From all of the endless chatter we heard over the spring and summer about the urgent need to embrace “Democratic socialism” (which is really just plain old socialism) and defund the police, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was embedded in stone in the Democratic National Committee’s platform. Technically it wasn’t, but that didn’t stop a parade of Democrats from endorsing the idea and multiple municipal leaders in cities from New York to the west coast actually slashing police budgets. But after the beatings that some of the Democrats pushing such dangerous plans took at the polls last week, their tune seems to be changing a bit.

Most notably, we heard one of the louder voices on the far left changing her tune on these subjects. Democratic Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was invited to speak with Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday and was pressed on the issue. In what sounded like a complete about-face, AOC told Tapper that defunding the police was an idea generated by “activists” and that nobody had been running on a platform supporting such plans or on embracing socialism either. (Free Beacon)

After unexpected and significant losses on Election Day, House Democrats on Sunday distanced themselves from the “defund the police” movement and the label of “socialism,” claiming that they were merely slogans or Republican smears.

“Not a single member of Congress that I’m aware of campaigned on socialism or defunding the police in this general election,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) said on CNN’s State of the Union. “These were largely slogans or they were demands from activist groups.” The congresswoman, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, added that “Republicans levied very effective rhetorical attacks against our party” by linking Democrats to the movements.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), who called to “completely dismantle” her city’s police department this year, went further and said it was a Republican “narrative” that radical movements doomed Democrats in swing districts.

Here’s the portion of the interview with AOC where the question is raised. The “who me?” look she gives Jake should at least qualify her for a nomination at the Emmys next year.

You will recall that when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio slashed a billion dollars from the NYPD budget, AOC said the measure didn’t go far enough and their work on defunding the police “continues.” Her partners on “The Squad,” Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) both signed on to endorse a bill aimed at stripping federal funding from police departments and abolishing some federal law enforcement agencies.

The idea that these newly minted progressive icons are suddenly back-peddling is a rather telling statement about how reality is smacking the Democrats on the sides of their heads. I’ll give AOC credit for being at least slightly clever about this during her interview with Tapper. She specifically said that sitting members of Congress had not “campaigned on socialism or defunding the police.” The word “campaigned” could be interpreted as meaning nothing but what appeared on their campaign websites or in prepared campaign speeches. Of course, that only works if you were being willfully ignorant of all their other comments, votes and endorsements.

The fact is that nearly all of the exit polling we’ve seen has shown that defunding the police is an extremely unpopular idea outside of BLM marches and the speeches given by the more extreme socialist elements of the Democratic Party. The people who live in the cities most heavily hit by the BLM/Antifa riots, including most minorities, don’t want the police to go away or be scaled back. They’ve seen what happens when there is no law enforcement around to protect them.

Is this some sort of sign that we won’t be hearing as much about this nonsense during the midterms? I think that’s actually quite possible. AOC hasn’t been living in the swamp for very long, but she’s clearly a fast learner. And someone has clued her in that the defund the police “movement” in an electoral loser. Of course, the changes won’t stop there. I’ve got a feeling that you’re suddenly going to be seeing fewer riots and certainly no MSM coverage of them if Joe Biden is sworn into office. How do I know? I don’t. Just call it a hunch.