George Stephanopoulos Confronts Rep. Cori Bush On Defund the Police Potentially Hurting Dems: You’re ‘One of the Few’ Who Still Supports it

While many Democrats have distanced themselves from the Defund the Police movement, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) is still showing her support — though she’d like less focus on the word “defund.”

Bush was interviewed on Tuesday’s Good Morning Morning where she discussed her new memoir The Forerunner: A Story of Pain and Perseverance in America with George Stephanopoulos. The ABC host at one point decided to confront Bush on her Defund the Police stance, asking if such a position hurts the odds of her fellow Democrats in upcoming elections.

“You’re one of the few Democrats now who still says, let’s defund the police,” Stephanopoulos said. “Are you worried at all that that could hurt some of your colleagues going into the midterm elections?”

Bush, who said the Black Lives Matter movement inspired her jump into politics, insisted the word “defund” in Defund the Police can simply be replaced by those who distance themselves from the position.

“The thing about Defund the Police is we have to tell the entire narrative. People hear defund the police, but you know what they’ll say? [They’ll] say reallocate, say divest, say move, but it’s still the same thing. We can’t get caught up on the words,” Bush said. “People spend more time focusing on the word defund than they do on caring and addressing the problem of police violence in this country.”

The congresswoman later touched on the subject again, pushing for more investments in mental health resources to deal with criminals.

“Just in 2021, there were only 15 days where the police did not kill someone. That’s a lot of people affected that could use mental health services,” she said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) declared in February that the Defund the Police position is not part of the Democratic Party’s agenda.

“That’s not the position of the Democratic Party, with all due respect to Cori Bush,” she said when discussing the idea of defunding the police. “Community safety to protect and defend in every way is our oath of office.”

Watch above via ABC

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!