Not to cause William Shakespeare to roll over in his grave, but to paraphrase the dickens out of one of his most famous lines, the hypocritical lady doth pathetically protest too much about America’s police officers, methinks, while she continues to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on private security.

Let me say this very clearly before we continue:

I am not condemning and will not condemn any public figure for procuring private security. What I will condemn are hypocritical as hell public figures with private security who advocate for less or no security for Americans who are otherwise unable to provide protection for themselves and their loved ones.

Speaking of Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), as reported by Fox News, the Missouri Democrat, who continues to call to “defund the police,” spent $70,489 on security services between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2022, pushing her total security bills to more than $300,000 over the last election cycle.

According to Bush’s itemized expenditures from Cori Bush for Congress, the Federal Election Commission website shows that the progressive lawmaker spent $70,489 on “Security Services” — including $50,489 to Peace Security, $15,000 to Cortney Merritts, and $5,000 to Nathaniel Davis. The expenditures — which occurred during the first quarter of 2022 — added to the $233,663 that Bush spent on security services in 2021, that totals $304,152.

Obviously, Bush believes professional armed security is the best way to protect herself from potential harm. Why does she not believe the same logic applies to all Americans? She does; she’s lying. She’s pandering to similarly-minded left-wingers who believe the “defund” nonsense — strictly for votes. If she disagrees with that reality, she — along with her “defund” pals in Congress — is lying about that, as well.

In response to questions from CBS News about her exorbitant security payments in July 2021, Bush got testy and shot back:

They would rather I die? You would rather me die? Is that what you want to see? You want to see me die? You know, because that could be the alternative.

Setting aside Bush’s melodramatic self-indulgence, why doesn’t she accept the same argument about everyday Americans? (We’ve already answered that fundamental question; I just wanted to point out her arrogant disregard for “the masses.”) It gets worse:

I’m going to make sure I have security because I know I have had attempts on my life. And I have too much work to do. There are too many people that need help right now for me to allow that. So if I end up spending $200,000, if I spend ten more dollars on it, you know what? I get to be here, to do the work.

“So suck it up,” she added. “And defunding the police has to happen; we need to defund the police and put that money into social safety nets because we’re trying to save lives.”

I don’t know about you, but if a bad guy is after me with the intent to convert me to room temperature, the first thing I want is a “social safety net.”

As RedState reported in December 2021, the “defund” movement has not only been a disaster for the Democrat Party; it has been a travesty in “progressive,” Democrat-controlled cities. Minneapolis in particular has been a “defund” mess for the Democrats, as we reported in November 2021. The same results occurred in New York City.

Yet Bush continues her crusade, telling Axios in February she has had “colleagues walk up to me” and say “defund the police” does not help in their districts.  She didn’t name names but she did say, per Axios:

‘Defund the police’ is not the problem. We dangled the carrot in front of people’s faces and said we can get it done and that Democrats [can] deliver when we haven’t totally delivered.

In other words, ‘Defund the police’ is awesome; Bush’s own party makes promises it fails to keep.

Memo to Cori Bush: Your party has been making promises on which it has failed to deliver for six decades. That said, the “defund” movement has been an abject failure, which is why your comrades have run from it almost as fast as they’re running from your inept president.

But if I were you, Cori Bush, I’d keep beating the hell out of that drum.

Related on RedState:

Don’t Look Now but Cori Bush Has a Primary Challenger

Cori Bush Prepares to Make Life Harder for Democrats Ahead of 2022 Midterms

Cori Bush Busts out Go-to Ad Hominem as She Foolishly Chides Oil Execs for ‘Killing Millions of People’