President Joe Biden made the unlikely claim Tuesday that it is Republicans who are pushing for “defunding the police,” despite near universal GOP support for law enforcement and the fact that cutting police budgets was his own party’s rallying cry in 2020.
Speaking at a recreation center in Monterey Park, California, the same community in which a gunman killed 11 and wounded nine inside a dance studio on January 21, Biden announced an executive order with new gun control measures. The order, which would increase background checks for gun purchases, promote “red flag” orders, and make public federal records on violations by firearms dealers, has been met with opposition from Republicans.
“Congressional Republicans should pass my budget instead of calling for cuts to these services or defunding the police or abolishing the FBI, as we hear from our MAGA Republican friends,” Biden said.
While it is true that some Republicans have called for abolishing the scandal-ridden FBI, calls for defunding police departments have been the exclusive province of Democrats ever since the George Floyd riots of 2020. Read more…
