Diving into the Dumpster Fire: Karen Bass’s Reign of Deceit

Los Angeles, the City of Angels, deserves a leader who embodies integrity, transparency, and a commitment to its citizens. Instead, it has been saddled with Mayor Karen Bass, whose tenure has been marked by a cascade of lies, hypocrisy, and a troubling bias toward shielding criminals while turning a blind eye to the honest, hardworking Angelenos who keep the city running.

This is not a gentle critique but a blistering exposé of a mayor whose actions have left a trail of broken promises, smeared reputations, and a city teetering on the edge of chaos. Buckle up, dear reader, as we dive deep into the garbage pile of Karen Bass’s deceit—a pile she’s heaped high with her own hands.

A Promise Broken: The International Travel Debacle

When Karen Bass campaigned for mayor in 2021, she solemnly pledged to the people of Los Angeles that she would forgo international travel, a habit she indulged in frequently as a congresswoman. “No more jet-setting,” she implied, positioning herself as a grounded leader focused on the city’s pressing needs. Yet, as wildfires ravaged Los Angeles in January 2025, where was Mayor Bass? Not in City Hall, not coordinating relief efforts, but sipping champagne in Ghana, attending a presidential inauguration while her city burned.

This wasn’t a one-off; her public schedule reveals at least five international trips in recent months, including jaunts to Mexico and France for the 2024 Olympics. The hypocrisy is staggering. While Angelenos choked on smoke and lost homes, Bass was gallivanting abroad, only to return with feeble apologies that did little to quell the outrage. Her 2021 tweet mocking Senator Ted Cruz for traveling during a crisis now reads like a cruel joke, a mirror reflecting her own failures.

Smearing the Honest: The Kristin Crowley Fiasco

Perhaps nothing encapsulates Bass’s penchant for deceit and unfair bias more than her treatment of former Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley. When wildfires tore through the city, Crowley was on the front lines, battling with an underfunded department slashed by $17 million under Bass’s watch. Yet, when the flames died down, Bass didn’t thank Crowley—she fired her.

Worse, she launched what Crowley’s legal claim describes as a “campaign of misinformation, defamation, and retaliation” to scapegoat the chief and protect her own political image. Bass publicly praised Crowley early in the crisis, only to later claim she learned that 1,000 additional firefighters could have been deployed—a claim Crowley disputes as a fabrication. The former chief’s legal filing demands that Bass “cease and desist her defamatory and illegal public smear campaign” and issue a public apology for her lies. This is a woman who punishes those who do their jobs while protecting her own hide.

Sanctuary City Shenanigans: Protecting Criminals Over Citizens

Bass’s bias toward criminals over law-abiding citizens is perhaps her most egregious betrayal. As mayor of a self-proclaimed sanctuary city, she has doubled down on policies that limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), even when it comes to detaining individuals with serious criminal records. In July 2025, Bass marched into MacArthur Park—cameras in tow—to protest ICE’s presence, painting a picture of federal agents disrupting a “tranquil” community.

The reality? MacArthur Park is a drug-ridden chaos zone where LAPD officers warn visitors to avoid certain areas for their safety. Bass’s claim that ICE raids destabilize the local economy and terrorize families is a distortion so grotesque it borders on fiction. Her rhetoric paints criminals as victims, while honest Angelenos—small business owners, workers, and families—bear the brunt of her policies. Sanctuary policies have exacerbated Los Angeles’s crime and homelessness crises, with the city facing a projected $400 million budget shortfall in 2025.

The Gun Hypocrisy: Do as I Say, Not as I Do

Bass’s hypocrisy doesn’t stop at policy—it’s personal. In 2022, while running for mayor, Bass reported that two guns were stolen from her home. These weren’t just any guns; they were firearms she owned for “personal protection,” despite her vocal advocacy for stringent gun control laws that would strip ordinary citizens of the same right.

Bass, who has spent years railing against the Second Amendment, apparently believes her safety is worth defending, but yours isn’t. The irony is rich: a burglar exposed her double standards, proving that even Bass doesn’t trust her own anti-gun rhetoric when it comes to her personal security. This incident isn’t just a footnote—it’s a window into Bass’s character.

The USC Scholarship Scandal: A Questionable Past

Bass’s history of questionable ethics predates her mayoralty. In 2022, it emerged that she received a nearly $100,000 full-tuition scholarship from the University of Southern California’s social work program while serving as a congresswoman. Court documents suggested this was part of a broader scheme by a USC official to curry favor with politicians, raising red flags about potential corruption.

While Bass denied wrongdoing and was not formally charged, the optics are damning. A public servant accepting lavish scholarships while advocating for the “little people” smells of the same elitism she claims to oppose. It’s another layer of hypocrisy in a career built on projecting virtue while quietly cashing in.

Homelessness and Crime: Promises Made, Promises Broken

Bass’s campaign was built on lofty promises to tackle Los Angeles’s homelessness and crime crises. She declared a state of emergency on homelessness upon taking office, vowing swift action. Yet, as of 2025, the city’s streets remain littered with encampments, and open drug use and violence are rampant.

Her administration’s response? Clear out homeless camps around City Hall just in time for her inauguration, a cynical PR stunt to create the illusion of progress. The reality is far bleaker: Bass’s policies have failed to address the root causes, leaving Angelenos to navigate a city that feels increasingly ungovernable. Her approach to crime is equally dismal, with budget cuts to the LAFD and reluctance to fully support law enforcement leaving first responders stretched thin.

The Recall: A City’s Rebellion

The people of Los Angeles have had enough. In March 2025, a recall effort was launched against Bass, fueled by her failures during the wildfires, her smear campaign against Crowley, and her overall mismanagement of the city. The website RecallBassNow.com cites her gutting of the LAFD budget and her absence during crises as reasons for her removal.

Even her former opponent, Rick Caruso, has distanced himself from her, though he stopped short of endorsing the recall. The sentiment is clear: Angelenos are tired of a mayor who lies about her priorities, scapegoats the honest, and protects the lawless.

A PR Nightmare She Can’t Escape

Karen Bass’s team may scramble to spin this narrative, to paint her as a victim of circumstance or a champion of the marginalized. But the truth is a garbage pile she can’t climb out of. Every international trip, every smear against a public servant, every defense of sanctuary policies, and every broken promise adds another shovelful to the heap.

Her lies have been exposed—by wildfires, by burglars, by her own words. Her hypocrisy has been laid bare—by her gun ownership, her scholarships, her selective outrage. And her bias toward criminals over the honest has left Los Angeles a city in crisis, its people betrayed by a leader who cares more about her image than their safety. Los Angeles deserves better—a leader who tells the truth, honors the honest, and fights for the city, not against it.