“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) didn’t need words to convey how she felt about Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia mocking efforts by progressive members of the party to slash police department budgets. “Defund the police? Defund, my butt,” the conservative Democrat tweeted, with a link to a Washington Examiner interview in which he harshly criticized several progressive policy goals, including Medicare for All and reallocating funds away from police departments. “I’m a proud West Virginia Democrat. We are the party of working men and women. We want to protect Americans’ jobs & healthcare. We do not have some crazy socialist agenda, and we do not believe in defunding the police,” he added. Ocasio-Cortez has championed policies that would provide all Americans with comprehensive health care coverage and divert police department funding to nonpolice forms of public safety and community support, including social, youth and mental health services. She posted an image to convey her feelings about Manchin’s remarks. https://t.co/4D4LVOyYhc pic.twitter.com/MwNIc41Szj— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 12, 2020 The photo, shot by Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst, shows Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats remaining seated as Manchin stood and applauded President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech in February. Manchin could wind up the deciding vote in a Senate split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans if two Georgia runoff elections favor the election of Democrats. Republicans currently have 50 Senate seats to the Democats’ 48. The runoff elections in January could tilt the balance. Manchin said earlier this week that he would block any party efforts to expand the Supreme Court and eliminate the filibuster if Democrats win the Georgia seats.
