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Mayor Karen Bass is probably wishing that she had stayed in Ghana at this moment.
If she was still in Ghana, she wouldn’t be getting questions like this.
Mayor Karen Bass stands in a stunned silence for nearly 2 minutes as a reporter asks her if she regrets cutting Los Angeles' Fire Department budget by nearly $20 million and being absent as her citizens' homes burned down.pic.twitter.com/64A1hlTv2m
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 8, 2025
Every single one of those questions has to be a gut punch for Karen Bass and any political future she might have had.
“Do you owe citizens an apology for being absent while their homes were burning? Do you regret cutting the fire department budget by millions of dollars, Madam Mayor? Have you nothing to say today? Have you absolutely nothing to say to the citizens today? Elon Musk says that you’re utterly incompetent – are you considering your position? Madam Mayor, do you have absolutely nothing to say to the citizens today who are dealing with this disaster? No apology for them? Do you think you should have been visiting Ghana while this was unfolding back home?”
Bass just stood there, as blank as Joe Biden, as the questions were asked. No eye contact, dead silence, awkward as hell. And as soon as she was able to, she just walked away.
Each one of those questions is completely legitimate. The mayor does owe her constituents an explanation for all of her actions – from cutting the fire department’s budget by $17.6 million for the current fiscal year, which has now created a staffing issue for the fire department as they battle these wildfires, to she didn’t immediately leave Ghana once the windstorm warning was issued and stayed for the presidential inauguration, even though her own official X account was letting people know that the windstorm was coming.
There is an expected destructive and potentially life-threatening windstorm starting Tuesday morning through Wednesday afternoon.
Red Flag No Parking Restrictions will go into effect in certain areas tomorrow morning.
Stay safe LA! Join @NotifyLA here: https://t.co/C2EO2lzTXO https://t.co/ChmYDOhJPr
— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) January 7, 2025
Even the media was forced to admit that Bass’s absence looked bad.
… moderate Democrat Rick Caruso, a real estate mogul who lost his mayoral bid to Bass in 2022, spent the morning making local TV appearances blasting Bass for traveling to Ghana, despite reports as early as last week about an impending wind storm.
The mayor’s office posted on X Monday night about an “expected destructive and potentially life-threatening windstorm starting Tuesday morning through Wednesday afternoon” yet Bass still wasn’t back in the city as of Wednesday morning when President Joe Biden joined Gov. Gavin Newsom for a press conference about the conflagrations at a Santa Monica fire station.
Bass’ decision to not return from Ghana sooner drew criticism Wednesday from even the left flank of political media.
“Inexplicable decision to not come back earlier,” Tommy Vietor, a former Obama staffer and Pod Save America host, wrote on X.
Caruso, who owns a shopping complex in the Pacific Palisades that partially burned, compared Los Angeles to a “third-world country” with failing infrastructure.
“This is a window into a systemic problem of the city — not only of mismanagement, but our infrastructure is old,” Caruso told the Los Angeles Times.
Bass later claimed that she got back from Ghana as fast as she could. Let’s just say that her press conference did not inspire confidence in her leadership. Also, her face looks like she’s gotten the number of whoever does Nancy Pelosi’s Botox.
Bass kept her eyes on her papers and spoke very robotically and methodically – and committed a Joe Biden-level gaffe on top of it all.
Mayor Karen Bass literally just read the words "URL" off her script during the press conference instead of the emergency website for the victims of the fire.
I think we have a new winner for most incompetent politician in America. pic.twitter.com/KIQfIVCWZB
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 9, 2025
Speaking of Grandpa Brandon, he was in California to try and pad his “legacy” a little bit more with some new national monuments. When the weather changed, Biden was stuck in the state temporarily, which meant that he got a chance to LARP as president during a disaster. Naturally, he made the most of the occasion – meaning that he made the occasion all about HIM.
