My friend was arguing they needed better sloganing because "defund" confuses people, and I always tell him those people are basically tripping over themselves to become confused, like they seem to go out of their way to NOT understand it and let fear mongering copaganda control the narrative. Like, come up with a term or a slogan that won't be twisted by reactionary bootlickers in an attempt to make it unpalatable to W liberals, I dare you.
Like shit, the ease with which the narratives put forth by fear mongering copaganda permeates into the minds of W liberals.
There was a referendum in Minneapolis to reorganize the police department into a department of public safety that would largely retain the existing police department but also dedicate resources to things like mental health crisis response units.
It was defeated in large part because conservatives and centrist right liberals spun it as a proposal to "abolish" the police. This was an absolutely absurd characterization, but it worked, people ate it up and panicked.
The "police reform" mayor elected in 2016 became an abject bootlicker that refuses to lift a finger against the police, then was re-elected so he could spend 4 more years giving the police literally everything they want, shit was depressing AF to watch.