Key Democrats spurn push to defund police amid Trump attacks

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and his allies have seized on calls to “defund the police” as a dangerous example of Democratic overreach as he fights for momentum amid crises that threaten his reelection. “We know there has to be a change in the culture of policing in this country.” Democrats are well-positioned to win over the political center this fall, according to Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who said Trump’s uneven actions and rhetoric at a time of sweeping social unrest are “killing him.” Luntz added, however, that Democrats risk their advantage by embracing policies viewed as radical following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. She said the term left her frustrated that “there’s going to be somebody who’s going to try to find an opportunity in this, especially among the Republican Party, and use it now as an excuse not to address what is a very real problem in America.” That’s largely what played out as the Trump campaign and congressional Republicans sought to link Democrats to the defund effort. “This year has seen the lowest crime numbers in our Country’s recorded history, and now the Radical Left Democrats want to Defund and Abandon our Police,” Trump declared on social media. “And we’re not going to allow them to do that.” Democratic Rep. Matt Cartwright, who is white and represents a Trump-leaning district in northeastern Pennsylvania, rejected calls to defund the police outright.