Judge Jeanine slams Biden for newfound pro-police message despite track record
Jeanine Pirro and the panel on 'The Five' sound off after Joe Biden stumps in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
President Biden faced criticism Tuesday for his remarks about law enforcement at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Biden, who has filled his government with appointees who at one point or another expressed support for defunding the police, and who himself expressed openness to defunding the police during the 2020 campaign, said "the answer is not defund the police, it’s fund the police" at the rally.
Biden faced backlash from conservatives for his hypocrisy on the subject, and from the left for being too supportive of law enforcement and not supporting the full defunding and abolishment of police in America.
BRIAN KILMEADE: DEMOCRATS ARE PRETENDING THEY'RE PRO-POLICE
People watch a building burn in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during riots that followed the police shooting of Jacob Blake on Aug. 24, 2020. (Joshua Lott for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Miranda Devine, a New York Post columnist, tweeted, "The gall of Joe Biden, wrapping himself in the blue, after the anti-cop violence and Defund Police movement he slyly egged on during the 2020 BLM/Antifa riots. The breakdown of law and order in our cities is the result. Now he poses as a law enforcement champion because… he is setting the scene for an even harsher crackdown on his political opponents by the FBI, his personal security agency. This is an extension of his increasingly intemperate attacks on Republicans as ‘semi-fascist’, ‘ultra-MAGA’, ‘white supremacists’ and ‘domestic terrorists.’"
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., tweeted, "Joe Biden wants to make it easy for criminals to sue cops, he staffed his administration with defund-the-police radicals, but he wants to pretend he’s pro law-enforcement?What a joke."
Brigitte Gabriel, a New York Times bestselling author and founder of ACT for America, tweeted, "Matt Cartwright supported defunding the Wilkes-Barre police 2 years ago, now Joe Biden is pretending to call for funding the police in the same city while rallying in support of Cartwright. This is called gaslighting."
Matt Vespa, senior editor at Townhall, tweeted "It's great that Dems are pro-law and order AFTER they allowed their people to burn down half the country during the 2020 summer riots and had all their defund the police initiatives burn to ash at the ballot box. 100% authentic 180-degree turn."
"There is a lot to unpack in Biden’s new attempt to backtrack his party’s commitment to defunding and dismantling police departments across the country," Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne tweeted.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas listens as President Joe Biden speaks before signing an executive order on immigration, in the Oval Office of the White House, Feb. 2, 2021. (AP/Evan Vucci)
Leftists also criticized Biden, however from a different angle. They did not see him as being anti-police enough and lamented that he has not done enough to dismantle what they view as an inherently racist and oppressive system.
"Pres. Biden gave a major speech in PA today on crime and policing as part of the roll out of his "Safer America Plan"—and his ongoing effort to slander and distance himself from the historic 2020 mass movement that shook the racist foundations of this country," the Party for Socialism and Liberation tweeted.
"The endemic violence that so many people are outraged over is rooted in poverty, hyper-individualism, patriarchy, lack of resources for youth, & other issues that are outgrowths of a capitalist society dominated by a tiny elite w no concern for the wellbeing of everyone else," they continued.
Samuel Sinyangwe, who describes himself as a "Black activist" and is a Stanford University alumnus, tweeted, "The research indicates Biden’s plan to hire another 100,000 police officers WILL increase arrests, incarceration and police violence ESPECIALLY for petty non-violent issues. Research also indicates these harms WILL be concentrated in Black communities. That much is crystal clear."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
President Joe Biden speaks during a rally hosted by the Democratic National Committee. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
"I’m with Biden on many things, but this ain’t it. Perhaps the answer lies somewhere between abolishing police and giving them more money— that we should redirect some police funding into education and these things he says we’re asking of cops that they’re not qualified to do," tweeted Elika Sadeghi, an actress.
W. Kamau Bell, host of CNN's "United Shades of America" and a New York Times bestselling author, tweeted, "People who argue that the slogan of "Defund The Police" is the problem aren’t recognizing that the GOP & many of the people in charge are never going to like any slogan that points to a plan to dismantle white supremacy. No matter what you call it."
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox