Mayor Karen Bass
Photo: RICH SCHMITT
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass was interviewed for Matt Welch’s “The Fifth Column” podcast in the library at the Getty House, the official mayor’s residence. The video premiered on November 25.
At the end of the interview, when she thought the recording had stopped, she commented “Both sides botched it,” referring to the emergency response in the Palisades and Eaton fires in January 2025.
About Altadena she said, “They didn’t tell people they were on fire,” according to the L.A. Times, referring to the lack of evacuation alerts in West Altadena, where 19 people died.
According to the Times “In the case of the city, Bass said, the Fire Department failed to pre-deploy to Pacific Palisades and require firefighters to stay for an extra shift, as the Times first reported in January.
“‘The city and the county did a lot of things that we would look back at and say was very unfortunate,’ she told The Times.”
A four-minute segment on the podcast, containing her off-the-cuff remarks was removed from the YouTube version of the podcast after her team requested it be cut. Her office stated the interview had clearly ended. L.A. mayor Karen Bass says L.A. isn’t governed well – YouTube
The mayor also insisted in a later interview with the Times that she only made the remarks in a “casual conversation” and called the situation “unfortunate.”
In another portion of the podcast Bass described the “overwhelming trauma” experienced by fire victims in the Palisades and elsewhere.
“To lose your home, it’s not just the structure. You lost everything inside there. You lost your memories,” she said.
Incredible, Sue, just incredible. And just watch, the chronically clueless simpletons of this city will vote her back in. bASS is a complete waste of protoplasm. Staggeringly incompetent.
Well there you go – smiling Mayor Karen has decided that the whole thing was just an “unfortunate” set of circumstances. Her “both sides botched it” remark will be memory holed and brushed off as not being an “official” remark.
Hopefully when election time rolls around the voters will remember her remarks and decide to elect a real leader.
Mayor Karen “Grinning Idiot” Bass, a trained Marxist in the Castro model, will be re-elected for a 2nd term despite her clear lack of executive prowess. Meanwhile the man with the properties and interests in the Palisades that did NOT burn down will continue to not be mayor. LA is doomed.
It’s a shame that Biden picked Harris instead of Bass for VP. If that would have happened then our Mayor would have been Caruso. And since Caruso has executive experience and is not a career politician, he would have prepared and planned and this disaster would likely have been avoided.
Anyone who votes for her again needs their head examined.
Anyone who votes for her again needs their head examined.
Anyone who votes for her again needs their head examined.