Hollywood’s Most Insufferable Elites Have Endorsed This Billionaire Entrepreneur for L.A. Mayor

This isn’t Caruso’s first foray into public service: At just 26-years-old, he became the youngest person ever to be appointed by the then-mayor to serve as a commissioner for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and nearly two decades later was elected president of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. He also spent the last four years serving as the chairman of the board of trustees at his alma mater, the University of Southern California. The Los Angeles Times wrote that during his tenure, he maintained a “culture of secrecy,” pointing directly to the 2018 George Tyndall case. Tyndell, a university gynecologist, molested thousands of patients at the school’s student health center over the course of 30 years.

But all of that’s mostly beside the point. Just five years ago, the ultra-Catholic, tough-on-crime Caruso was still registered as a Republican, as it had been common knowledge that he had been one for the entirety of his life. It was only this year, and less than a month before filing paperwork to run in the mayoral election, that Caruso even registered as a Democrat, according to the Los Angeles Times. He has a storied history of bankrolling Republican candidates, like John Kasich’s failed bid for president in 2016 and George W. Bush’s re-election campaign in 2004. Most notably, though, Caruso touts Trump ties. He, along with his family, sat front row at a 2015 Republican debate between Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx) and Donald Trump. Following the latter’s election, Caruso even served on an economic advisory panel for the former president—though, Caruso isn’t quick to publicly claim such a track record.

“I’m a Democrat, and I’m proud to be a Democrat,” he said when asked by the Los Angeles Times. “What fascinates me is that we’re even having this conversation because the electorate, the voters in the city don’t care about this. What the voters of the city care about is crime and homelessness and corruption.”

Speaking of corruption, Caruso has curried favor even among everyday voters by following a winning GOP strategy: fear-mongering. While no one could argue that displacement in Los Angeles has long been a dire issue (which increasingly horrifying homelessness statistics continue to reflect) Caruso has often conflated them with crime statistics—giving free reign for him to call for more policing in an already heavily-policed city with one of the most bloated budgets in the United States. In February, Caruso said he intended to add 1,500 officers to the Los Angeles Police Department. When it comes to housing solutions for the city’s homeless and displaced community, he praised Fort Bliss—an army camp for undocumented children in Texas that’s infamous for its “gross mismanagement”—as a model for sheltering. That said, all of this appears to be just fine for celebrities like Kardashian. In her stories, she lauded Caruso for his stances on “the homeless issue,” going so far as to assert he can offer a “better path to a better life” for homeless and displaced people in the state. “I really believe in what he stands for, and I was super inspired by him and I really believe in him,” she said. Kardashian also noted that crime—a talking point she, who resides in a gated compound with its own security detail, definitely has authority to speak on—is “such a big issue.”

When it comes to the two most hot-button issues in the race, Bass is emphatically against defunding the police, and her solutions to homelessness—ridding the city of encampments, converting vacant properties into shelters, and constructing permanent housing—have received skepticism from experts.

When asked in an interview on the evening before the primary how she’d handle rising crime rates, Bass said: “I think the right answer is to be smart on crime.” Not exactly a departure from her opponent. She went on to explain that her plan requires getting “them [officers] from behind the desk” and “on the beat immediately in neighborhoods that want to see an increased police presence.” Obviously, Bass isn’t exactly a home run for LA leftists.

As many politicos have already pointed out, it’s anyone’s best guess who will win, and in all likelihood, a conclusive result might not be reached until November. However—as a non-Los Angeles resident with absolutely nothing at stake here—while I’m suspicious of any celebrity endorsement, any candidate who Musk deems “awesome” and Kardashian makes multiple Instagram stories about should always be a non-starter.