Meghan McCain Can't Or Won't Grasp Difference Between Defunding And Reforming Police

By Aliza Worthington — June 9, 2020

It's only Monday and Meghan McCain has already made the TV week feel endless.

Sen. Kamala Harris joined "The View," and at first, McCain asked a decent question, which was, "Why do you think there is such a hard time being differentiated between defunding and reforming police departments?" Okay, it's poorly worded, but it's clear what she's asking. Sen. Harris spent well over two minutes giving a detailed, thought-provoking, clear answer to the question of why police presence does not equal healthy communities, and why government entities need to re-think how they allocate funds if they want to encourage healthy communities.

McCain responded by telling Sen. Harris, "I hear you loud and clear," but that was obviously not the case.

McCAIN: Senator, I hear you loud and clear, and I don't think there's any rational American right now that doesn't think we need to take a cold, hard look at reforming our police, but there was a video that went viral over the weekend of the mayor of Minneapolis being yelled at saying, "Yes or no question, are you for defunding the police?" So I'm gonna ask you the same question the protestors asked him. Are you for defunding the police?

Allow me to be your Meghan Translator.

*I am a privileged daughter of a deceased senator, for whom all should feel sorry always, and give me the benefit of the doubt because I have blonde hair, white skin, and I wear pink. I did not spend any of the last 3 minutes listening to the brilliant and respected Black senator explain what defunding the police would look like, and how funds should be reallocated to reduce the NEED for policing in ALL communities. I just want to be viewed as a tough questioner, so I am going to do what I saw happen on a viral video, try to trap a woman who is my intellectual superior into answering a completely bogus question and hope for the best. There is no way this can go badly for me.*

SEN. HARRIS: How are you defining "defund the police?"

Meghan Translator:
*oh sh*t*

McCAIN: I'm not for anything remotely for that. So, I would ask the protestors the same thing, but I assume, and again, this is something that is new to me. I assume it's removing police, and as Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said, bringing in a whole new way of governing and law and order into a community, and my understanding -- again, this is something that has just come into my understanding recently, is you would not have police officers, like this Minneapolis city Councilwoman said, that I would be a place of privilege if someone broke into my home, and I wanted to call the police.

Meghan Translator:
*I said "law and order" and mentioned "Ilhan Omar" and talked about getting robbed — I think I got away with it!*

SEN. HARRIS: So again, we need to reimagine how we are achieving public safety in America, and to have cities where one-third of their entire budget is going to policing, but yet there is a dire need in those same cities for mental health resources for resources going into public schools, resources going into job training and job creation, come on. We have to be honest about this, that this is actually not a consensus around this because if there were we would actually see smarter distribution of resources in our country. To address the issues that need to be addressed. Yes.

HOSTIN: Senator, this is Sunny, and I think just to add to the conversation, defunding the police doesn't mean abolishing the police. It means taking some of those funds that are typically one-third of the budget of a city and giving some of those funds to services like mental health and education and mental health resources, but I want to change the subject and act another question.

Meghan Translator:
*oh thank god*