House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is once again at the crossroads with Democrat lawmakers, as she continues defying major ideological leftist beliefs.
Pelosi distanced the party from calls to “defund the police,” even though Rep. Cori Bush refused to buy her narrative.
Democrats are inconsistent in their campaign messages
As homicides rates continue increasing all over America, Democrats are finding it difficult to form a consistent campaign message regarding police ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
Mainstream Democrat lawmakers are trying to distance themselves from progressives’ calls to police defunding. Recently, Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat from New York, stated the narrative of police defunding is no longer needed for the Democrat Party.
Torres suggested any lawmaker who uses the slogan of police defunding or abolishing the institution should not be taken seriously.
He mentioned this narrative is not functioning well under the surging crimes in New York City, amid the pandemic, but his remarks were not perceived well by other progressives.
According to Axios, Cori Bush, a progressive, claimed she wouldn’t give up her support for the slogan of police defunding.
“House Speaker #NancyPelosi said Sunday that the idea of defunding the police, a frequently used slogan during the 2020 elections, is not the direction that the #DemocraticParty is headed.”https://t.co/mbVbVApr2D
— Ital-Amer Democrats (@ItalAmerDems) February 13, 2022
Speaking to ABC News, Pelosi noted community safety and protecting Americans in every way is the major ideology of Democrats; therefore, she does not agree with Congresswoman Cori Bush’s demands to defund the police.
While endorsing the remarks of Torres, Pelosi stated public safety and not police defunding is the responsibility of the government.
Recently, Biden also tried to disown the narrative during his visit to New York, even though he failed to criticize officials who are soft on crimes.
Although Pelosi defended her bills regarding the so-called police reforms, she refused to equate them with the defunding of the institution.
According to her, the Justice in Policing Act was to eliminate policing practices that are not needed in America. Democrats are still optimistic about passing some of them.
Police defunding is the ideological belief of the Democrat Party
While the racial tensions were at their peak after the George Floyd incident in 2020, multiple Democrats embraced the police defunding movement.
However, the narrative started getting public backlash, which encouraged top leftist leadership to disown the ideology.
Progressives like Ilhan Omar even spoke against former President Obama when he claimed this narrative is not good for the public perception of the Democrat Party.
Likewise, far-left Democrat Congresswomen AOC and Rashida Tlaib even called to abolish the police altogether in the aftermath of the Daunte Wright killing last year.
“Nobody is considering defunding the police.”-@RepOHalleran. He votes with AOC 93% of the time. He's not dumb, he's not ignorant, he's after control and doesn't care how he gets it. If these people are the movers & shakers he will bow immediately!https://t.co/sVqhSYt0Mm
— John Moore for Congress (@Moore4AZ) February 10, 2022
According to them, this system cannot be reformed; so abolishing the institution is the only way out.
Cori Bush found herself in troubled waters last year when she was spending more than $70,000 on private security while calling to cut funding to law enforcement.
According to the Pew Research Center, Americans want to increase spending on the police, which is motivating Democrats to align themselves accordingly.
