing her idea, which of course I didn't. I had thought of the idea for Johnny the Walrus months and months before or signed a deal to for the book and.

Concepts & topics

• Trans Activism — Concept · Core topic / opposing side in argument · 4 mentions
  The speaker describes a trans activist challenging Ashley and argues that trans activists provide no persuasive arguments, framing their influence as ideological pressure rather than reasoned debate.
• Child Castration — Concept · Core moral claim / accusation · 3 mentions · first at 9:09
  The speaker equates adopting trans ideology with endorsing chemical castration of children and uses it as the strongest moral condemnation of Ashley's shift.
• Wokeness — Concept · Core framing concept · 2 mentions · first at 0:01
  The speaker mocks 'dark woke' and uses 'woke' as a label for Ashley's perceived ideological shift, tying it to trans ideology and left-wing identity signaling.
• Team Sanity — Concept · Core rhetorical category (speaker's in-group) · 2 mentions · first at 6:15
  The speaker uses 'team sanity' to describe the anti-trans-ideology position and frames Ashley as uniquely defecting from this camp to the pro-trans side.
• Team Delusion — Concept · Core rhetorical category (speaker's out-group) · 1 mention · first at 6:49
  The speaker labels the pro-trans position as 'team delusion' and contrasts it with 'team sanity,' arguing Ashley moved from sanity to delusion.
  I can't think of another example. There have been many converts from team delusion over to team sanity. We've seen we've seen it go the other way plenty of times.

Sponsors

• Abortion Pill — Concept · Sponsor-segment topic · 1 mention · first at 11:43
  Presented as making abortion more accessible and comprising a majority of abortions, supporting the sponsor's call to fund ultrasounds.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 I mean, they really did this. They said, "I'm not woke. I'm dark woke." Ooh, scary. I'm a badass, edgy woke person. This is not your grandma's wokeness. This is dark woke. Ooh, scary. You better watch out. I'm dark woke. So, Ashley St. Clair is a conservative uh well, former conservative influencer type. Um, who I never really I never knew her personally, but she's in this world or or was in it. uh she worked at the Babylon B for for a while and funny enough funny given the most recent development that we'll discuss but one of the few exchanges that um I've had with her was a few years ago when Johnny the Walrus came out my of course acclaimed critically acclaimed best-selling children's book came out and she had published her own uh anti-trans children's book called I think elephants aren't uh elephants aren't birds elephants are not birds and I guess that book came out shortly before my book came out and she was mad

1:01 that my book was getting, you know, a lot more attention than hers and it had shot to the top of the Amazon charts. So, she accused me of stealing her idea, which which of course I didn't. Uh I had thought of the idea for Johnny the Walrus months and months before or signed a deal to for for the book and uh it's uh that's the way publishing works. You know, you don't you can't see a book and then decide you want to rip it off and put yours out like a week later. It's not how it works. Books have to be written. Now, great. This didn't take long to write, but published, printed, illustrated. You know, it takes months goes into it. Um, but anyway, she backed away from the plagiarism claims pretty quickly. And, you know, since then, I haven't had any issues with her. Last year, of course, she announced that she's uh Elon Musk's uh uh baby mama. And, you know, there was a big thing about that. I I I don't think I

1:56 ever said anything about it because it's it's gossip and what is there to say about it? You know, announcing it publicly and then doing media profiles and photo shoots and all that and then claiming you want privacy is pretty ridiculous, but whatever. Not my business. Um, not not my problem, not my circus. But a lot of conservatives have been very critical of Ashley since all of that. And Elon Musk obviously seems to want nothing to do with her. So recently she's started to move very rapidly to the left and yesterday she tweeted this.

2:29 The tweet says dark woke cuz the other option is bootlicking feds and pedophiles and nerds. Now this tweet is pretty dumb. Uh you know first of all this is the falsest false choice I've ever heard of. There are a lot of other options. you know, besides being woke or quote bootlicking feds and pedophiles, there's there's a lot of other options. And second, dark woke is not a thing. Dark woke is a term that leftists came up with to make themselves feel cool. Like this is this is something they've we started calling them woke and then they came up with dark woke. I mean, they really did this. They said, "I'm not woke. I'm dark woke." Oo, scary.