Understanding social norms – like that this is the not appropriate time or place to say this – is a sign of the condition we all know he’s suffering from. https://t.co/iUYdIUFDag
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) January 8, 2025
Oh, the look on Gavin Newsom’s face as he has to stand there and listen to that. Watch his face as Biden’s staffers try and get the press out of the room. Newsom must be watching his political life flash before his eyes. Joe Biden cannot dredge up any empathy for what people are going through, but Gavin Newsom knows exactly what happened. Newsom has long cherished dreams of running for president. When the recall vote against him failed, he was probably all but assured that eventually, he would be declaring himself a candidate for president. Kamala Harris taking Joe Biden’s spot on the ticket nearly derailed his plans, but once she lost, the field was once again open for him in 2028. Newsom was counting on people forgetting his COVID authoritarianism and French Laundry faux pas, and the “poop map” moment from his governors’ debate with Ron DeSantis. However, a presidential candidate needs well-heeled donors. And there is no way that the Hollywood liberals and leftist Californians are going to be rushing to open their wallets for the man who let their homes burn down. And there is NO way that other Democrats who want to be president will let Newsom get by without bashing him over the head with this fire response. Yes, he’s pulling out all the stops NOW, but where does the buck stop for the fact that firefighters are now without water to try and battle the flames? Who has been in charge all this time? Who could have prepared for this and ordered real fire mitigation after the LAST major wildfire in California? Gavin Newsom.
BREAKING: Actor @ZacharyLevi says Governor Gavin Newsom is responsible for California burning. pic.twitter.com/bRpQeUVagZ
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) January 9, 2025
None of the fires as of this writing are fully contained, and a new fire is now triggering possible mandatory evacuation notices for the Studio City area. The Santa Ana winds are projected to be weaker today, but then kick up again on Friday. If firefighters cannot get containment, there is no telling how many more people will lose their homes or lives. Five people are confirmed dead. Crews are heroically working to try and stop the fires. This is long from over.
Karen Bass may be getting the brunt of the blame at the moment because her optics are simply wretched (and she is incompetent, absolutely) – but she’s only been mayor of Los Angeles for a little over two years. Gavin Newsom has been in state government as lieutenant governor, and then governor, since 2010. If the buck stops with anyone, it has to be him. Instead, he is whining about Donald Trump pointing out that he is an incompetent boob. Both Bass and Newsom are likely watching their political futures burn up in the ashes of Los Angeles. Voters in California need to remember the role that they both played in the failures of the last few days. And if they don’t? Then history is simply going to repeat itself.
Featured image: composite collage of Mayor Karen Bass (official portrait by the City of Los Angeles via Wikimedia Commons, cropped, public domain) and Governor Gavin Newsom (photo by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation via Wikimedia Commons, cropped, public domain)
Wfjag says: The Mayor needs a memorized stump speech she can repeat on all occasions – something like:
“I grew up a middle class kid in a neighborhood where everyone was proud of their lawns.”
Don’t be concerned if whether the response seems nonresponsive or inappropriate. The MSM seems to fawn over BIPOC women politicians from California who say such things.
Edward Lunny says: Well, in a sane, logical world it would be, and should be. But, this is california where sanity and logic can not exist. They are both, no doubt, trying to puzzle out how exactly how they can escape any responsibility and how to shift the blame anywhere else. The media, we can be certain, are working overtime to do anything that they can to ensure that that is exactly what happens . We shall see how this all ays out.
Scott says: You can definitely ad the DEI LA Fire Chief to this list. Crowley has made it known since she took that spot that her priority was DEI.. Not preparedness, not mitigation, not serving the citizens, but DEI.. if that doesn’t tell you all you need to know, I don’t know what will. Her malfeasance is criminal, in that it has put the citizens AND the firefighters lives at risk. All three should be held to account! (but yeah, it’s Commiefornia, so they won’t be)
GWB says: Bass might. Local politics is a bit less forgiving*. But Newsom? The election he worries about isn’t for another 4 years. This will all have faded to background noise memory by then. The farther the decision makers are away from us the less we tend to make strong memories that hold them accountable*.
( Both *s – It’s why the federalist system is best. Push all of the actual decision-making as close to the people as possible and they will be much more engaged and more likely to hold elected officials accountable.)
