You would think the question “Do you support defunding the police” would be an easy one to answer, either yes or no.  Well, it apparently is not that easy for Whitmer to answer that question directly.

Let us first look at the definition of the word defund, according to Webster’s dictionary the definition is:

to withdraw funding from

Hmm seems pretty straight forward.  Let us look at the definition of "defund" in Dictionary.com, it is:

to withdraw financial support from, especially as an instrument of legislative control…to deplete the financial resources of

Ok, that once again seems pretty straight forward to me, a person who understands the English language.

Now that I have presented the facts about what the word “defund” means let us explore what Governor Whitmer thinks about the “defund the police” movement.

The Detroit Free Press reports on an interview Whitmer had with a very far left “The Root” website.  The Root publishes news and opinion stories with a focus on the African-American perspective.

Before I inform you on what Whitmer said I would like to inform you on what the writer of the Detroit Free Press said in his piece, Paul Egan actually wrote:

The exact meaning of "defund the police" has been open to interpretation.

Really the exact meaning is open to interpretation.  Are you saying that the people who believe in the defunding the police movement just do not understand the English language or do not know the definition of the word “defund”?

It seems pretty clear to me what the definition of the word “defund” means.

Paul, do you know the definition of the word “defund”?

In that interview Whitmer said:

You look at budgets and they’re focused on policing — they should be focused on education, transportation, access to health care, access to skills and leveling the playing field…you do all those other things, you don’t need all the money that’s going to the police departments…So, yeah, I mean, the spirit of it, I do support that spirit of it.

There you have it she supports the “spirit of it”.  Well, that is clear as day.

Apparently someone told her that she did not come off that well in “The Root” interview so she ran to the Democrat Parties Michigan communication department, the Detroit Free Press, and attempted to straighten out her comments.

She told the Detroit Free Press:

Perhaps the words that I used on "The Root" were maybe a little confusing, but they have never been other than I support rebuilding communities and rebuilding them in a way that creates real opportunity in an equitable and just manner.

She went on to say:

I don't believe police should be defunded," but "what I hear from all of my friends who are part of this moment and who are leading on the front lines is we have a real need for greater investment in communities," and "we need to rebuild and level the playing field through better schools and better transportation and access to health care and those are all the critical investments that I absolutely support.

Interesting how she tells one news source, a source that publishes news and opinion stories with a focus on African-American perspective one thing and then feels the need to clarify what she said in The Root interview with the Detroit Free Press.  When the Free Press asked her if these other investments would be funded by cutting the budget of the police she said:

We are underinvested in almost every realm in the state government.

I did not really hear a direct answer in that statement either, did you?

So the Governor believes in the “spirit” of the movement but not the actual meaning of the words in the title of the movement.

Did the Detroit Free Press reporter feel the way I did after reading the pull quotes from her interview and not really finding a straight answer on whether she believes in defunding the police or not?  Perhaps because he then wrote:

Asked the question another way, Whitmer did not say she supported cutting police spending to achieve the other goals.

 

So it appears after two separate interviews on the same topic and question we really do not know where the Governor clearly stands on this movement, do we?  It does not appear that Paul Egan, the writer of the piece in the Detroit Free Press felt he got a straight answer.

What does Joe Biden think about this movement, he stated:

No, I don't support defunding the police…I support conditioning federal aid to police based on whether or not they meet certain basic standards of decency and honorableness

Whose “basic standards of decency and honorableness” yours or mine, because they are probable miles apart.

By the way Joe how do you judge anyone when it comes to funding on such wishy-washy criteria?

Also, we were told by people in your party and the media that you could never condition federal aid on anything, remember sanctuary cities, counties, and states.

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