Piers Morgan credits Trump re-election for 'end of woke era'

The ability to speak freely without being “cancelled” has returned, according to the journalist and broadcaster Piers Morgan.

Speaking to Scotland Tonight on the launch of his new book, Woke is Dead, Morgan said he believes the “woke” movement is “one of the more insidious things that’s happened to any free democratic society in my lifetime”.

He explained: “What woke was originally intended to mean, it derived from African American music in the 60s, was an awareness of social and racial injustice.

“And by that definition, I’m happy to say I’m woke.

“Unfortunately, what’s happened in the last few years is that it got hijacked by the so-called progressive left.”

Morgan argues that “woke” ideology peaked between 2015 and 2025 and that the Covid pandemic helped fuel its rise.

Now, though, he claims it’s had its day and “common sense has prevailed”.

But what was the catalyst for its supposed demise?

Morgan credits the political comeback and re-election of Donald Trump as being a seismic moment in a changing of political discourse and debate, not just in the States but here in the UK too.

“If people want to know why Donald Trump got re-elected in America, for example, yes it was the economy, yes it was immigration, but actually a third plank of his win, and he’ll say this, was that at its core, as he put it, a core of common sense,” he explained.

“And that included, for example, saying that biological males cannot compete in women’s sport.

“I think we’ll look back in 20 or 30 years, if not earlier, at this period where it was actively encouraged for biological males to compete in women’s sport, if identified as women, and see it as a period of complete lunacy.”

Much of Morgan’s criticism of that “so-called progressive left” and “woke” ideology is aimed at its perceived intolerance of other views.

How does he reconcile that stance with his belief that Trump – widely accused of intolerance himself – played a key role in shifting the political landscape?

“Well he [Trump] can be [intolerant]”, said Morgan.

“And the woke right is a real thing and I make that point in the book. I don’t think it’s just a problem on the left.”

“I’m not here to say everything Donald Trump does is right.

“Now, is he prone, on his revenge tour, as a lot of what is happening could be categorised, to a bit of this stuff himself?

“Yes, he is quite happily trying to silence comedians and so on, I don’t agree with that part of it.”

Masculinity is also an issue Morgan feels particularly strongly about.

Discussing the critically acclaimed Netflix drama “Adolescence”, which explores themes of masculinity and misogyny, Morgan believes it “was a bit of a lazy trope”.

“It won a lot of awards and it was very well acted, I don’t remotely take that away from them,” he said.

“But, for me, it was just a bit of a lazy trope.

“People wonder why people like Andrew Tate get such momentum with young men.

“It’s precisely because of that kind of selection process about who you make a story about, about young boys behaving badly.

“I think he’s [Tate] a horrible misogynist, but he says a lot of things that young men gravitate to because actually they feel like society now views them all as that young man in Adolescence.”

In his book, Morgan also takes aim at movements such as Black Lives Matter and #MeToo – which he argues went too far despite being well intentioned.

“I make the point that a lot of these things, the genesis of it and the idea behind it, is very laudable,” he said.

“Black Lives Matter was a perfectly laudable way for the world to respond to the grotesque murder of George Floyd by a policeman.

“We all witnessed the cell phone footage, which was horrific.

“But like a lot of these movements, it became way too extreme. And by becoming extreme, it lost its purpose.”

But what was wrong with the #MeToo movement, which sought to ensure survivors of sexual assault had a voice?

The movement helped lead to justice for victims of the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who was convicted of multiple sexual offences.

“Was #MeToo a good campaign? Absolutely” Morgan said.

“Was everyone who was rounded up on it a Harvey Weinstein? No.

“Were people being rounded up who actually turned out to have done nothing very much wrong? Yes.

“So like a lot of these purges, it went a little bit too far.”

Morgan’s career has seen him take on several different roles within the media. Aged just 28, he was editor of the Daily Mirror and later worked in television – fronting Good Morning Britain and, most recently, hosting his own show Piers Morgan Uncensored.

So, having traversed the media’s many platforms, where does he think the industry is headed?

“You won’t want to hear this”, he says to (STV presenter) John MacKay, “but television is basically screwed in its conventional form.

“Young people don’t watch television. In America, the cable news average audience is 70, for example.

“In the UK, the average audience age for a lot of shows is skewing very older.”