Written with contribution from Sheriff David Clarke
In a Snapchat interview this week, former President Barack Obama threw the “Defund the Police” progressives under the bus by dismissing the notion as a “snappy slogan” that stands to alienate voters from leftist narratives on police reform.
Well, the far-left members of Congress’ “Squad” didn’t take too kindly to the words of this self-professed “grizzled vet” scolding them for their stupid little slogans.
“If you’re a young activist today and you believe really passionately in a slogan, like Defund the Police, what is your advice to that activist?” “Good Luck America” podcast host Peter Hamby asked the former POTUS.
“Knowing that a lot of politicians won’t go near that phrase, even if the nuts and bolts of the idea might be popular.”
Barack Obama tells Snapchat's @PeterHamby that “snappy” slogans like “Defund the Police” aren't very effective and will lose you an audience.
“The key is deciding, do you want to actually get something done, or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with?” pic.twitter.com/sN8pigpP9O
— The Recount (@therecount) December 2, 2020
Obama replied, “If you believe, as I do, that we should be able to reform the criminal justice system so that it’s not biased and treats everybody fairly, I guess you can use a snappy slogan, like Defund the Police, but, you know, you lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you’re actually going to get the changes you want done.”
I don’t remember Obama caring this much about alienating people when he was spouting off his own anti-police rhetoric during his time in office, but who’s counting.
“But if you instead say, Hey, you know what? Let’s reform the police department so that everybody’s being treated fairly,” he continued.
“And not just in policing, but in sentencing, how can we divert young people from getting into crime? And if there was a homeless guy, can maybe we send a mental health worker there instead of an armed unit that could end up resulting in a tragedy?”
That is dog whistle for being a criminal apologist.
“You know, suddenly a whole bunch of folks who might not otherwise listen to you are listening to you… So the key is deciding, do you want to actually get something done, or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with? And if you want to get something done in a democracy, in a country as big and diverse as ours, then you’ve got to be able to meet people where they are.”
What Obama meant was it is OK to hate police. Just be more effective at wordsmithing in order to fool people and disguise your true intent like he successfully did for 8 years.
Well, the “young activists” in the U.S. Congress who have based their careers on “snappy slogans” and baseless assertions about systemic racism found their little feathers rather ruffled by these comments.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) explained that it’s not just a slogan, but a “policy demand,” because of course she did.
Ask her how well that’s going in her hometown, by the way.
We lose people in the hands of police. It’s not a slogan but a policy demand. And centering the demand for equitable investments and budgets for communities across the country gets us progress and safety. https://t.co/Vu6inw4ms7
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) December 2, 2020
“We lose people in the hands of police. It’s not a slogan but a policy demand. And centering the demand for equitable investments and budgets for communities across the country gets us progress and safety,” Omar pontificated from the safety and security of a passive aggressive Twitter post.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), not to be outshone by Omar’s outrageous rhetoric and empty logic, compared the “Defund the Police” movement to the civil disobedience of activist Rosa Parks.
“Rosa Parks was vilified & attacked for her civil disobedience,” Tlaib wrote. “She was targeted. It’s hard seeing the same people who uplift her courage, attack the movement for Black lives that want us to prioritize health, funding of schools & ending poverty, rather than racist police systems.”
Rosa Parks was vilified & attacked for her civil disobedience. She was targeted. It's hard seeing the same people who uplift her courage, attack the movement for Black lives that want us to prioritize health, funding of schools & ending poverty, rather than racist police systems.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) December 2, 2020
The third member of AOC’s “plus three,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley, actually managed to outshine her radical peers when it came to hysterical language, pointing to the “murders” of “generations of Black folk” as apparently these people now think that police are literally wiping out entire age groups of Black Americans at a time.
“Delusional” doesn’t even cut it. Black people kill each other in numbers that could bring tears to the eyes of a brass monkey. Researcher Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute did the math. In the most recent year that the stats are available she found that of all the black murders in America, police use of force resulting in black violent deaths amounted to 0.01% of all black deaths. Read that to yourself again.
The murders of generations of unarmed Black folks by police have been horrific. Lives are at stake daily so I’m out of patience with critiques of the language of activists.
Whatever a grieving family says is their truth.
And I’ll never stop fighting for their justice & healing.
— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) December 2, 2020
“The murders of generations of unarmed Black folks by police have been horrific,” she dramatically declared on Twitter. “Lives are at stake daily so I’m out of patience with critiques of the language of activists. Whatever a grieving family says is their truth. And I’ll never stop fighting for their justice & healing.”
Last but certainly not least, founding member of the “Squad,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also rambled off some garbage about why it’s legitimate to call for our nation’s police departments to receive less or no funding because she and her supporters can’t even for two seconds consider the reality of what that means or whether or not there’s any actual evidence that policing is systemically racist in the United States.
What if activists aren’t PR firms for politicians & their demands are bc police budgets are exploding, community resources are shrinking to bankroll it, & ppl brought this up for ages but it wasn’t until they said “defund” that comfortable people started paying attn to brutality
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 2, 2020
The thing that critics of activists don’t get is that they tried playing the “polite language” policy game and all it did was make them easier to ignore.
It wasn’t until they made folks uncomfortable that there was traction to do ANYTHING even if it wasn’t their full demands.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 2, 2020
The whole point of protesting is to make ppl uncomfortable.
Activists take that discomfort w/ the status quo & advocate for concrete policy changes. Popular support often starts small & grows.
To folks who complain protest demands make others uncomfortable… that’s the point.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 2, 2020
As much of a headache as it is to follow any of this logically-devoid nonsense, it’s always amusing to witness progressive in-fighting, especially between some of the top thought leaders of today’s disastrous Democrat Party.
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