Los Angeles is a depraved, harmful metropolis, the place treasonous depravity lurks behind each delight flag, pupusaria and EV charging station, in keeping with MAGA pundits. We’re a blue metropolis, in a blue state, which in Fox Information-speak means we’re a dangerous hell pit. Suppose Mordor or Flea Backside however with bike lanes and prettier individuals.
Proper-wing media by no means misses a chance to “report” on the nation’s alarming rise in crime (although charges are in reality dropping), particularly in blue states, and significantly on the left coast. Angelenos are “legitimately at risk” from “thugs, felons, and unhinged green-hairs,” mentioned Tomi Lahren on Sunday, becoming a member of the hoarse refrain of conservative commentators who insist L.A. is a 24/7 loop of “Coaching Day” due to its liberal policymakers and leftist voters.
By no means thoughts information or knowledge. Sean Hannity and lesser-known personalities (OAN, NewsMax, and so on.) are beholden to rankings, and nothing strikes the needle like worry of The Different and the salaciousness of Los Angeles. Selling lockstep hatred of the West Coast — not simply its politics, however its individuals — is now a requisite for anybody hoping to stake a declare within the right-wing mediaverse.
Lahren took her flip Sunday, lamenting the “crap gap blue state” of California on The Skinny Confidential podcast. The previous South Bay resident mentioned prevented going to L.A. as a result of “it will be violent” … however her examples of the hazards that good of us face within the Antifa breeding floor of L.A. say much less about crime than concerning the profound mental dishonesty of the argument.
Disingenuous conflations of crime charges and political leanings are performative politics at finest, not substantive debate, however in the event you’re going to take the low street no less than come ready with highly effective examples of L.A.’s wickedness.
Lahren confirmed up with tales of a passive-aggressive ice cream vendor, suspect Vons buyers and “imply ladies.” When requested the place she felt essentially the most threatened, the Fox Nation character cited Santa Monica, significantly The Bungalow café (“A haven for social connectivity and artistic collaboration” in keeping with the web site. Margaritas begin at $20). “Individuals could be screaming at me,” she mentioned of her expertise on the fashionable seaside eatery.
A collection of ice cream flavors from Salt & Straw.
(Courtesy of Salt & Straw)
The podcast host of OutKick’s “Tomi Lahren is Fearless” mentioned she was adopted round Vons, accosted by a girl at Hermosa Seaside’s The Tower (“a beach-town informal kitchen”) and focused throughout her man-on-the-street assignments in West Hollywood for Fox’s “Hannity” present. “The Salt & Straw there would give free ice cream to individuals in the event that they wouldn’t speak to me,” she mentioned of the harrowing expertise. She by no means talked about the chain’s nice culinary crime, Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper ice cream.
Lahren is a B-list right-wing commentator and influencer who’s rattled round varied platforms. In 2019, when she nonetheless lived within the L.A. space and was calling Gavin Newsom “greasy Gavin,” she advised The Occasions in an interview she was on a rescue mission. “I like California. I feel it must be saved. Issues that occur right here trickle down. California is a cautionary story for the remainder of the nation.”
Now, that love appears to be lengthy gone.
When the podcast interviewer requested Lahren if she nonetheless feels unsafe, she mentioned no as a result of she now lives in Tennessee. “I really feel badly for lots of those individuals who don’t have the safety of residing in a spot like I get to stay in,” she mentioned. “There’s lots of people on the market proper now which are legitimately at risk and it’s proper right here in L.A. and it’s in New York and it’s in Washington D.C. and it’s in Portland. It’s actually unhappy.”
However with a pivotal election at stake, crime charges are more and more within the eye of the beholder. The place one conservative commentator sees Sodom and Gomorrah, knowledge and tendencies paint a distinct image. Based on a 2022 examine, Tennessee ranked above California in its violent crime charge with 621.6 incidents of violent crime per 100,000 residents. The southern state was topped solely by New Mexico (780.5 incidences), Alaska (758.9), Arkansas (645.3) and Louisiana (628.6). And Memphis, Tenn., had the highest violent crime charge of any metropolis that reported to the FBI in 2022.
Los Angeles has at all times been a magnet for these in search of fame, even when meaning serving as a bogeyman for opportunistic pundits.
