Los Angeles just traded Karen Bass for a socialist who thanked Karen Bass. Nithya Raman, the Democratic Socialists of America-backed councilwoman, delivered a 97-second victory message positioning herself as the city's next mayor, and the omissions tell you everything you need to know about what comes next for Angelenos.
No mention of soaring rents. No mention of unchecked crime. No mention of the open-air drug markets or the smash-and-grab robberies that have turned once-thriving commercial corridors into boarded-up ghost towns. Instead, Raman offered gratitude to the failed incumbent and promised to "earn the city's trust"—trust she's already spending on a DSA agenda that treats federal immigration enforcement as a greater threat than the criminals terrorizing taxpayers.
Hughes Dismantles the DSA Economic Fantasy in 47 Seconds
Coleman Hughes put the entire socialist experiment on trial during Real Time with Bill Maher's Overtime panel, and the legacy press will not lead with his breakdown. Hughes argued plainly that socialists push rent control because it sounds compassionate. The long-term result? Higher rents, reduced housing supply, and deteriorating buildings. Los Angeles already has miles of deteriorating buildings and a housing crisis Karen Bass couldn't solve. Raman's solution is more of the same, dressed in revolutionary language.
"We've got 100 years of data on socialism; it's not good for the economy."
Then Hughes landed the knockout punch with one line: Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital in 1860. That is the archaic foundation underneath the modern progressive branding—the platform Raman is standing on, whether Los Angeles voters realize it or not. Rent control is not a new idea. It is a 160-year-old failure rebranded as justice.
Raman's Real Priority: ICE Is the Enemy
While families are priced out of the city and businesses flee, Raman's public energy has gone elsewhere. Her separate text post announced that "ICE has no place in Los Angeles," naming federal deportation officers as the real threat. Not the transnational gangs. Not the fentanyl trafficking. Not the violent criminals released under zero-bail policies. The men and women enforcing federal immigration law are the enemy in Raman's Los Angeles.
That is the defining contradiction of DSA governance. A mayor-elect who frames ICE as the enemy while affordable rent and safe streets collapse around the people she claims to represent. Raman answered questions about rent and crime with talking points about medical care and deportation fear. The socialist playbook doesn't change—distract from the economic wreckage, redirect anger toward federal law enforcement, and hope voters don't notice the bills piling up.
Los Angeles Becomes a Laboratory for Failure
From an America First perspective, this is not merely a local story. Cities run by DSA-aligned politicians become laboratories for policies that reject enforcement, demoralize police, and drive productive residents out. When a mayor-elect thanks Karen Bass and then targets ICE instead of the transnational gangs and fentanyl trafficking devastating families, the signal to every law-abiding Angeleno is clear: the political class will protect its ideology even as ordinary people pay the price.
Raman's win is a continuation of the Bass failure, dressed up in socialist language. The question Los Angeles voters just answered is whether a mayor who treats ICE as the enemy can make rent cheaper or streets safer. The panel exposed the gap between leftist slogans and economic reality. Hughes supplied the historical data. Raman's own words confirm the priority. Angelenos will live with the consequences.
