WH Hands GOP a Gift During Press Briefing With Important Concession on Defunding Police – Opinion

The rising crime epidemic is a topic that frequently comes up during White House daily press briefings. Fox News reporter Peter Doocy usually asks about whether or not the Biden White House accepts soft-on-crime strategies taken by Democrat district attorneys and efforts by various cities as well as certain Democrat lawmakers to defund police.

Jen Psaki, press secretary usually avoids (dodge), weighing specifically on the actions of individual cities while issuing an overall statement in which (falsely), she claims that President Biden was always a strong supporter for funding the police. Psaki also attributes rising crime to gun violence, but she fails to acknowledge the fact that defunding police departments in large cities has had an adverse and deadly effect on those very same cities.

But during today’s press briefing, Psaki switched up and finally made a significant concession on the issue of defunding the police and how it relates to rising crime rates. During a back and forth exchange with Doocy, Psaki did as she normally does by attributing the bulk of the rising crime rate to gun violence, but second on her list was what she called “underfunding of some police departments and their need for additional resources.”

Watch:

Psaki: “If we look at the facts…we have seen a surge of rime over the last 2 years. Would you agree w/that?”

Doocy: “So, what are you attributing the rise in crime to then?”

Psaki: “We should be responsible how we are reporting…the reason…Gun violence is a huge reason.” pic.twitter.com/sdEFCuYItD

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 24, 2022

Psaki’s concession came just a few days after President Biden calling for “increasing funding” for the police:

.@POTUS to U.S. Conference of Mayors: “We shouldn’t be cutting funding for police departments. I propose increasing funding.” pic.twitter.com/ygyPNeIMiE

— Mediaite (@Mediaite) January 21, 2022

It is clear that this pivot was made by the Biden Administration to avoid radicals from their party. They have long railed against the police, and demanded defunding.

In 2020, House Democrats attributed the drubbing They received in part to the party’s embrace of the “Defund” movement. Laughably, during the summer of 2021, Democrats attempted to shift the blame on defunding the police to Republicans, suggesting because the GOP rejected Biden’s bloated spending bills that theyThey were in fact supporters of defunding police.

Republicans were quick to welcome the Democrats’ revival of the topic at the time because it gave them the opportunity to bring receipts to the table to prove once and for all that it is Democrats who have supported yanking much-needed funding from police departments.

I suspect this pivot is being made now to try and head Republicans off at the pass in advance of the 2022 midterms, and also because some Democrat mayors have even abandoned ship on this issue (some temporarily) because they see what it’s done to their cities.

But Republicans shouldn’t and likely will not let the Biden administration off the hook on this one, because they know this issue is a losing one for Democrats, with a cross-section of voters who agree that police departments should not be defunded.

In short, the Biden administration is welcome to revive the debate over defunding the police, but it’s unlikely to prove helpful to them come election time, where the writing is already on the wall.

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