In a Twitter rebuttal, Rep. Ilhan Omar responded to President Barack Obama‘s belief that “snappy” slogans like “defund the police” lose supporters, arguing that it is “not a slogan but a policy demand.”
“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,” Obama explained in an interview on the Snapchat show Good Luck America. “The key is deciding, do you want to actually get something done, or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with?”
“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 wrote in reply.
This is indicative of an ongoing debate among Democrats, some of whom are nervous that the more openly radical members like Omar will spook “moderate” voters. “We have to commit to not saying the words ‘defund the police’ ever again,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger said following the election, for example. “We need to not ever use the words socialist or socialism ever again. It does matter, and we have lost good members because of that.”
Too late — the Democrat party is already in the grip of the more radical elements, who have only begun to drag the party harder left.