Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) says she will continue to say “defund the police” as part of her campaign strategy, according to a new report from Axios.
“Progressives — and that slogan specifically — were blamed for Democratic losses in 2020. The 2022 midterms are even more challenging, yet Bush said during an hourlong conversation with Black reporters that she’s sticking to her activist roots,” Axios reported.
“I always tell [fellow Democrats], ‘If you all had fixed this before I got here, I wouldn’t have to say these things,’” Bush said.
“‘Defund the police’ is not the problem,” Bush added. “We dangled the carrot in front of people’s faces and said we can get it done and that Democrats deliver, when we haven’t totally delivered.”
“If [Republicans] take the majority, it’s just done as far as trying to get the legislation across,” Bush said.
The Democrats’ “defund the police” movement, which President Biden supported during his presidential campaign, resulted in a violent crime surge across the country. In Austin, Texas, for example, murder increased by 300% in one year.
“Austin doesn’t feel as safe recently. Because it isn’t,” the advocacy group Save Austin Now states on their website. “We’ve seen a series of city policy decisions over the last 2 years that have led to a surge in both violent crime and property crime against Austinites. A 300% increase in murders this year. A double-digit increase in property crimes such as burglaries and carjackings. And a massive increase in reports of “soft crimes” that make us uncomfortable, especially us women. This isn’t the Austin we know and love, and it doesn’t have to be.”
