LA Mayor’s Stone-Faced Response When Asked to Apologize to Residents Triggers Outrage

Some outraged Americans on the social media platform X attributed her reaction to a kind of deer-in-the-headlights-style panic.

The likely truth, however, should strike readers as far more sinister.

In a jaw-dropping video posted to X on Wednesday, correspondent David Blevins of the U.K.’s Sky News repeatedly pressed Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for an apology or a statement of some kind regarding her city’s abysmal response to the wildfires raging in southern California, to which the mayor offered not one word.

“Have you absolutely nothing to say to the citizens today?” Blevins asked.

She said nothing.

“No apology for them? Do you think you should have been visiting Ghana while this was unfolding back home?” he asked moments later. Again, he received no reply.

The encounter occurred at an airport. Bass never made eye contact with the reporter, though Blevins followed her until she left the building.

‘Do you owe citizens an apology for being absent whilst their homes were burning? Do you regret cutting the fire department’s budget?
@skydavidblevins questions the mayor of LA, Karen Bass, as she faces backlash regarding the California wildfires.https://t.co/Nkz8onjC7V pic.twitter.com/WwRwp6Imqz

— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 8, 2025

Robbie Starbuck, a prominent anti-DEI activist on X, called it “the most damning video of a politician being questioned during a disaster that I’ve ever seen” and “truly a work of art.”

This is the most damning video of a politician being questioned during a disaster that I’ve ever seen. This @SkyNews reporter just absolutely shredded the incompetent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. It’s truly a work of art. 👏👏👏pic.twitter.com/goqy5tXlbm

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) January 8, 2025

Meanwhile, other X users looked to Bass’s future electoral defeat or, better yet, her recall from office.

“What a disgrace. Not one word for the people she represents. She needs to be recalled immediately,” one user wrote.

What a disgrace. Not one word for the people she represents. She needs to be recalled immediately.

— Louis Montoya (@montoyalouis1) January 8, 2025

How to defeat Karen Bass:

1) Run commercials playing this video without adding any commentary.

2) That’s it. pic.twitter.com/2vZE4qqcdf

— Film The Police LA (@FilmThePoliceLA) January 8, 2025

Many prominent conservatives on X, including Charlie Kirk, Collin Rugg, and “Libs of TikTok,” described Bass’s response as freezing.

Completely unacceptable. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass FREEZES when asked why she cut $20 million in funding to fire fighters, or why she was vacationing in Africa instead of managing the disaster.

This is the look of someone utterly unfit for the enormity of her position. Rick… pic.twitter.com/A7DTEnzK6t

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) January 9, 2025

JUST IN: Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass freezes up while getting absolutely skewered by a reporter for her horrible policies.

This is exactly how these people should be treated.

Reporter: “Do you owe citizens an apology for being absent while their homes were burning?”

“Do you… pic.twitter.com/IDMTiclsKH

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 8, 2025

LA Mayor Karen Bass refuses to answer and freezes when a reporter asks her if she regrets cutting the Fire Department’s budget by nearly $20 million and being in Africa during a devastating wildfire pic.twitter.com/BlLUri98zR

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 8, 2025

Other perceptive X users, however, had a very different, and seemingly more plausible, explanation.

“[D]id she freeze or did she exhibit arrogance in not answering questions?” one user asked.

Los Angeles Mayor, Karen Bass, gets skewered by the media and is literally speechless.

😶 did she freeze or did she exhibit arrogance in not answering questions?#PalisadesFire pic.twitter.com/l5A38YadEM

— Moni 💕 (@MoniFunGirl) January 9, 2025

Indeed, the best and most unsettling explanation of Bass’s non-response came from Dr. Naomi Wolf, an author, journalist, and former liberal feminist who has long since recognized that diabolical forces control the modern establishment.

In fact, Wolf likened Bass’s behavior to something one would see from the World Economic Forum or in Communist China.

“She is not freezing. Nonresponsive officials are a WEF/CCP tactic causing demoralization. Like the school boards that file out when questioned,” Wolf wrote.

She is not freezing. Nonresponsive officials are a WEF/CCP tactic causing demoralization. Like the school boards that file out when questioned. https://t.co/MVxUW1o0Vq

— Dr. Naomi Wolf. 8 NYT Bestsellers. DPhil, Poetry. (@naomirwolf) January 9, 2025

Indeed, Wolf’s explanation constitutes the most perceptive insight into Bass’s behavior.

In essence, Bass and others of her ilk regard the peasants as beneath them. Thus, refusing to answer questions becomes a way of subtly reinforcing that inferiority and thereby controlling the masses.

If anyone doubts this, ask yourselves: Have you ever seen President-elect Donald Trump or Vice President-elect J.D. Vance refuse questions? Could you imagine them or anyone you respect fleeing from reporters? Who does that?

Well, of course, President Joe Biden has spent most of his presidency avoiding the media. Vice President Kamala Harris did likewise throughout her 2024 presidential campaign.

It is a subtle tactic designed — as Wolf perceptively noted — to inflict “demoralization.”

Moreover, those who engage in such tactics do so over a long period of time. That way the peasants have no choice but to internalize their own relative insignificance.

In short, Bass did not merely freeze. Nor does she represent mere incompetence. Rather, she exists — and she took the stonewalling approach she did — for the sole purpose of grinding you into submission.

Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.