The Democrats have to do more than wait for the current president to destroy his own presidency.

Here’s an easy lesson for rising political hopefuls to draw from Francesca Hong’s failed bid to be Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee: Don’t demonize Thanksgiving.

Hong, a chef, state legislator and democratic socialist, was the clear front-runner in the Democratic primary race until a social media comment she posted six years ago, now deleted, turned up, in the way that old tweets often do to embarrass political candidates.

You didn’t have to be a right-winger to slap your forehead, shake your head and condemn cheap shots at a holiday long cherished by countless families yet dismissed by Hong as a glorification of colonialism. She backpedaled on those past remarks, but one way or another her polling lead evaporated, and last week she lost to a moderate opponent, David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive.

Although Hong had campaigned on a platform that no doubt appealed to many Wisconsin voters, by the end she was beleaguered by questions about Turkey Day and whether she still believed in defunding the police.

Such left-wing stars as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, refrained from endorsing Hong, despite campaigning for other prominent progressives, including Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Such hesitancy about Hong and her hot-button holiday heat signaled a renewed appreciation of moderated rhetoric even among the progressives in pursuit of restoring unity to the Democratic Party and calming the concerns of independent voters.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez suggested the dawn of a new post-“woke” era to replace “Woke 1” like a now model of automobile. “Woke 1 was crazy,” she said, laughing, during a Sunday appearance on ABC’s “This Week.” Translation: Some Democratic candidates (including herself) were distancing themselves from extreme statements such as “Defund the police” that were all the rage, quite literally, in the volatile context of 2020’s protests over the killing of George Floyd.

“I think that what’s important is that we have to assess what a candidate is saying now,” she said.

“Woke 1” (or 1.0, as some call it) presumably met its demise in 2024 with the re-election of Donald Trump. What Woke 2.0 looks like, or if it even exists, is not for me to say. Yet progressive candidates are learning that the “woke” frame continues to be a bludgeon used against them, and however pure their intentions may be, they need to formulate their positions and explain themselves to voters with care.

Calls for the blanket defunding of police or throwing open the doors to prisons and jails don’t play so well when you’re running for governor or Senate — or the presidency, an office that some speculate AOC has her eye on.