I understand “defund the police” isn’t the best language, but where was all the outrage when they were defunding education, defunding Headstart, defunding hunger & anti-poverty programs, defunding violence prevention programs, defunding peace projects & defunding social services?

Yup. Defunding basically everything else is already on the ballot, all across America. Optics wasn't an issue here, until right-wing Dems made it into one.