• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
White House Says US Has Reached Out To North Korea, Received No Response

Psaki Attempts a Switcheroo, Tries To Pin ‘Defund Police’ on GOP After It Backfires on Dems

June 29, 2021
FBI Probing ‘Targeted Terror Attack’ In Colorado

FBI Probing ‘Targeted Terror Attack’ In Colorado

June 1, 2025
VANESSA BATTAGLIA: Hegseth Is Right To Demand Afghanistan Withdrawal Accountability

VANESSA BATTAGLIA: Hegseth Is Right To Demand Afghanistan Withdrawal Accountability

June 1, 2025
LEIF LARSON: We Can’t Let Microsoft Unfairly Dominate The Tech Marketplace

LEIF LARSON: We Can’t Let Microsoft Unfairly Dominate The Tech Marketplace

June 1, 2025
STEVE MILLOY: Trump To Revive The Nuclear Power Industry

STEVE MILLOY: Trump To Revive The Nuclear Power Industry

June 1, 2025
Nonprofit Funded By Chinese Gov’t-Linked Entities Backs Blue State’s ‘Unconstitutional’ Climate Law

Nonprofit Funded By Chinese Gov’t-Linked Entities Backs Blue State’s ‘Unconstitutional’ Climate Law

May 31, 2025
Why On-And-Off Voters Who Backed Trump May Be GOP’s Midterm Silver Bullet

Why On-And-Off Voters Who Backed Trump May Be GOP’s Midterm Silver Bullet

May 31, 2025
MICHAEL LUCCI: US Multinationals Must Exit China

MICHAEL LUCCI: US Multinationals Must Exit China

May 31, 2025
CASEY RYAN: Loudoun County Is Back In The Election Year Headlines Again

CASEY RYAN: Loudoun County Is Back In The Election Year Headlines Again

May 31, 2025
DAVID BLACKMON: Did Trump And Hochul Just Swap An Offshore Wind Farm For A Pipeline?

DAVID BLACKMON: Did Trump And Hochul Just Swap An Offshore Wind Farm For A Pipeline?

May 31, 2025
Father Of DJ Daniel Gives Heartbreaking Health Update About Son

Father Of DJ Daniel Gives Heartbreaking Health Update About Son

May 30, 2025
Appeals Court Blocks Trump’s Push For Mass Federal Firings

Appeals Court Blocks Trump’s Push For Mass Federal Firings

May 30, 2025
Musk Leaves DOGE With a Black Eye — Literally 

Musk Leaves DOGE With a Black Eye — Literally 

May 30, 2025
  • Donald Trump
  • State of the Union
  • Elon Musk
  • Tariffs
  • Congress
  • Faith
  • Immigration
Sunday, June 1, 2025
  • Login
IJR
  • Politics
  • US News
  • Commentary
  • World News
  • Faith
  • Latest Polls
No Result
View All Result
IJR
No Result
View All Result
Home Commentary

Psaki Attempts a Switcheroo, Tries To Pin ‘Defund Police’ on GOP After It Backfires on Dems

by Western Journal
June 29, 2021 at 5:19 pm
in Commentary
250 2
0
White House Says US Has Reached Out To North Korea, Received No Response

FILE PHOTO: White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 15, 2021. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)     

491
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

One understands President Joe Biden’s administration doesn’t want to own the slogan “defund the police” ahead of a summer that’s predicted to be just as violent as last year. However, it might be a bit late to tie the slogan “defund the police” to the GOP.

When Biden adviser Cedric Richmond tried the tactic during an appearance on Fox News over the weekend, it was laughable. Instead of backing off of it, however, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Republicans didn’t vote for funding that “has been used to keep cops on the beat” — even when said funding was a minuscule part of the American Rescue Plan, the larded-up COVID-relief package passed along strictly party lines.

Richmond had made the remarks in question on “Fox News Sunday”: “Let’s talk about who defunded the police. When we were in Congress last year trying to pass a rescue plan — I’m sorry, not the rescue plan but an emergency relief plan for cities that were cash-strapped and laying off police and firefighters — it was the Republicans who objected to it,” he said.

“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.

“So look, 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,” he added.

Richmond may be duplicitous, but he ain’t stupid. Last November, he told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that the slogan hurt Democrats at the ballot box, even though he swore that’s not what they were doing — just “reinventing” policing.

“Some titles hurt,” Richmond said. “‘Defunding the police’ is a title that hurts Democrats, especially when the fact of the matter is nobody is calling for defunding the police. We’re calling for reinventing how we police communities in this country, how we do criminal justice.”

Well, that’s enough police reinvention via budgetary means for the moment. Now, it’s all Republicans’ fault!

At Monday’s White House media briefing, Fox News’ Peter Doocy brought the remarks up.

“Something one of the advisers said this weekend, Cedric Richmond, he said, ‘Republicans defunded the police by not supporting the American Rescue Plan,'” Doocy noted.

“But how is it that that is an argument to be made when the president never mentioned needing money for police to stop a crime wave when he was selling the American Rescue Plan?”

