Obama warns against defunding the police, Ilhan Omar responds by crying 'defund the police'

Obama spoke out against the progressive slogan of so many Democrats that the US should "defund the police." Democrat reps in Congress stated that they would not stop in their mission to defund police.

Obama said that "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."

Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said that "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 said this in response to former President Barack Obama's plea to Democrats to stop calling for the defunding of police as it doesn't particularly help the cause of the left.

Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) echoed Omar's sentiments, saying that "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."

But Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican who just won in New York to replace Max Rose in representing the 11th District, pointed out that crime is up in New York, as it is in many cities where police are suffering from reduced funding, depleted morale, and are being stretched thin.

And now, police are being deployed to crack down on small business owners who dare to operate their businesses.

"In NYC, Shootings are up 96%, Murder up 38%, Burglary up 42%, the state's new bail law is releasing career criminals back onto our streets in droves & our mayor and governor are directing law enforcement to arrest small business owners. This is why so many New Yorkers are fed up."

Malliotakis is one of several GOP legislators entering the House who will begin to do battle with the progressive Democrats who have been the leading voices on issues of police defunding. The slogan became more prevalent since the death of George Floyd in May, is coming the the US House of Representatives.