The announcement released Monday, the latest in a series of similar announcements from the Trump campaign, also suggests that Biden’s presidency would cause seniors’ 911 calls to go unanswered.
That’s silly.
The announcement is based on a single comment by Biden to a progressive activist during a video chat earlier this month, in which Biden suggested that he was “yes, absolutely” open to redirecting some police funds towards social services, advice on mental health and affordable housing.
We will present the context for that comment below. But even if he interprets Biden’s “yes, absolutely” in a charitable way for the Trump campaign, nothing Biden has said comes close to justifying the Trump campaign’s terrifying vision of a Biden presidency.
Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said Trump is “desperate to compete against a fictional opponent in place of Joe Biden.” Bates said Trump is a “chronic liar” and “the most lawless president in the history of the United States.” He also noted, as Biden did at a fundraiser Monday night, that Trump himself proposed cuts to federal funds for community policing.
The image of the announcement of a Biden presidency
The ad, which according to the Trump campaign would run in key states and would also be part of national ad purchases, shows an elderly woman at home watching a news broadcast talking about a proposal to reduce the Seattle police budget by a 50% and transfer the management of your 911 call center to an entity other than the police department.
Then, the woman realizes that an intruder is running outside her door, and begins to dial 911. In the background, Fox News presenter Sean Hannity says, “Joe Biden said he absolutely agrees with the disbursement. from the police. Listen carefully. ” Biden’s voice says, “Yes, absolutely.” The ad shows a dark and empty office with unmanned phones.
When the intruder interrupts, an automated message says, “Hello, you have reached 911. I am sorry that there is no one here to answer your emergency call. But leave a message and we will respond as soon as we can.”
The words “You will not be safe in Joe Biden’s America” appear on the screen when the intruder confronts the woman. The phone falls to the ground.
What Biden has said
Nothing Biden has said makes it plausible to argue that he supports a United States in which 911 calls are allowed to go unanswered. (This already happens rarely in Trump’s United States due to personnel or technology issues.)
Biden has come under fire in other Trump announcements for his tough positions in the past as a Senator from Delaware. And Biden has repeatedly described himself, including in Monday’s fundraiser, as an opponent of the idea of ”underfunding the police,” saying he prefers to condition federal police funding on whether local departments comply with standards of good conduct and introduce necessary reforms.
Biden has largely limited his recent comments on surveillance to these federal funds. However, in June, he said that decisions about local police budgets should depend on the needs of particular communities, as some departments have too many officers and others do not have enough.
That is not the rhetoric of the extreme left. In fact, Biden has been criticized by some police defenders for not taking his position.
The conversation with Ady Barkan.
The “yes, absolutely” quote that the Trump campaign has tapped into came during a video chat Biden made with progressive activist Ady Barkan, who was backing Biden.
Biden told Barkan that his campaign proposals are not equivalent to removing the police. Biden rejected the suggestion to deploy only non-officers in response to requests for help, emphasizing that a social worker cannot simply be sent to the scene of a potentially violent domestic incident. Instead, he said, you should send both an officer and the social worker. (Those comments were left out of the posted video, but the audio was provided to CNN by Biden’s campaign.)
Biden made the comment “yes, absolutely” after criticizing the transfer of surplus military vehicles to local police departments. Barkan, pressing him, said: “But do we agree that we can redirect some of the funding?” Biden said “yes, absolutely.” Then, in comments that were also left out of the posted video, Biden immediately returned to his earlier proposal to put conditions on federal funds.
“And, by the way, not only redirect, condition them,” he said.
Later, Biden pointed out that the federal funds he talks about to put conditions are not the main source of police budgets, which come largely from local and state governments.
“It’s just that the federal government joins in on that, and then it says, ‘Do you want help? You have to make the following reforms: You have to make sure that no-touch orders are removed. If you have them, don’t get Byrne grants. If you do, boom, “said Biden.
The Trump campaign has the right to denounce Biden for saying that he is “absolutely” open to redirect some police funds. Regardless of Biden’s other comments, he vaguely left the door open to some budget cuts of some kind.
But then again, there was no call from Biden to cut police budgets to the extent that no one would be working in a 911 dispatch center.
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