First Ilhan Omar wanted to dismantle the Minneapolis police department. Now she blames “dysfunctional police” for the spike in crime in that city.

So let me get this straight: Omar is blaming the police for not doing the job she doesn’t want them to have in the first place. Alrighty then.

Appearing at a town hall over the weekend, Omar said this:

“What we must also recognize is that the reduction in policing currently in our city and the lawlessness that is happening is due to two things.”

“One, the police have chosen to not fulfil their oath of office and to provide the public safety they are owed to the citizens they serve.” 

“The Minneapolis police department is the most dysfunctional police department in our state and probably in the country.”

Never mind the criminals. They’re probably just “some people who did something” according to Omar’s logic. Or lack of logic, which is more likely.

Omar blasted the police during a town hall event in Minneapolis on Saturday, which appears to have occurred in a gym. It certainly wasn’t a national press conference, but when you say shit like this it travels around the internet.

Ilhan Omar accuses police of not fulfilling their oath of office and blames them for the rise in violent crime in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/3LhuOuXEff

— Mike Berg (@MikeKBerg) October 25, 2021

And yet one year ago the gentle congresswoman said this:

Writer Zaid Jilani tweeted about Omar’s pretzel logic:

“It’s interesting that Ilhan Omar is blaming police for depolicing. Depolicing is exactly what mayors, protesters, councils, DAs, etc. wanted police to do the past year. They got what they wanted! If that’s not what you want, then send that message instead.”

Omar got some of her wish last December when the Minneapolis city council voted to slash the police budget by $8 million. Then crime went up in Minneapolis, as it did in blue cities that also stigmatized their police, slashed their budgets, and gave criminals a pass. Murders, specifically, are soaring in places like New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, Seattle, Portland — I could go on. But what would any reasonable person expect when cops are castigated as “dysfunctional police” and told they’re not wanted?

Screenshot: RW/Twitter.

However, there’s a reason why Ilhan Omar looks like she’s trying to have it both ways. There is a vote coming up in Minneapolis in three weeks on a proposal to disband the police department entirely. In its place will be . . . wait for it . . .  the Department of Public Safety. So she doesn’t want voters to think that such an idiot plan could be detrimental to the safety of residents. The rise in crime is all the fault of the police, you see.

Are you laughing yet? Or shaking your head in disbelief?

Ilhan Omar, of course, is caught here. Crime is skyrocketing in her city, for which she and her progressive Democrat colleagues are responsible due to their denigration of the police. But don’t blame her — or the rest of them, for that matter — for the butcher’s bill. When the streets become violent, it’s the fault of the “dysfunctional police” whom they didn’t want there in the first place. No wonder Minneapolis, like other big cities, is experiencing severe shortages in its police force.

So while she spends thousands of dollars for her own personal security, Omar wants a Department of Public Safety to ensure the welfare of her constituents. In other words, “security for me, but not for thee.” She just can’t bring herself to admit that cities really, really need police to control crime.

Welcome, Instapundit readers! 

Featured image: Gage Skidmore/flickr/cropped/CC BY-SA 2.0.