Los Angeles is a wicked and dangerous city, where treacherous depravity lurks behind every pride flag, pupusaria and electric vehicle charging station, according to MAGA experts. We're a blue city, in a blue state, which on Fox News means we're a dangerous hellhole. Think Mordor or Flea Bottom but with bike lanes and prettier people.
Right-wing media never misses an opportunity to “report” on the alarming rise in crime in the country (although rates are, in fact, falling), especially in Democratic states and particularly on the left coast. Angelenos are “legitimately endangered” by “thugs, criminals and deranged green hairs,” Tomi Lahren said Sunday, joining the hoarse chorus of conservative commentators who insist that Los Angeles is a 24-hour “Training Day” loop. day, 7 days a week, thanks to its liberal policymakers and left-wing electorate.
For the record:
10:04 am June 19, 2024A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Skinny Confidential was an OutKick podcast. It is not.
Facts or data don't matter. Sean Hannity and lesser-known personalities (OAN, NewsMax, etc.) are beholden to the ratings, and nothing moves the needle like fear of the Other. and the lasciviousness of Los Angeles. Promoting closed-minded hatred of the West Coast – not just its politics, but its people – is now a requirement for anyone wishing to claim a claim in the right-wing mediaverse.
Lahren took her turn Sunday, lamenting the “shitty blue state” of California on The Skinny Confidential podcast. The former South Bay resident said she avoided going to Los Angeles because “it would be violent”… but her examples of the dangers good people face in the Antifa hotbed of Los Angeles say less about the crime than about the profound intellectual dishonesty of the argument.
False combinations of crime rates and political leanings are at best performative politics, not substantive debate, but if you're going to take the low road, at least be prepared with powerful examples of L.A. evil.
Lahren appeared with stories of a passive-aggressive ice cream salesman, suspicious Vons shoppers, and “mean girls.” When asked where she felt most threatened, the Fox Nation personality cited Santa Monica, particularly The Bungalow cafe (“A haven for social connectivity and creative collaboration,” according to the website. The daisies start in $20). “People were yelling at me,” she said of her experience at the trendy seaside restaurant.
A selection of ice cream flavors from Salt & Straw.
(Courtesy of Salt & Straw)
The host of OutKick's “Tomi Lahren is Fearless” podcast said she was followed by Vons, harassed by a woman at The Tower in Hermosa Beach (“a casual kitchen in a beach town”) and attacked during her man-of-the-house duties. street in West Hollywood for Fox's “Hannity.” “The Salt & Straw there would give people free ice cream if they didn't talk to me,” she said of the harrowing experience. She never mentioned the chain's big culinary crime, the black pepper honey strawberry balsamic ice cream.
Lahren is a B-rated right-wing commentator and influencer who has worked on several platforms. In 2019, when he was still living in the Los Angeles area and calling Gavin Newsom “Greasy Gavin,” he told The Times in an interview that he was on a rescue mission. “I love California. I think it needs to be saved. The things that happen here are filtered. “California is a warning to the rest of the country.”
Now, that love seems long gone.
When the podcast interviewer asked Lahren if she still feels insecure, she said no because she now lives in Tennessee. “I feel bad for a lot of these people who don't have the protection of living in a place like I can live,” she said. “There are a lot of people right now who are legitimately in danger and they are here in Los Angeles, in New York, in Washington DC and in Portland. It is very sad.”
But with a crucial election at stake, crime rates are increasingly in the eye of the beholder. Where a conservative commentator sees Sodom and Gomorrah, the data and trends paint a different picture. According to a 2022 study, Tennessee ranked above California in its violent crime rate with 621.6 violent crime incidents per 100,000 residents. The southern state was surpassed only by New Mexico (780.5 incidences), Alaska (758.9), Arkansas (645.3) and Louisiana (628.6). And Memphis, Tennessee, had the highest violent crime rate of all cities reporting to the FBI in 2022.
Los Angeles has always been a magnet for those seeking fame, even if that means serving as a boogeyman for opportunistic pundits.