Lloyd says: Make no mistake…..Mayor and Governor will lie their way of any responsibility for this tragic burn. And, their loyal followers will eat it up and vote for them again and again.
rbj1 says: A lot of these million $+ homes are uninsured because the CA government, under Newsom, wouldn’t let the insurance companies raise rates. So those well heeled donors won’t have the money to fund his presidential ambitions. plus getting permission to rebuild will take a long time.
Voting for Democrats has consequences.
A reader says: Only a craven, disgusting, evil person would politicize tragedy in this way. As I recall, several of the writers of this blog live in Washington state, correct? Including this author? So the next time there’s a natural disaster here we can blame the governor or mayor of your town or city for it regardless of whether any of your families are suffering? And politicize it? Got it.
Because here’s the deal: unless this author and those commenting are clairvoyant, there was no way to know these fires would happen. Bass came back as quickly as she could. As for Newsom, I love that you are also blaming him for a natural disaster. The water pressure issue was due to a malfunction, so I guess he has to be able to magically fix that too? The nerve of this writer, while unsurprising, is still breathtaking.
Does this writer or other writers here have friends in that area or know people that do? How does she think her friends would feel knowing she’s so openly politicizing this horrific tragedy? I’m guessing they wouldn’t be happy.
May she never have to endure tragedy wrought by natural disaster and may others not politicize it in the same way. Oh, and since she and other writers for this blog may live in Washington state, it’s worth remembering that your beloved president-elect is a vindictive jerk who will likely withhold aid should your state ask for help.
May all of you have the year you deserve.
GWB says: unless this author and those commenting are clairvoyant, there was no way to know these fires would happen.
Or, maybe, if you actually paid attention to past performance? Have you ever heard the sortof joke about the four seasons in California? They’re drought, mud slides, fire, and earthquake. That joke goes back further than the 80s.
politicizing this horrific tragedy
Oh noes! Not politicizing tragedy! Every time someone points out how a D failed at governance, we’re suddenly “politicizing” the tragedy. And, to link it to your other bit, these are all things the bad government folks did in advance, knowing this happens every year. The reservoirs aren’t full (and there aren’t enough of them) and Santa Anna winds are something that happens every year. Oh, and the fire departments’ funding was cut.
Oh, and while you’re going off about “not politicizing the tragedy” do you know what Newsom and other progs-in-charge have done? Yeah, they immediately blamed it on “global warming.” How is that not politicizing the tragedy?
(And the low water pressure was not due to a malfunction, based on what I’m reading, but on sheer demand. They have an entirely local tank system and it wasn’t nearly large enough for a wildfire. Yet, there have been multiple wildfires…. And they have NOT built the reservoirs that could have helped.)
draigh says: Well said. And whatever California does, Washington State has to follow in lockstep with our neighbors on the other side of Oregon. Gavin cut dam projects and has agreed with the Watermelons that tree snags and underbrush should never be removed because they provide cover for wildlife. So now California, that debt ridden state, will be asking their citizens to pay for the files that could have been minimized with a little common sense and forest management.
Cameron says: “Because here’s the deal: unless this author and those commenting are clairvoyant, there was no way to know these fires would happen”
I lived in California for years. Wildfires happened quite often. And the fact that CA refuses to let controlled burns happen contributed to this. Add that to the fact that they refuse to allow desalinization plants that would put the Pacific Ocean to good use because they demand Gaia remain unspoiled, and you have disasters waiting to happen.
Does this writer or other writers here have friends in that area or know people that do? My parents live in CA and they had to evacuate due to fires. Do you have anyone who claims you as a friend after the drugs wear off?
“it’s worth remembering that your beloved president-elect is a vindictive jerk who will likely withhold aid”
It’s also worth remembering how Biden withheld aid for Ohio and North Carolina.
Back under your rock, child.
Lloyd says: Reader….The point is simple: The Mayor and the Governor have failed the people. You can put lipstick on that pig anyway you want, but the fact remains…The FAILED!!
Cameron says: I guess his mother finally told him to get out of bed and get over his post-election depression.
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