Bass vs. Raman: Kira Davis Explains LA's Nightmare Scenario

The John Phillips Show

The John Phillips Show features a fiery discussion with Kira Davis of The Orange Report on the dire state of Los Angeles and California politics. The conversation centers on

Key takeaways

• Many voters in Los Angeles feel forced to choose between two unappealing candidates, leading some to consider abstaining from voting as a form of protest.
• The hosts argue that the current political system is so compromised by corruption and procedural flaws—such as late-arriving ballots and lack of voter ID—that elections no longer reflect true public will.

Main topics

• Los Angeles mayoral election: Karen Bass vs. Nithya Raman
• Civic failures in Los Angeles (homelessness, infrastructure decay)

Notable quotes

"If we cannot depend on the law as voters to change the law... at what point can we no longer consider ourselves a free American state?"

"You're choosing between communist or more communist. At least abstaining from the vote is its own type of protest."

Conclusion

The episode concludes with a stark warning about California's political and social collapse, urging

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Shining a spotlight on the insane asylum that is modern day California. It's the John Phillips Show. Speaker 6 (0:12) And we continue at 2.05 in the afternoon on the John Phillips Show. Mr. Randy Wags in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Speaker 4 (0:20) Johnny, we're broadcasting live on the radio on 790K ABC in Southern California and 810K SFO in the Bay Area. But the primo experience to do this show is to watch it on YouTube every single day. And we've made it easier than ever. Just go to the website on your browser or on your phone. JohnnyDon'tLike.com. That's Johnny with a Y. JohnnyDon'tLike.com. While you're there, you can play around in the lively chat room. It's a good time all day till 3. Hit like to send our show to new people. And you can hit subscribe. We crossed 6,000 subscribers today. So thanks for that. The show is growing every single day at johnnydontlike.com. Speaker 6 (1:00) 800-222-5222 is the telephone number. 1-800-222-5222. It is our pleasure to welcome our next guest to the program. She is the host of The Orange Report with Kira Davis, which is all the news and views you can use from around Orange County in California. You can get her online at justkiradavis.com and follow her on X at Kira Davis. Kira Davis, welcome. Speaker 1 (1:26) Hi, John. Happy September. We made it. We made it through the summer. Speaker 6 (1:30) Yeah, it's finally starting to cool down a little bit. And that is welcome because... I feel like I'm going to melt if the heat wave sticks around any longer. Speaker 1 (1:40) Yes, yes. Well, I mean, sure, you, me, I'm in menopause. You have no idea the torture I've been through this summer. It's only eclipsed by when I was pregnant in the heat of the summer. So I'm glad for the relief. Yeah. Relief from the heat. You know, we can depend on the weather to give us that. If only. the relief from our politicians was seasonal. You know what I mean? Yeah, Speaker 6 (2:03) no kidding. Now, speaking of that, I need your help with something. Speaker 1 (2:07) Okay. Speaker 6 (2:08) Because one of the questions that I get the most, and I really have no good answer. I have the answer I've been giving, but I don't know if it's the right one. And that is many people who listen to this show voted for Spencer Pratt in the primary for mayor of Los Angeles. And that was not a vote that was a lesser of several evils. People were enthusiastic to get behind him and support him. And if I lived in the city of Los Angeles, I would have enthusiastically supported Spencer Pratt without hesitation. Speaker 6 (2:49) Unfortunately, he's not going to be on the November ballot. Voters are going to have a choice between Karen Bass, the incumbent, and Nithya Raman, the DSA challenger who sits on the council. Every day we do stories about the failure of the city government in Los Angeles. They fail at the big things like the fire that wiped out the Pacific Palisades. They fail at the small things like South LA, we just did the story, is in the dark right now and has been for years because people are stealing the copper out of the lights and the city just doesn't replace them. People are tripping over buckled sidewalks. They don't feel safe in their neighborhoods. It's not a good situation. And we pay through the nose to live here. So I can't make the argument that four more years of Karen Bass is a good thing. Neither one of them deserve to win. But to my eye, because Karen Bass has been demonstrably awful for four years, she deserves to lose. Voting for the DSA is not an option for me. I would not vote for a DSA candidate under any circumstances. But your option is to leave it blank. And I think if I lived in L.A., I would leave it blank because I couldn't vote for either one of them. Your thoughts? Speaker 1 (4:14) I would I would do exactly the same thing, John. I would leave it blank because honestly, what is the point? Really, what is the point? Just leave it blank and let the lunatics decide the race like they always do. I mean, what are you choosing from? You're choosing between communist or more communist. You know, at least abstaining from the vote is is its own type of protest. It's its own type of because you can't write in a candidate. That used to be a thing you could do. You can't do that this year in Los Angeles. So