Every reality show has the episode where the cast swears they've changed, and then the camera cuts to the hot tub.

Wednesday was that episode for the Democrats.

On Fox News' "Special Report," Bret Baier asked DNC Chair Ken Martin, "Is woke coming back?" Martin said, "No." He said voters cared about gas, electricity and grocery prices. Very serious. Very grown-up. Very "I'm not here to make friends."

Then the camera cut to the hot tub.

By Wednesday evening, The Washington Post had a headline for what his party's online fans were doing: "Democrats won. The internet is 'libbing out.'" On CNN that morning, political analyst Leah Wright had already said, "So first things first, I think we can all say that woke is back." BuzzFeed rounded up the memes, and the vibe was the same. The chairman said "No." The fans said "Bluenami."

The posts were incredible. One told everyone to "put your pronouns back in your email signature by 10 a.m. tomorrow," like a corporate HR memo from the resistance. Another, quoted by the Post, read, "Hello 911, I'm experiencing a glimmer of hope." Somebody announced "woke 3.0," which means there was a 2.0 and nobody told the rest of us to update.

Then came the policy platform. "We're putting ms rachel on the $100 bill." Not the price of the $100 groceries, mind you. The bill. The party ran on affordability for a year, won, and its fans immediately started redesigning the currency around a toddler YouTuber.

People started calling it "hope core." Somebody declared "Millennial optimism is back." The Hamilton cast recording came out of storage like a prom dress from 2016, still smelling faintly of brunch. Parker Posey's "tsunami" scene from "The White Lotus" got passed around as a victory lap, which is perfect, because nothing says stable governing coalition like a rich lady having a breakdown at a resort.

And somewhere in the middle of it, a post that just said "Knicks in 5." Even the sports takes went full blue. Hope is free, I guess. The Knicks are not.

Here's the thing. The AP's voter poll found about 7 in 10 voters ages 18 to 29 backed Democrats. These are the kids who said they couldn't afford rent, groceries or a used Honda. They voted on the price of eggs. Then they celebrated like they'd just won a "Glee" reunion.

So the DNC chair is on Fox telling middle America, relax, it was all about the gas pump. Meanwhile, his base is online demanding pronoun compliance by 10 a.m. It's the cleanest split-screen in television history. One side is a confessional cam. The other is the cast party.

Martin might even be right. Maybe woke isn't coming back. Maybe it just never moved out, and it was hiding in the guest bedroom waiting for a win.

Because that's what reunion seasons are. Everybody swears it's going to be different this time. They talk about growth. They talk about the grocery bill. And then the music swells, the confetti drops, and somebody's updating their email signature before the votes are even counted.

The chairman said no. The internet said "glimmer of hope." And the hot tub, as always, said, welcome back.

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The Demorat is a satire publication. This article is parody and commentary based on real news reports; jokes, exaggerations and fictional elements are not factual claims. Quotes attributed to real people are drawn from published reporting.

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