Ric & Grace

Since the death of George Floyd in May of 2020, America has been hit with an onslaught of cries to #DefundthePolice. From Democratic politicians, mainstream media pundits to Hollywood elite, these calls to neuter law enforcement have been wrought with hypocrisy since Day 1. Such is the case with Debra Messing, popular sit-com actor and Democratic mouthpiece, when she scuffled with former Ambassador and gay Trump appointee, Richard Grenell.

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Over the weekend, Messing took to Twitter to voice her support for the shooting of unarmed Ashli Babbitt, which occurred during the Capitol Riot on January 6^th. In her first tweet, which set off the intense war of words between her and Grenell, the Will & Grace star attempted to defend her position. “She was breaking through a door behind which were our CONGRESSPERSONS! She was trying to assault our govt leaders and was warned SEVERAL times by POLICE to stop trying to broach the chamber.” Grenell pointed out something inherently contradictory in Messing’s cavalier approach to law enforcements use of legal force. “Actress Debra Messing wants police to shoot unarmed people if they feel threatened.” Grenell’s response was enough to goad the starlet into further exposing her inconsistencies.

Actress Debra Messing wants police to shoot unarmed people if they feel threatened. https://t.co/i1TCYF48r0

— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) June 17, 2021

In the third person she opined, “Debra Messing wants police to stop an attempted Coup/Insurrection of the American Seat of Govt that held our top 4 officials in order of succession… Defend with force.” At this point, Grenell unearthed Messing’s #defundthepolice tweets of 2020 and asked her to clarify her stance. Essentially, how can the actress want to defund our law enforcement but support the notion that unarmed Ashli Babbit deserved to be shot dead by Capitol Police? It also makes one wonder, had Ashli Babbitt been a black man, would Messing have raced to support the killing?

These are fair questions when one considers the results seen by the #defundthepolice movement.

New York City, Los Angeles, Portland and Minneapolis have all seen unprecedented year-over-year increases in crime since 2019. Portland  has experienced a 533% increase in homicides since the death of George Floyd and its ongoing dereliction of riot containment. It has been so bad that the entire riot response team in Portland resigned last week. All of these cities, and many more, have cut their police budgets only to see things get worse. In fact, New York and Los Angeles have already started reversing course and refunding police departments they defunded prior to the Presidential Election.

Furthermore, Democrats from all over the country are changing their tune on this movement. Mayoral candidate and former Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang came out against #defundthepolice movement.

Messing appears blind to her own hypocrisy.  It does not even register to her that she is kept safe by private security while the rest of society is increasingly finding itself closer to living out The Purge.

The ambassador of kickassador

While Twitter is rarely the place for nuanced conversations, Grenell did more than merely scratch the surface of Messing’s hypocrisy. Last year, Messing had no problem calling out officers who used force against unarmed assailants in a barrage of tweets during and after the George Floyd Protests. In one tweet she even declared of the police, “They are at war with us! #DefundPolice”. In showing these past tweets, Grenell asks, “You don’t see your hypocrisy Debra Messing? Everyone else does.”

At this point the actress tried to “school” Grenell, offering him a “zoom call” in which she promised to “elucidate” her fanciful positions. While Grenell will be enjoying co-hosting NewsMax’s morning show all week, Messing will probably be impatiently waiting for Grenell to give her the time of day as she tweets her talking points.

Grenell, who’s no stranger to Twitter warfare retorted to Messing’s zoom call offer off with a simple question, which remains unanswered: “Do you really believe the police are at war with us, Debra? This is what you said. It’s radical and dangerous language. It’s crazy talk.”

Apparently, Grenell struck a nerve. Ignoring the fact that Grenell’s tweets received almost 3x the engagement that Messing’s did, her final tweet came today when she avoided Grenell but went after Arthur Schwartz in the same thread. “I am not supporting #defunding I am supporting #PoliceReform. There must be #accountability when they violate someone’s constitutional rights. Money should be taken from police weaponry to hire social workers to handle incidents involving mental illness and homelessness.”

Upon reading the final tweet from Messing, I reached out to Grenell for comment.

“Does Grace think we don’t have access to the internet? Debra Messing tweeted ‘DefundPolice’ on June 5, 2020 at 7:10AM.” His comment was sent with the tweet in reference.

Game. Set. Match. Grenell.

While Democratic politicians seek to distance themselves from a radical policy that almost cost them the House of Representatives, it’s unnerving that those in entertainment are so quick to support positions that will have little effect on their personal lives. . Like Messing, most of Hollywood and the other elite who live bicoastally can afford private security in perpetuity. Messing will never have to live in a world where she relies solely on law enforcement who are charged with serving and protecting. Yet she is arrogant enough to support a movement which has already resulted in lower quality of life, higher crime and the deaths of innocent people that could have been avoided if police had proper funding and the support of the populations they serve.

Society may well benefit from a nuanced conversation regarding the reformation of law enforcement. Instead of defunding, maybe paying police more and offering them better training would reap better results. Perhaps stricter background checks, mandatory counseling, ongoing and more rigorous physical fitness testing would result in better retention and higher job satisfaction. But when stars like Messing tout the  radical and hypocritical approach of supporting policies that are dangerous and further divide the nation, everyone suffers.

Messing shows the world that it’s better to think before tweeting.