3:14 And it basically mean dark woke means I'm woke, but I'm a bad I'm a badass edgy woke person. I'm not your I'm not your This is not your grandma's wokeness. This is dark woke. Ooh, scary. You better watch out. I'm dark woke. And then they pulled out their lightsaber and, you know, started dancing around the room. Um, but of course there there is no way to be a woke edgy badass. that that can't exist. So, that's that's lame. That's pretty dumb. Uh not worth commenting on. But then someone responded to this tweet from Ashley and said, uh I think this is a trans activist responded said, "You've previously engaged in blatant transphobia. How do you feel about trans people in the wake of noticing how the far right truly is?" And she replied to that and said this. I feel immense guilt for my role and even more guilt that things I've said in the past may have caused my son's sister more pain.

4:14 Uh I don't know how to make amends for many of these things, but I've been trying incredibly hard privately to learn and advocate for those within the trans community that I've hurt. I also haven't said much on this because I've gone back and forth over whether my voice would be helpful on the issue since it will be framed as disingenuous or just turning because I'm scorned. Even this reply will become right-wing hysteria. But yeah, I am sorry. Let me know how I can help. Okay. By the way, when she says son, sister, she's referring to Elon Musk's uh son, a boy who's identifies as trans. And so Ashley is referring to that boy as sister. So she she's affirming the the pronouns and all that. So apparently Ashley has now officially gone like full woke. This is not So this is going from supposedly very right-wing to fullon as woke as you can be basically overnight uh to the point of embracing trans

5:14 ideology. And I mean remember this is the woman who wrote an anti-trans children's book a just a few years ago and she was very possessive of it and very proud of it to the point of accusing me of copying her. Um, and now she's posting that she wants to start advocating for the trans community. And look, I'm aware that her reason for doing this is, you know, must be pure spite against Elon and the right-wingers who criticized her and also maybe looking for a new angle, a new bit, you know, and all that. But even so, this is incredible. I mean, I don't think we've ever seen this. Have we ever seen this?

6:01 Has it? Now, we've seen people who pretended to be conservative and then, you know, especially because they hated Trump and we've seen that and they went over to the left. Have we ever seen anyone though? Have we ever seen this specifically? Somebody who was fully on team sanity when it came to the trans issue specifically, somebody who was outspoken um against the trans madness. team sanity, team biological reality. Have we ever seen someone from that side go over to the other side? I can't think of another example. There have been many converts from team uh delusion over to team sanity. We've seen we've seen it go the other way plenty of times.

6:44 I I don't have there has there been anyone who's ever left our camp and gone to the uh women do have penises camp. Has there has there ever been anyone who has said for years like no of course bi biology exists and then one day said you know what actually biology doesn't exist. You know what come to think of it maybe women do have penises. Has anyone ever done that? I don't think we've ever seen it. And to do it now of all times is extraordinary. I mean, I I said yesterday, you know, embracing trans ideology now of all times. It's like it's like boarding the the Titanic an hour after it hit the iceberg.

7:27 Okay? It's like swimming out to the Titanic and grabbing hold of the railing right before it disappears into the icy depths. Even most Democrats have fled the ship at this. It's 2026. We're way past the the height of the transisteria. They've already lost. Democrats are embarrassed by it. Democrats are swimming away from the ship and they're looking over and seeing Ashley Sinclair swim to it. And they're looking back like, "What? Where are you going? What? What are you doing? I'm getting on the ship." Uh, okay. Have fun.

8:06 It's uh it it's I mean, it's amazing. And it's also really wrong. I mean, it's like the the people who have been on the protrans side the entire time, maybe you can uh do them the favor. Maybe you can be generous, which I I I have no interest in being generous to them. Maybe you can be generous and uh give them the benefit of the doubt that they're just delusional. Like they they they're just completely delusional. have no idea what's going on, don't understand anything about reality, and are totally confused if they've been on that side the entire time. Now, I think mo I think most of them that's not true. I think most of them it's a cynical calculation, which is why so many of them jumped off the ship as soon as it wasn't popular anymore.

