Defund the Police: The Receipts

Who said it. What followed. What they say now.

Defund the Police: The Receipts

Who said it. What followed. What they say now.

By Jim Reynolds | www.reynolds.com

September 16, 2026

AOC would rather we focus on today’s politics. Fine. But first, let’s remember 2020.

Her campaign didn’t merely “express concern” about police misconduct. It ran a page titled “Sign On to Support Defunding the Police.” The message was clear: “Defund police. Invest in community services instead.” Supporters were invited to join “Alexandria and our movement” demanding cities defund their departments.

That wasn’t a stray remark or a gotcha interview. It was campaign material.

Six years later she talks about what candidates believe now. Changing the subject isn’t changing the record.

And she had company.

Jamaal Bowman, asked directly in 2020 for his position on “defund the police,” answered: “I support defunding the police.” He wanted resources redirected to mental health, housing, education, alternatives to incarceration. No translation needed. He said it.

Cori Bush refused to retreat even after the slogan turned toxic. In 2021, defending her own spending on private security, she told CBS: “We need to defund the police.”

Ilhan Omar went further. At a Minneapolis rally she called the MPD “rotten to the root” and spoke approvingly of dismantling it. Nine Minneapolis City Council members publicly pledged to “begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department.” That wasn’t cardboard graffiti anymore. People with governmental power were trying to kill the institution itself.

Then the organizations arrived.

Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation called explicitly for “a national defunding of police.” The ACLU ran the June 11, 2020 headline: “Defunding the Police Will Actually Make Us Safer.” Not “reform.” Not “reconsider.” Defund.

And then came the people who thought defunding didn’t go far enough. Mariame Kaba wrote the era’s defining essay: “Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police.” Her logic was clear: reduce police violence by reducing all contact between police and the public.

Within weeks, the conversation had moved from reform → defund → dismantle → abolish.

Hollywood joined in. Natalie Portman admitted she’d been scared of the phrase, then announced she’d come around to supporting it. John Legend pushed redirecting police money to social programs.

We don’t have to pretend everyone meant the same thing. They didn’t. Some wanted budgets cut. Some wanted responsibilities transferred. Some wanted departments dismantled. Some wanted policing abolished. Those distinctions are real.

But so was the moment: reducing, redirecting, or eliminating police power moved from activist circles into Congress, city councils, major organizations, universities, media, and entertainment—all at once.

Then reality reentered the discussion.

The slogan became politically radioactive. Leaders who’d never supported it emphasized their opposition. Cities hit staffing and safety crises. Minneapolis voters rejected the 2021 charter change that would have replaced the police department outright.

The vocabulary disappeared.

Now, not everyone reversed. Some still defend the underlying idea. That matters too. Keeping receipts means recording what people actually said—not manufacturing consistency or reversal.

Which brings us back to AOC.

She has every right to reconsider. So does Bowman, Bush, Omar, anyone. People learn. Events produce evidence. Minds change.

What doesn’t change is the historical record.

AOC’s campaign didn’t say “reform police.” It said defund police.

Bowman didn’t say reporters misunderstood him. He said “I support defunding the police.”

The ACLU didn’t publish “Perhaps Municipal Police Budgets Deserve Another Look.” It published “Defunding the Police Will Actually Make Us Safer.”

Kaba didn’t ask readers to reconsider procedures. Her headline said literally abolish the police.

Those are the receipts.

Six years on, it would be easy to let all this dissolve into the fog of 2020—COVID, riots, lockdowns, Floyd, the election. Everybody was emotional. On the Left, anyway. Everybody got carried away. On the Left, anyway.

But crazy periods are exactly the ones worth remembering—because they reveal what people and institutions will advocate when normal restraints weaken.

That’s why we kept the receipts.