Guest Author
Rep. Val Demings is holding a virtual fundraiser for Joe Biden today.
This event comes as Demings has risen up to the top of the list of possible Vice Presidential candidates for Biden’s ticket; in recent weeks, she has made the most out of her newfound media platform, including a random appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show. During a national crisis, Floridians deserve leadership not shameless self-promotion from their elected officials on daytime entertainment talk shows.
And they certainly didn’t elect her so she could rush far-left of the majority of Americans in her eagerness to climb the political ladder.
Yet that’s what Demings is doing: last week, the former police chief described Minneapolis’s destructive decision to disband its police department as “thoughtful.”
This betrayal of her brothers and sisters in uniform — at a time when law enforcement officers are literally being murdered in cold blood trying to keep the peace during these lawless riots — is stunning. Clearly, the radical left-wing of the Democrat party has overtaken the mainstream.
Consider the fact that both New York and Los Angeles are following Minneapolis’s lead and cutting funding for their own police departments.
It is amazing to see Democrats like Demings, advocating to defund police. They are abdicating the safety of citizens in many vulnerable communities who need the most protection all for the chance to serve under Joe Biden, who is facing numerous political challenges, such as police groups cutting ties with his campaign and a re-examination of his terrible record on race.
In 1977, Biden worried aloud that desegregation would cause his kids to grow up in “a racial jungle.”
Ten years later in 1987, Biden bragged about receiving an award from the racist “segregation now, segregation forever” Gov. George Wallace famous for physically blocking two Black students from registering for school. Additionally, Biden had no shame touting Delaware’s place in the Confederacy during the Civil War. In 1994, Biden proudly led the way on a highly controversial crime bill that led to the mass incarceration of young black men he described as “predators.”
In the 2000s, Biden described then-Sen. Barack Obama as “the first sort of mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean.”
Not to be outdone by his past remarks, just a couple of weeks ago, he told every Black American considering voting for Trump that “[they] ain’t black.” Maybe Demings missed that in between her TV appearances or doesn’t care. BET founder Bob Johnson caught it and said, “he should spend the rest of his campaign apologizing to every Black person he meets.”
Biden’s 44-year public record of bigoted statements, and Black family destroying bills are in sharp contrast to President Donald Trump’s impressive record of achievement for the Black community in little over three years.
As part of an effort to undo the long-term damage of Biden’s crime bill, Trump signed the First Step Act into law, widely hailed as the most meaningful criminal justice reform of our generation. The bill shortens mandatory minimum sentences, prepares inmates for reentry into their communities, and has led to the release of 3,000 former inmates.
Trump has been an education champion, supporting school choice for parents and being a strong advocate for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), signing the FUTURE Act providing millions in permanent funding to HBCUs like Florida A&M University.
Over 9,000 opportunity zones (of which 457 are in Florida) have been created in all 50 states and five U.S. territories, spurring economic investment for the 35 million residents of those communities, 57% of whom are black. Before the economic interruption by coronavirus, Trump built the strongest economy in our nation’s history, leading to record-low unemployment for Black Americans. Even during the virus, the entire Trump administration delivered in a major way for the Black community, especially Health and Human Services. But there is still more work to do and Trump is committed to working to rebuild his inclusive economy for all Americans once again.
While Demings enjoys her moment in the spotlight trying to appeal to the radical left and Biden, undercutting law enforcement just to gain clout with a bigoted candidate as embarrassingly weak as Biden is doing Floridians a grave disservice.
No partisan promotion is worth undermining the safety of America’s Black communities by standing with the dismantling of those here to protect and serve.
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Paris Dennard is a GOP political commentator, strategist, and senior communications adviser for Black Media Affairs at the Republican National Committee. Follow him on Twitter at @PARISDENNARD.
2 comments
Joel Taylor
June 19, 2020 at 1:22 am
Trump is working to rebuild his exclusive economy for Billionaires, namely himself.
Carol Smith
June 20, 2020 at 7:19 pm
Amazing that Val Demings would now promote defunding of police depts when as a police chief in Florida she did the exact opposite! Now that she is a Democrat in Congress she is what you call two faced, you know, do what works at the moment! Congress is the new police dept of The White House and Republicans. 3 1/2 years of doing nothing but investigating!
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