8:56 But if you've been on the side of sanity on this issue, if you've made the arguments, as she has many times, then you obviously know. So to then come out and say, you know what, actually I am in favor of child castration. There's like no way that that could be anything but the most cynical move I've ever seen. But you know, if I'm wrong, let's let's allow for the sake of argument that maybe Ashley sincerely changed her mind. Okay. Okay. So, I have one question for you, Ashley. I I asked this on Twitter. I didn't get an answer. I'll ask again.

9:43 Really fair question. Why did you change your mind? What exact arguments did the trans activists make to convince you that actually men can have babies and sometimes it is okay to chemically castrate a child? Please explain how they persuaded you to adopt those incredible positions. Please explain how you went from knowing that women don't have penises to thinking that maybe they do. What did they say to convince you? What arguments did they make to convince you of this? I think that's a very that's the that's the fairest question you could ask here. I mean, that's the fairest. If you come out and it's an answer you owe. I mean, if you're if you're out there public facing, you've made money. You mean you sold a book, you've made money off of uh which is which is fine. I made money on Johnny the Walrus, but you've been on on the side of sanity here. You've profited from it. Fine. If you're going to come out and say, "You

10:51 know what? Actually, I I I want to advocate for the trans community." At the very least, you should be able to offer a reason why. Because I've been dealing with these people for 10 years. I have never heard them present a persuasive argument ever. Ever. I I've never heard one of these people who Ashley Stlair is apologizing to now. I've never heard them make even a mildly legitimate argument for the trans protrans side. This episode is sponsored by Pre-born Ministries. During this sanctity of life month, we remember the over 67 million babies whose lives have been lost to abortion since Roie Wade.

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12:13 To help, dial pound 250. Say the keyword baby. Pound 250. the keyword baby. Or you could donate securely online at pre-born.com/walsh. Again pre-born.com/walsh. I've never heard one valid argument ever, which is unlike a lot of there are a lot of positions you can take that I'll disagree with, but I would still admit that yeah, okay, that's like there are some valid or interesting arguments you can make for it. I'm I'm not persuaded. I don't agree with it. There are plenty of there are plenty of issues like that where you know from my perspective there's a clear right and wrong side of it but even on the wrong side I can see you know you can make an interesting argument but the protrans side there is no interesting argument there's no good argument I've never heard I've never heard it one time and I've been talking about this for a long time and I've talked to a lot of people about it and

13:06 I've debated this many many many times so what's the argument Wait a minute, Ashley. What did What did they tell you? What did they say to you? What was it? Um, and if you can't tell us that, then that that only leaves the possibility of a incredibly cynical move of going over to the side of child castration when you know that it's wrong. And that is unspeakably evil. I don't know what else to say about it. Hey YouTube, thanks for listening to the show. If you'd like access to my full show with no ads, you should go to dailywire.com and use promo code Walsh to get two months free on all annual plans.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "This Major Conservative Just Went “DARK WOKE” — What Happened?"?

Matt Walsh (Host), Ashley St. Clair (Guest).

What is "This Major Conservative Just Went “DARK WOKE” — What Happened?" about?

The content discusses Ashley St. Clair, a former conservative influencer, who has rebranded her stance to embrace a so-called "dark woke" philosophy, a term implying an edgier form of wokeness. The discussion touches on her previous conflicts, including accusations of plagiarism regarding children's books, her connection to Elon Musk, and her evolving public persona in the conservative media…

What is mentioned in this Matt Walsh episode?

8 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Ashley St. Clair, Trans Activism, Child Castration, Wokeness, Team Sanity, Team Delusion. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "This Major Conservative Just Went “DARK WOKE” — What Happened?"?

The episode runs 14 min; the transcript is about 2,291 words in 17 timestamped sections.

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