This week, Democrats finally admitted defunding the police is a bad idea. They didn't apologize for pushing the narrative to do so but instead gaslighted Republicans by accusing them of engaging in the practice.
"Republicans are very good at staying on talking points of who says 'defund the police,'" White House Director of Public Engagement Cedric Richmond argued during an interview with Fox News Sunday. "But the truth is, they defunded the police."
"And in fact, they didn't get funding until the American Rescue Plan, which our plan allowed state and local governments to replenish their police departments and do the other things that are needed," he continued.
The American Rescue Plan was not sold or pushed by the White House and Democrats as a way to fund police departments. Biden's use of it now, as I wrote about last week, is a political gimmick. It's a crime bailout from the federal government to refund or replenish police departments defunded by leftist mayors and city councils last year.
When White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked to name a single Republican who voted against the American Rescue Plan specifically in order to defund the police, she couldn't do it. They don't exist. The package was rejected because additional Wuhan coronavirus relief wasn't needed, and it was packed full of Democrat pet projects.
Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke and Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, both nominated by President Biden, are staunch supporters of the defund movement. They're now in charge of police oversight at the Department of Justice. President Joe Biden backed the movement in order to hold onto his far-left voters on Election day. Vice President Kamala Harris not only helped to bail out violent criminals and rioters last summer through the Minnesota Freedom Fund, but she also proclaimed that the U.S. needs to "rethink" policing.
By attempting to place the blame of exponential increases in crime on Republicans, Democrats are inadvertently admitting that defunding the police produces negative consequences. The fallout is especially bad for the very communities Democrats and the White House claim to care about.
But word acrobatics coming out of the White House won't change the facts about why violent crime is on the rise, and Democrats can't detach themselves from the consequences of their anti-police, pro-criminal ideology. While Washington politicians attempt to rewrite the history on the issue ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, leftist activists are installing anti-law-and-order "prosecutors" in big cities across the country and passing so-called bail reform that enables violent criminals to walk free. They then inevitably commit additional crimes against innocent victims, face rearrest by tired officers and then are let out again without proper charges. It's a vicious and destructive rinse and repeat cycle of crime.
Further, stripping police budgets of badly needed funding isn't the only way to "defund" departments. Demoralization, not allowing cops to do their jobs without dangerous hesitation and prosecutors allowing criminals out of jail gets the job done. A combination of these factors is why police officers are retiring in droves, leaving behind open positions new candidates aren't willing to fill.
The defund the policy movement is a pervasive, widespread ideology of the Left. The goal is to tear down the entire system and Democrats own it.