Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., downplayed the radical left’s “defund the police” initiative, stating that he knows no one running for office who talks about this.
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” the self-avowed socialist confidently revised history, seemingly knowing he would get little pushback from anchor Jake Tapper — a correct assessment, as Tapper sat there like a toad on a stump.
“Nobody I know who’s running for office talks about defunding the police — what we talk about is making police officers accountable,” Sanders said, during a discussion of the two Senate runoff races in Georgia.
“Making sure that police departments do what they can do best,” Sanders continued. “Figuring out how you deal with mental illness, how you deal with homelessness, whether those are, in fact, police responsibilities, making sure that police officers are not killing innocent African Americans.”
The problem here is that Sanders’ closest ally in Congress. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., very much talks about defunding the police.
“Defunding police means defunding police,” AOC said in June, in response to New York City proposing a $1 billion cut to the police department budget. “It does not mean budget tricks or funny math. It does not mean moving school police officers from the NYPD budget to the Department of Education’s budget so the exact same police remain in schools.”
Well, Senator, may I introduce you to your closest philosophical ally in the House of Representatives? pic.twitter.com/4lDdGycx6b
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 15, 2020
Another radical member of the “squad,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, who took time from a busy dating life to endorse Sanders for president, as did Ocasio-Cortez, called for the complete dismantling of the Minneapolis Police Department after the death of George Floyd.
“You can’t really reform a department that is rotten to the root. What you can do is rebuild,” Omar told Tapper in June.
As seen in an interview over the summer with The New Yorker, Sanders has not been a vocal proponent of defunding the police.
“Do I think we should not have police departments in America? No, I don’t,” he said. “There’s no city in the world that does not have police departments.”
“I didn’t call for more money for police departments. I called for police departments that have well-educated, well-trained, well-paid professionals. And, too often around this country right now, you have police officers who take the job at very low payment, don’t have much education, don’t have much training — and I want to change that,” he continued.
At the same time, he did call for stripping police departments of “federal funding” if they violate people’s civil rights.
Every police department violating people's civil rights must be stripped of federal funding.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) June 4, 2020
Interestingly, while Sanders was noncommittal Sunday about joining a potential Biden administration, he had previously suggested that he might be willing to serve as Labor secretary.
Defunding the police was a key component of the Black Lives Matter protests/riots over the summer and political commentator Drew Holden stressed this is precisely what Democrats intended, even as they “gaslight this perspective out of existence.”
This was always – always – going to happen. They will gaslight this perspective out of existence.
But the truth is clear: when the Democrats say “defund the police” what they mean is **defund the police**
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) November 15, 2020
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to Holden’s perspective from Twitter:
“That’s what I said: nobody”
— Destructive Chemistry (@DestructiveChem) November 15, 2020
I always think they mean, “focus on this so we don’t have to work on actual reform.”
— Just D (@dfromthebx) November 16, 2020
It’s Schroedinger’s Policy
— MrTate (@MrTate) November 15, 2020
The people who see secret code in ‘dog whistles’ have a hard time describing their own platform.
— I’m To Blame (@im2blame4) November 15, 2020
People are already telling me that no elected democrat has ever said it. It’s not just the media, it’s the voters.
— Andrew Copple (@DrDeadrewski) November 16, 2020
bernie sanders is not a dem. aoc is only a dem because that was the only way she could attain office. same with the rest of the squad. very few centrist dems have been screaming to defund the police.
— boredsfgiantsfan (@boredsfgiantsf1) November 16, 2020
More lies and denial from the two biggest Socialists in America!!!! Watch and listen as they lie daily, these are the idiots Democrats elected!!!
— TitleistBallMaker (@maker_ball) November 16, 2020
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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