According to the left, it's Republicans who are the ones defunding the police. Such is a claim that "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace made on this most recent episode while speaking with Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN). Former Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), who is now a senior advisor for President Joe Biden, had made that same exact argument on the show.
In 2002 Biden said “More cops clearly means less crime”. He can’t say that today because he’s held hostage by the radical “Defund the Police” squad.
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) June 27, 2021
Democrats’ anti-police policies & rhetoric has dangerous consequences. Need to #backtheblue to decrease crime!! pic.twitter.com/CGvgLuDDwy
In the previous segment, Richmond had claimed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) "doesn't have a clue" when it comes to the senator's points that "the Biden five-point plan will not address the rise in murder and vicious assaults in this country... we've declared war on the police and that is backfiring on those who have done it."
There was a preoccupation about how Republicans did not support the partisan American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. As Richmond put it, it was "an emergency relief plan for cities that were cash-strapped and laying off police and firefighters" and which "allowed state and local governments to replenish their police departments and do the other things that are needed."
Such is how the left comes up with the argument that it is Republicans who are in favor of defunding the police. To once again quote Richmond, "Republicans are very good at staying on talking points of who says defund the police, but the truth is, they defunded the police, we funded crime intervention, and a whole bunch of other things."
When it was time for Wallace to question Rep. Banks, as to why the increase in crime, the congressman reminded viewers how much of a hypocrite who is beholden to the extreme leftist members of the Democratic Party, noting that then Sen. Biden wrote an op-ed in 2002 advocating for more police so as to have less crime.
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"You will not hear Joe Biden say that today," the congressman pointed out, "because today Joe Biden is being held hostage in the White House by the Squad and the radicals in the Democrat Party who control their party, who have spent the last year stigmatizing one of the most honorable professions in America, in our law enforcement."
As the congressman pointed out that these Democrats "fully support" defunding the police, he also listed examples of opposition to qualified immunity, cashless bail, and decreased sentences.
"It's a recipe that criminals in every city in America are liking what Democrats are selling," Banks suggested. "And that's why you're seeing unprecedented crime waves across America, murder rates this year alone that are higher than anything that we've seen before because we've taken police officers off the streets."
President Biden has responded to rising crime rates by blaming the issue on guns.
Rep. Banks lamented how "now Joe Biden wants to take guns away from law-abiding gun owners who have guns to protect themselves."
President Biden, as his senior advisor did, uses the talking point that his relief plans "means more police officers, more nurses, more counselors, more social workers, more community violence interrupters to help resolve issues before they escalate into crimes," as if that were the only part of the 628-page plan.
Not only did no Republican vote in favor of it, certain Democrats voted against it, including Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), who did so because much of the bill did not actually go towards relief, but involved unnecessary pork.
Rather than respond to congressman overall main points, Wallace used Richmond's words to push back against Banks.
"Congressman Banks, you voted against that package, against that $350 billion, just like every other Republican in the House and Senate, so can't you make the argument that it's you and the Republicans who are defunding the police."
Rep. Banks without hesitation responded "not at all."
What Rep. Banks had been trying to discuss when it comes to defunding the police, is comments from squad members denigrating the police. He did acknowledge that "you can give them more funding, and that's good," but that there is a problem in recruiting police officers, "because we've stigmatized one of the most honorable professions in America" and "we are at a dangerous point."
Banks further stressed that "that is directly related to the rise in violent crime across America. If we turn a blind eye to law and order and a blind eye to riots that occurred in cities last summer, and we take police officers off the street, we are inevitably going to see crime rise."
First Amendment speech should never be met with one-sided violence from federal agents acting as Trump’s secret police, especially when unidentified. This is disgraceful behavior we would expect from a banana republic — not the government of the United States.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 18, 2020
In the face of an unprecedented crime wave, why won’t @JoeBiden categorically reject the radical wing of his party’s war on law enforcement??
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) June 27, 2021
Tune into @FoxNewsSunday this morning as I answer this question and more. https://t.co/BBYMQMAWv0
Wallace did not respond to these examples though, which Rep. Banks mentioned.
The point Banks aptly stuck to throughout, though, is that, while also noting that most crimes are committed with illegally obtained guns, "if we are serious about reducing violent crime in America, then Joe Biden will go on a national public relations campaign, admonish the radical voices in the Democrat[ic] Party that have stigmatized police officers and law enforcement."
"The first step toward reducing violent crime," according to Banks, "is to support police officers, back the blue," which is "what Republicans are doing."
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