Democratic Missouri Rep. Cori Bush said she won’t stop using the “defund the police” slogan ahead of the 2022 midterms, even as she feels pressure from Democrat colleagues to ditch it.
“I’ve had colleagues walk up to me” and say that “defund the police” doesn’t help in their districts, Bush told Axios. She told the outlet her party needs to do a better job of explaining the phrase and movement. “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, according to Axios.
“‘Defund the police’ is not the problem,” Bush went on to say. “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.” (RELATED: Ocasio-Cortez Defends Defund Police Movement Despite Pushback From Democrats)
Remember Defund the Police pic.twitter.com/M8RzR31BlA
— PA Patriot 🇺🇸🇨🇦 (@MARKREE82166644) February 4, 2022
Bush, a core member of the left-wing group of Democrats known as “the Squad,” has consistently campaigned for the “defund the police” movement, despite widespread upticks in crime across the United States. She confirmed Jan. 27 that her vehicle was shot in St. Louis on Saturday, Jan. 22.
Bush and other “Squad” members, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley, have spent thousands of dollars hiring private security for themselves. (RELATED: Here’s How Well ‘Defund The Police’ Worked For Democrats)
Despite calls from “Squad” members to “defund the police,” President Joe Biden said Feb. 3 that it is not the answer to tackling rising crime.
“The answer is not to abandon our streets. That’s not the answer. The answer is to come together. Police in communities building trust and making us all safer,” Biden said during a press conference about gun control in New York City.