you can't register your protests that way. I don't know what Angelenos are supposed to do. I would withhold my vote and I normally wouldn't say that. But I've been asking this question for a while, John. I was talking to Amy Reichert yesterday on my own show and talking about the Stop Nick Shirley Act and all of the same stuff you and I are talking about. And I said, look, I've been asking this for a year now, John, at what point in the state of California, if we cannot use the law to change the law, if the voting system is completely overwhelmed with corruption, election integrity issues, cheaters, communists who keep changing the rules again and again and again to make sure that they get the outcome they want. Ballots mysteriously appearing a week after elections close and then closing the gaps for people like Nithya Raman. If we cannot depend on the law as voters to change the law, expressing our dissatisfaction with our vote, at what point can we no longer consider ourselves a free American state? I'm not sure what I don't understand what the constitutional issues are here. But at what point does does the federal government have to look at us and say this is a completely communistic state that can no longer be a part of our charter? I'm just wondering when that happens, because it seems to me like we're quickly approaching, if not already there, the point where you're voting doesn't matter. Speaker 6 (6:22) Well, we should change the way we vote here. We should have voter ID, which is going to be on the November ballot. That should pass. This all vote by mail business is BS. There was nothing wrong with the way we did it before. When if you're in the military or you're an airline pilot or you're a doctor that works long shifts, you could request an absentee ballot each and every cycle. and one would be sent to you. But having millions of ballots just floating around the state, when I lived in an apartment building in Los Angeles County, I can't tell you the number of ballots that would just be stacked up on the table in the mailroom, and then one day they'd just disappear. And if you want people to have confidence in your elections, that's an awful way of doing it. That being said, the problem here to my eye, the larger problem, are the voters. Because I know so many people, so many people on the left who are intelligent, educated people, people who own businesses, people who have jobs, people who raise their kids, people who in any other context, you would say they have their head screwed on right. And they understand that we live in an insane asylum right now with the retail theft, the homeless encampments, the insanity with the bullet train, you name it. The fact that we're in the dark because the copper wire keeps getting stolen. And they act like if they complain about it enough to the people in their social network, that's good enough. And they won't change the way they vote. And I keep telling them, nothing is going to get better until you change the way you vote. You can complain on Nextdoor. You can complain on Facebook. You can yell at me when we're having dinner. Whatever. That's not going to make it better. I have no say. You have no say. We're in the minority here. until the majority decides they're sick of it, nothing's going to get better. But it's impossible to get these people to vote different. It's like they're brainwashed. Speaker 1 (8:31) Well, I'm starting to wonder just how much, just what big a percentage those people are really in the state of California. I think even five years ago, if we were having this conversation, I would say, yeah, it's crazy, man. It's so crazy. After watching what... Spencer just went through and what they were about to do to Steve Hilton, by the way, I have, I believe Trump, I think he was right. I think the fix was in for Steve as well, but they just realized that was going to be a bridge too far because it didn't count on the entire nation being behind Spencer Pratt. So I'm not sure if we're there. Of course. I mean, you and I both know liberals, as you just said, you and I both know plenty of liberals who are like, yeah, but I'm going to. do this vote. But let's just look at what happened in Los Angeles. And Spencer Pratt won handily on election night. If they had called the race that night when they should have, we would have said, wow, people are so sick of, you know, people are just, they've had enough. They're sick of this. I do think that. Well, you do have the true blue voters. You're never going to change them. I do think there is a larger element in this state who is sick of this. They don't necessarily want to become Republicans, but they recognize that things can no longer go on like this. I'm just wondering if their votes count anymore. Speaker 6 (9:52) I think one of the things that people are doing to survive in these conditions, we talk about people who move out of state. And we know that the state of California is going to lose congressional seats and lose electoral votes because of the population decline. And places like Florida and Arizona and Texas are going to gain. But I think one of the... Speaker 6 (10:16) portions of this story that gets overlooked often is the migration that takes place within the state. People like you and me, we voted with our feet. You live in Orange County where things are relatively normal. I live in Rancho Mirage where things are relatively normal. And I think that you're seeing movement within the city of Los Angeles from areas that are hugely