Abdul El-Sayed: Defund Is a ‘Dumb Word’; ‘I Believe Everybody Ought to Get Home Safely’

EXCERPT:

EL-SAYED: “You know, I’ll just tell you this. I’ll tell you this. The point to me is this. Government should be about protecting your rights and fighting for your basic needs. That that to me is what I’ve always believed. And look, you know, when it comes to these questions of defund, that’s a dumb word and I think the idea that we could ever address an issue as complicated as public safety in a three-word sentence, a little bit problematic. And so, I’ve tried to make very clear what I believe in. I believe everybody ought to get home safely. I believe that we should be investing in retention, recruitment, and retirement for law enforcement and also investing in things like behavioral health response and community violence intervention to take on the public safety challenges that we face. But where I am right now is that the big challenge in our lives is that our health care is about to get way more expensive."