Meghan McCain Says Confusion Over Defund Police Movement Gives Donald Trump A ‘Really Great Campaign Slogan’

On Tuesday’s episode of The View, Meghan McCain criticized the movement to defund the police in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. In a clip posted to Twitter, she argued that confusion over the issue was handing President Donald Trump a “great campaign slogan” for his 2020 re-election bid.

The “Defund the Police” movement has gained momentum across the country after Floyd died while in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. The hosts of The View had discussed the matter on Monday’s episode of the show when Senator Kamala Harris appeared as a guest.

McCain faced some backlash for her comments on Monday’s show, explaining that while she is in favor of police reform, she wasn’t in support of the movement.

On Tuesday, she clarified that her concern about the movement — which seeks to redistribute the funding of police departments as part of their reform — was over its messaging.

“If you were to hire me to advise you to run for office, there are a few tenants of politics that have not changed. One of them is if you’re explaining, you’re losing and there’s a lot of explaining going on on this,” she said. “I will tell you, if you mean ‘Reform,’ say ‘Reform.’ If you mean ‘Defund,’ say ‘Defund,’ people are confused.”

As she argued, Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar has called to completely dismantle the Minneapolis police department.

“This is giving Trump a really great campaign slogan,” she continued. While she acts as the show’s sole conservative voice, she has been largely critical of the president.

She went on, stating that while she understands there’s a difference between defunding and reforming, that difference wasn’t being made clear enough and Democrats needed to better explain what they were supporting.

She added that while her co-hosts could “spin” things however they wanted, one thing was clear.

“I know that politics, at the end of the day, is real simple and it is about slogans. Defund the Police is a great one for the Trump campaign,” she said.

The statements came after co-host Sunny Hostin, a former federal prosecutor, laid out the varying responses to police brutality across the nation. She said that defunding didn’t necessarily mean abolishing law enforcement. It also included reforming police departments with techniques aimed at de-escalation, increased use of body cameras, or re-allocating funds to be used by other social service departments.

.@Sunny Hostin breaks down what she says is the biggest misunderstanding of the movement to defund the police: “People think that defunding the police means abolishing the police and that’s not true.”

“This is about saving lives.” https://t.co/f8u2wbJuik pic.twitter.com/oTf45G4Eij

— The View (@TheView) June 9, 2020

This would mean that, for instance, instead of having police respond to someone experiencing a mental health crisis, an unarmed social worker would be sent to respond to the situation.

Trump has been critical of the movement to defund the police and has painted himself as the candidate of “law and order.”