Los Angeles Is Really Falling Apart, and Karen Bass Is Under Fire For Her Own Inability To Govern (& Thurmond Flames Caruso)

With the Olympics on the horizon, a budget on the brink, city departments in disarray, and with little time left, LA is politically paralyzed—and even non-partisan observers are sounding the alarm.

⏱ 3.5 minute read time

Politico Blows the Whistle

Yesterday, Politico launched a blistering critique entitled “Is Anyone In Charge of Los Angeles?” that should make every Angeleno sit up and pay attention—no matter their politics. Their story describes a city in political gridlock, a budget on the edge, and City Hall in disarray—with the clock running out before the 2028 Olympic Games. Instead of preparing, “the city’s leading pressure groups are at each other’s throats,” City Hall lacks a leader with the “power or stature to keep the peace.”

Union Power and Political Distraction

Since launching So, Does It Matter? just three months ago, I’ve chronicled Los Angeles’s growing dysfunction, most notably the insidious—and costly—iron grip of public-employee unions on city governance. In Angelenos Pay the Price as Democrats Bow to Public Employee Unions, I detailed how union leverage drives pay, blocks reform, and diverts resources from critical needs.

The City Council has become a textbook example of wasting time on the wrong fights: from banning curse words it doesn’t like, to funding illegal-immigrant legal services, and even suing the federal government over violations of federal law. This isn’t governing—it’s either a city held hostage by total progressive crazy people, or politicians performing for the cameras instead of solving problems.

Olympic Chaos and the Politico Indictment

The 2028 Olympics should be a once-in-a-generation opportunity. Instead, we’re stumbling straight into disaster. I’ve warned over, and over, and over again about this slow-motion train wreck.

Many of Los Angeles’s leaders had hoped to spend 2025 preparing the city to host the next summer Olympics and instead found themselves engulfed by a series of unanticipated crises, from devastating wildfires to a destabilizing immigration crackdown. But rather than working together, the city’s leading pressure groups are at each other’s throats in a spiraling grudge match. - Politico Article Excerpt

Politico now backs that up with fresh examples. After a $30 “Olympic wage” was enacted for hotel, airport, and tourism workers, airlines and hotels launched a referendum to repeal it. In June, unions countered with two initiatives—including a citywide $30 wage and voter approval for new stadiums; by late July, that expanded to four proposals, adding a CEO pay-ratio penalty and other measures. The result: a bare-knuckle fight headed for the ballot box that’s sucking up all the oxygen, even as the city stares at a nearly $1 billion budget shortfall.

Instead of building infrastructure, aligning business and labor, and getting ready for the world, Los Angeles is locked in never-ending political food fights. One councilmember recently admitted that the city’s policymaking process is badly broken. When the most potent forces feel their “only option is to go to war at the ballot box,” the system is no longer working as it should.

The Politics of Collapse

Retreating amid the chaos is Mayor Karen Bass, who has styled herself as the Anti-Trump. But defining yourself by who you’re not isn’t leadership—governing is about delivering results. If even Politico—no conservative new outlet—declares Los Angeles “broken” and “divisive,” that’s not spin—it’s the rare thing both sides can agree on.

So, Does It Matter?

This matters, absolutely. Los Angeles is crumbling under political showmanship, unchecked union influence, and institutional gridlock. At a time when we should be uniting to prepare for the Olympics, we’re too busy fighting ourselves. And in that leadership void, repeated failure becomes not an anomaly but the expectation. As the saying goes, insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. By that standard, it’s time to break the cycle—not keep repeating the same mess year after year.

Short Take: Thurmond Hits Caruso With Snarky Video

On another topic, this is too fun to note pass along. State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond, is hoping that like the California Teachers Association basically bought him his current post, that they will do the same in his race for Governor. Anyways, he just produced a short video excoriating Republican Independent Democrat billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Los Angeles (from the column above, Caruso clearly would have been a better choice for Angelinos). The video is funny (well, except I suspect to Caruso), so thought I would share it.

This is going to be a long Gubernatorial campaign!