Former White House aide Paul Begala said Friday night that “white liberals,” not poor and working class voters, were trying to defund police and that the party needed to “get out in front” of the crime issue for 2021.

“Quality of life issues is what we’re going to be – what we’re going to decide the election on,” HBO host Bill Maher said. “I saw this in the L.A. Times yesterday, ‘What’s the matter with Portland?’”

Maher noted increased crime rates and homelessness in Portland, Oregon, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, stating that it and many other big cities with skyrocketing crime were run by Democrats. (RELATED: Tucker Carlson Clobbers Chicago Mayor Over Crime Hurting The ‘Poorest People’)

“They need to get out in front of it,” Begala said. “I want a Democrat to stand and say some people belong in jail.” Begala then claimed that Bakersfield, California, the hometown of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, had a “much higher murder rate” than San Francisco.

“Why aren’t Democrats talking about that?” Begala asked, before claiming that states that voted for Trump had a 40% higher murder rate.

#StartTheClock: Tonight’s episode of Real Time with @BillMaher feat. @MalcolmNance, @KSoltisAnderson and @PaulBegala is now on @HBO and @HBOMax!

Watch the conversation continue after the show on #RTOvertime @ 11:30PM on @CNN! pic.twitter.com/nPI1Rjnmlw

— Real Time with Bill Maher (@RealTimers) February 11, 2023

Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson pointed out that a number of Democrats in the House of Representatives voted Thursday to block a D.C. law that would have reduced certain criminal penalties, including Democratic Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota, who had been assaulted in the lobby of her apartment building Thursday.

“For Democrats and my fellow liberals, it’s the people we supposedly care about are the victims of crime,” Begala said. “Elon Musk is not going to get his stupid Tesla carjacked. It’s poor people, it’s working people.”

“They’re the victims of crime, and by the way, if you look at all the polling and the voting, it’s those folks who are voting for more security, more safety, more and better cops,” Begala continued. “It’s the white liberals who want to defund police.”

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