Sen. John Kennedy gets hammered on Twitter over weak argument in support of cops: 'Stupid is as Kennedy does'

When Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) laid out his argument against defunding the police, Twitter users quickly fired back, noting one glaring issue: he does not understand what it means to "defund the police"

On Monday, April 26, Kennedy appeared on "The Sean Hannity Show" where he condemned the idea of defunding the police as he defended law enforcement agencies across the country. "Cops have about 60 million encounters with Americans every year," Kennedy said as he stressed the importance of letting investigations run their course before jumping to judgment.

Kennedy argued most cops do not go to work each day with the intent of harming people of color, and attacked the media for having "a narrative and they only want to cherry-pick and pick instances which show cops at their worst."

"I've said it before," said Kennedy, "if you hate cops just because they're cops, then feel free to call a criminal, call a methhead, the next time you get in trouble."

He added, "I do not accept, nor do I think most Americans accept, that most cops are bad people, or racist. They don't get up every day and go into work hoping they can hurt somebody. Most of them get up every day and hope they can themselves come back home alive."

With a clip of the interview, Kennedy tweeted, '"Cops are necessary." He added, "If you support defunding the police, you have tested positive for stupid."

Twitter users quickly fired back to point out the issues with Kennedy's assessment. Most noted that defunding the police has a very different meaning from the meaning Kennedy was attempting to perpetuate. One Twitter user said, "You are misunderstanding the use of the slogan (or pretending to for dramatic effect) — no one is really talking about getting rid of *all* police everywhere. They're just talking about taking back local control of communities and making smart decisions about resource allocation."

Another Twitter user said, "You know more about being stupid than anyone. You demonstrated that when you asked [Stacey Abrams] a woman that knows more about voting restrictions than anyone in this country the question that she used to wipe away that stupid smug look of yours....stupid is as Kennedy does."