Bill Maher offered a blunt assessment of Los Angeles’ political direction after voters elected a Democratic Socialist as the city’s next mayor.
The talk-show host mocked the two choices on the ballot in Tuesday’s election, in which City Councilwoman Nithya Raman defeated incumbent Karen Bass.
“Yes, we have a new mayor in L.A.,” Maher told his two guests during Friday night’s show before delivering a punchline that prompted laughter from the audience.
“You get two choices in L.A.: Left or further left,” he said.
Maher’s comment reflected the view of many Angelenos who believed the final choice came down to selecting the lesser of two problematic options. Both candidates had faced scrutiny over their records during the campaign.
One of Maher’s guests, Coleman Hughes, also criticized the mayor-elect’s political philosophy. Although both candidates are Democrats, Raman belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America.
“Look, my issues are high rents and crime. Socialists don’t tend to be good on those issues because they institute policies like rent control, which sounds good but end up increasing the rents in the long run,” Hughes said.
Hughes, an American writer and podcaster who previously served as a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, also challenged younger Americans who see socialism as a new answer to the nation’s problems.
“We got 100 years of data on socialism. It’s not good for the economy,” he said bluntly.
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He rejected the notion that socialism represents a new political experiment, adding: “Hate to break it to you, Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital in like, 1860.”
Raman’s victory has already raised concerns among critics who fear her administration could significantly alter public safety policies and policing in Los Angeles.
Supporters of the Democratic Socialists of America are pressing the mayor-elect to pursue sweeping changes at the Los Angeles Police Department, including possible rollbacks of existing policies. Some officers have warned that such steps could undermine public safety as the department continues to deal with staffing shortages.
“It’s going to be a nightmare and very, very bad for public safety,” one senior officer said of Raman’s victory.
Bass warned that Raman would send the city into chaos. “I think four years under Nithya Raman would present a tremendous amount of chaos,” Bass told The Post. “It would be chaos from day one.”
The mayor focused particularly on Raman’s pledge to replace LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, cautioning that removing the department’s top official could prompt more officers to leave an already understaffed force.
“I don’t think she has a clue what it takes to get a police chief for the nation’s second-largest city,” Bass said.
“The minute she would initiate that, you will have officers leaving the department, and confusion sets in anytime they’re gonna sit around and wait to see who is going to lead them.”
Bass further cautioned that upheaval at the LAPD could draw unwanted intervention from Washington, especially as Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Olympics.