“Well, the President did mention that the American Rescue Plan, they’ll — the state and local funding, something that was supported by the President, a lot of Democrats who supported and voted for the bill, could help ensure local cops were kept on the beat in communities across the country,” Psaki said.

“As you know, it didn’t receive a single Republican vote.  That funding has been used to keep cops on the beat.”

Doocy responded by noting that “at the time, that was sold as, ‘These local police departments might have a pandemic-related budget shortfall,’ not, ‘We need to keep cops on the beat because there’s crime wave.'”

“I think that any local department would argue that keeping cops on the beat to keep communities safe when they had to, because of budget shortfalls, fire police is something that helps them address crime in their local communities,” Psaki said.

“The White House’s argument was: The American Rescue Plan is going to be $1,400 checks. It’s going to be vaccines, vaccinators. We’re — it’s going to put us on the path to beating the virus,” Doocy said.

“It did those things as well,” Psaki added. “It was a pretty good bill and piece of legislation.”

Absolutely shameless. Under questioning from Fox’s Peter Doocy, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki argues it’s *Republicans* who have been defunding the police and not supporting law enforcement because they didn’t vote for Biden’s stimulus boondoggle the American Rescue Plan. pic.twitter.com/pIwfFkonu1

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 28, 2021

Good try there. Again, Psaki isn’t an idiot, but she’s hoping you are. What’s particularly shameless about this response is that this is the second time in less than a week the White House press secretary has used the same argument in response to a question from Doocy, Fox News’ White House correspondent.

Last Wednesday, Doocy questioned the White House’s logic that expanded employment opportunities (created through federal spending, natch) would nip that crime bud right off: “So the thought there basically that somebody, some criminal, who has been committing crimes with limited interruption or interference from police for the last couple of weeks or months is going to stop this easy life of crime if they have a summer job?”

Psaki responded that part of the president’s anti-crime agenda involves “specific guidance to communities across the country to ensure that they have funding to get more community police around the country, something that was supported by the American Jobs Plan, that was voted into law by Democrats just a couple of months ago. Some might say that the other party was for defunding the police. I’ll let others say that, but that’s a piece.”

Here’s Jen Psaki suggesting REPUBLICANS were trying to defund police pic.twitter.com/m8pus7BS9O

— Kylee Zempel (@kyleezempel) June 23, 2021

Yes, she’ll let others say that — and then back them up uncritically when they do, as she did with Cedric Richmond.

There’s a reason this matters. As CNN reported last week, “[t]he post-reopening murder wave is about to become a major subject of conversation. Murders have gone up in 2021, and the summer — high season for homicide — is just getting started.” The New York Times reported in March that data showed an 18 percent jump in homicides over the first three months of the year. In 2020, meanwhile, America’s largest cities saw a 33 percent spike in homicides.

In Mayor Bill de Blasio’s New York City, former police officer Eric Adams — a moderate Democrat who’s strong on law and order — will likely be the winner in the Democratic primary for mayor, which means he’ll almost certainly be the next man to lead the city.

On Sunday, Axios reported that Republicans plan to hit the administration on the issue in the midterms next year, with an electoral blueprint which “argues that Biden Democrats are soft on crime, soft and ineffective on illegal immigration, and reckless and wrong with government spending.”

The numbers on the matter don’t look very good for D.C. Democrats, either.

In a May poll, 73 percent of respondents told Fox News they felt there was more crime nationally compared with last year, and 54 percent said they felt there was more crime in their communities. Another 72 percent said they had “a great deal” of confidence (36 percent) or a “fair amount” of confidence (36 percent) in law enforcement, which contrasts with a vision of Americans cowering in fear of our own police officers.

Similarly, a March poll conducted by USA Today/Ipsos found that only 18 percent of respondents supported the “defund the police” movement, with 58 percent outright opposing it. USA Today reported that only 28 percent of black Americans polled and 34 percent of Democratic respondents were in favor of the campaign.

“Defund the police” has backfired in spectacular fashion on Washington Democrats, in other words. The hour is too late for them to disown the poxed slogan, however — much less to pawn it off on the GOP under the cynical rubric that Republicans didn’t vote for Biden’s massive spending bills.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

Tags: Jen PsakiJoe Bidenpolitics
Share196Tweet123
Western Journal

Western Journal

Advertisements

Top Stories June 10th
Top Stories June 7th
Top Stories June 6th
Top Stories June 3rd
Top Stories May 30th
Top Stories May 29th
Top Stories May 24th
Top Stories May 23rd
Top Stories May 21st
Top Stories May 17th

Join Over 6M Subscribers

We’re organizing an online community to elevate trusted voices on all sides so that you can be fully informed.





IJR

    Copyright © 2024 IJR

Trusted Voices On All Sides

  • About Us
  • GDPR Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Editorial Standards & Corrections Policy
  • Subscribe to IJR

Follow Us

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Politics
  • US News
  • Commentary
  • World News
  • Faith
  • Latest Polls

    Copyright © 2024 IJR

Top Stories June 10th Top Stories June 7th Top Stories June 6th Top Stories June 3rd Top Stories May 30th Top Stories May 29th Top Stories May 24th Top Stories May 23rd Top Stories May 21st Top Stories May 17th