Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her “Squad” are not going to be happy about this.
President-elect Joe Biden told civil rights leaders in a private meeting Tuesday that the “defund the police” slogan cost the Democratic Party dearly in the 2020 elections.
His remarks came amid a broader discussion wherein he said the issue of criminal justice reform should be put on hold until after the Georgia Senate runoff elections, in which the Democratic Party hopes to flip two Republican-held seats.
“I also don’t think we should get too far ahead ourselves on dealing with police reform,” Biden said, according to audio obtained first by the Intercept, “because they’ve already labeled us as being ‘defund the police’ anything we put forward in terms of the organizational structure to change policing — which I promise you, will occur. Promise you.”
He added, “That’s how they beat the living hell out of us across the country, saying that we’re talking about defunding the police. We’re not. We’re talking about holding them accountable. We’re talking about giving them money to do the right things. We’re talking about putting more psychologists and psychiatrists on the telephones when the 911 calls through. We’re talking about spending money to enable them to do their jobs better, not with more force, with less force and more understanding.”
Well, about that. It all depends on who you ask. Biden may believe “defund the police” simply means “holding them accountable.” But that’s not what the movement is about. The more fervent left-wing activists who back the movement, including Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Project NIA Director Mariame Kabe, will tell you that “defund the police” means exactly what it sounds like. They will tell you it means the literal abolition of the police.
And in Minneapolis right now, they aren’t just reforming the police. They are defunding them.
By the way, Biden is not alone in saying “defund the police” hurt Democrats badly in the fall elections. Former President Barack Obama said as much last week during an interview on Good Luck America. Majority Whip James Clyburn likewise blames “defund the police” for the party’s poor showing in the 2020 elections.
On Tuesday, after civil rights leaders urged the president-elect to take executive action on police reform, Biden counseled his audience to cool it with such rhetoric, saying, “I just raise it with you to think about how much do we push between now and Jan. 5 — we need those two seats — about police reform.”
He adds, “But I guarantee you there will be a full-blown commission. I guarantee you it’s a major, major, major element.”
The private meeting this week with Biden included Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, NAACP President Derrick Johnson, and noted anti-Semite Al Sharpton.
The interesting thing now will be the reaction from the Ocasio-Cortez wing of the Democratic Party. Chances are they will dismiss the president-elect’s advice, just as they have largely dismissed Obama’s. They will wave off Biden’s remarks with all the indignant confidence of Democratic officials whose chief political accomplishment has been winning races in districts where even a sandwich can be elected so long as it has “D” next to its name on the ballot.
