Rick Caruso at the opening of Palisades Village.
Most are familiar with the term transgender, but now Rick Caruso is the epitome of a new term, trans political.
Transgender, according to the American Psychiatric Association is defined as “People who may pursue multiple domains of gender affirmation, including social affirmation (e.g., changing one’s name and pronouns), legal affirmation (e.g., changing gender markers on one’s government-issued documents) and medical affirmation.”
One might define Caruso as trans political because first he was Republican (before 2011), then Independent (2012-2016) and then Republican (2016-2019) and now Democrat (2019 to present).
The billionaire, who built Palisades Village, the Grove, the Brand and the Americana seems to have dysphoria, which has been described as a mental state in which a person has a profound sense of unease or dissatisfaction with who he is.
The L.A. Daily News October 11 Editorial (“Rick Caruso to Set More of His Money on Fire”) wrote that “L.A. County Democratic Party chair Mark Gonzalez said he told Caruso that ‘he had some making up to do’ in order to get into the good graces of the Democratic Party. Obviously that’s a request for money, not an invitation to high tea at The Grove.”
L.A. Daily News, which endorsed Caruso for mayor, called it “disheartening.”
Caruso, who spent $104 million on his bid to become L.A. Mayor (That was $160.42 per vote compared to Karen Bass’s $10.15), had trouble getting the backing of Democratic voters.
In an October 5 interview with Politico (“Party-switching Billionaire Targets California Republicans”) the author wrote: “Caruso, who didn’t rule out spending in primaries, wouldn’t put an exact dollar figure on his anticipated contributions for the next cycle. But he said he was dedicating his money and time to push the most viable Democratic candidates to the front of the field and give them the best chance of beating their GOP opponents. He also anticipates being involved in the presidential and U.S. Senate races and wants to court Latino voters who failed to tip the scales in his favor in his own mayoral race last year.”
“Stick with the central theme of getting moderates in the House,” Caruso told POLITICO of his new strategy.
In California, many of CTN readers are smart enough to know that a shrew businessman does not support attacks on Prop 13, ACA 1 and ACA 13—which make it easier to raise taxes and harder to pass taxpayer protections, which some “moderates” in the California legislature did support.
So, what is Caruso’s end game? Does he want to be governor? Does he think he could run for a national office?
It’s obvious he feels he needs the Democratic party’s help with whatever is his ultimate, unsaid goal.
In a Visage July 25 story (“15 Great Leadership Qualities and Characteristics”), the top five qualities listed are empathy, authenticity, self-awareness, courage and integrity. Maybe L.A. Voters felt that Bass had more empathy, authenticity, self-awareness and integrity than Caruso?
There used to be a game show “To Tell the Truth,” in which three “contestants,” all claimed to be the person identified. The show panelists had to decide which of the three was telling the truth and which two were imposters. Is the billionaire a Republican, an Independent, a Democrat or just saying what he thinks people what to hear?
“Will the real Caruso please stand up?”
He actually only registered as a Democrat in January of 2022, mere weeks before the filing deadline for the mayoral race.
Actually, the most honest political platform someone can adopt may very well be a mixture of some issues where one sides with Democrats, and some were a person sides with Republicans.
The real Caruso, as with the real many of us, may actually be an amalgam of views on political questions that we believe are the correct positions, regardless of where they fall on some arbitrary left wing/right wing spectrum. I am one of the most fervent opponents of the religious right. For 20 years, I was the primary speaker and debater for the California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League. In 2007, I filed a brief with the California Supreme Court, in which I argued that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional because it enacted a religious point of view into the legal system that is binding on everyone.
Yet, I strongly opposed the diversion of $153 million dollars from the LAPD three years ago. I opposed the attempt to partially repeal Proposition 13 with respect to commercial income property and opposed Los Angeles’ ULA, “mansion tax.” I probably favor less taxation than a very large number of other Democrats. I do favor more taxation than most Libertarians and Republicans. I supported mandatory mask and vaccine requirements during the pandemic.
None of these positions are internally inconsistent. The fact that some are identified with contemporary liberal perspectives and others are identified with contemporary conservative perspectives does not make any of these political views contradictory.
Caruso’s views may really be a mixture of positions that he really thinks are correct, regardless of what are considered to be the boundaries of current liberalism and conservatism. If so, then depending on what issues he considers to be most important at any given time, political party hopping might actually be the most honest approach.
Well done!
I am among a large group of lifetime Republicans who no longer recognize our family’s chosen party. We are almost all Democrats now and proud to acknowledge it.