A good rule of thumb is that the only people who actually support police defunding are either gang members or rich enough to afford private security. Polls have consistently shown that black voters are even more likely than white voters to oppose police defunding.

Despite gaslighting, spin, misleading language, and outright lies, it’s no surprise that police defunding crashed and burned in the capital of police defunding.

Minneapolis voters struck down a proposed charter amendment that would have eliminated the city’s police department and replaced it with a public safety agency.

57 percent of voters voted “no” versus 43 percent for “yes” on the ballot question, which asked if the city charter should be amended to remove the Minneapolis Police Department and replace it with a Department of Public Safety. The proposed charter amendment would have eliminated the minimum police staffing requirement as well as the position of police chief.

Rep. Ilhan Omar and Keith Ellison hardest hit.

“We have an opportunity, once and for all, to listen to those most impacted by police brutality and the communities who have been demanding change for decades,” Omar, who represents Minneapolis in Congress, wrote in a Star Tribune opinion piece two months ago. “We have a mandate, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, to deliver a public safety system rooted in compassion, humanity and love, and to deliver true justice.”

Ellison called the proposal a “first step of action.”

That first step is a doozy.