Sunny Hostin is Lone Defender of ‘Defund the Police’ in Pitched Debate on The View

The View engaged in a pitched battle Wednesday following comments from former President Barack Obama criticizing “Defund the Police.”

During the show’s second segment, co-host Sunny Hostin took issue with Obama remarking that “you’ve lost a big audience the minute you say [Defund the Police], which makes it a lot less likely that you are actually going to get the changes you want done.”

“I’m always loathe to criticize President Obama because I’m such a fan, but I do think he’s wrong here,” Hostin said. “I mean, when you think about Defund the Police, that’s not a term that was crowd sourced, or tested in focus groups. That was a rallying cry of overpolicing of Black and Brown communities. Borne of frustration of seeing Black and Brown people killed by police officers.

“And defunding the police does not mean — for the hundredth time I’ve explained it — it does not mean eliminating police departments. It doesn’t mean stripping agencies for all of their money. It’s re-imagining policing in this country to address systemic racism.”

Hostin was the lone dissenter, as all three of her colleagues sided with Obama. Joy Behar argued that Defund the Police is too polarizing of a credo.

“They need to get a slogan that does not make people nuts,” Behar said. “And defund the police scared this country. and that’s why so many Democrats lost. So it’s not working.”

“I disagree,” Hostin said.

“I know you do, but I think you’re wrong this time, Sunny.”

The discussion renewed after a commercial break — with Sara Haines noting that the late John Lewis and Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) also had misgivings — with Clyburn comparing “Defund the Police” to “Burn Baby Burn,” a credo used during the 1960s which the congressman deemed to be ineffective.

“It was misconstrued,” Haines said of “Burn Baby Burn.” “And people got confused.”

Hostin argued that “Defund the Police” shouldn’t be viewed as a broader credo.

“These aren’t political slogans, Sara,” Hostin said. “You know that. These are rallying cries. They’re policy demands.”

Hostin later added, “The mistake is allowing the right to change the narrative.”

Whoopi Goldberg, however, joined the other hosts in disagreeing with that assessment.

“If we were the only ones telling the story, you would be absolutely right,” Goldberg said. She added, “Unfortunately that’s not how it works.”

Watch above, via ABC.