Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing fresh heat on the eve of her re-election bid, after defending being out of the city during a devastating wildfire.
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Bass → face → wildfire
Bass, 73, defended her trip to Ghana at the same time as the Palisades wildfire rampaged through California, prompting severe backlash on social media as she blamed the city's size for its high number of crises.
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she → defend → crises
Bass was asked at the KBLA Talk 1580 Town Hall and Ballot Forum on Saturday about her travels during the disaster in January 2025 that killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes.
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that → ask → homes
'When people go through grief - one of the stages of grief, and I know grief very well, is anger.
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I → go → grief
People are mad,' she began.
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she → begin → ?
'You are mad and I understand that.
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I → understand → that
And even though objectively, even if I was here, there really wouldn't have been anything that was done different.'
Bass then seemed to shift blame to the size of the city.
'The problem in our very big city is that it's very difficult to leave town and not have something that happens,' Bass said.
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Bass → do → something
Mayor Karen Bass, 73, defended her travels to Ghana when the devastating fires rampaged through California and blamed the city's size for its high number of crises at the KBLA Talk 1580 Town Hall and Ballot Forum on Saturday
Bass was asked why she felt the need to apologize for leaving town during the disaster in January 2025 that killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes
It took Bass months to admit that her trip to Ghana during the wildfires was a mistake, as she told Vice News in July 2025: 'I was asked, "Do I regret going?"
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I → defend → July
The speech, however, drew criticism online as angry constituents blame the mayor for the city's lack of preparation.
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constituents → draw → preparation
'Even if she was there she still would have let them burn it down,' one user wrote on Facebook.
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user → let → Facebook
Another wrote: 'The weather event was forecasted a week before, no up-staffing, prepositioning of extra equipment, placement of generators at water pump stations or testing and confirming generators already at pump stations were working in the event of power failures…
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generators → write → failures
Palisades reservoir had been dry for months…..all these decisions are made at the highest levels….those in charge either are incompetent or didn’t [give a f***].'
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decisions → make → *
A third comment dubbed Bass a 'self-serving socialist' and said: 'The [fire department] was unprepared, the reservoirs were dry, the hydrants didn't work.
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hydrants → dub → Bass
That's a failure to provide basic services.
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That → provide → services
Other commenters fumed that Bass, her opponent Nithya Raman and Governor Gavin Newsom 'should be in prison together.'
'Mind you its has taken her now to really talk about it.
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its → fume → it
Emergencies do happy and she's right that the city is huge but there are more predictive ways we can organize online and in person and Bass didn't make herself available,' another user said on X.
'
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user → do → X.
Except there was a city wide emergency warning when she left for Ghana and the city was unprepared to respond to what happened,' one comment read.
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comment → be → Ghana
It took Bass months to admit that her trip to Ghana during the wildfires was a mistake, as she told Vice News in July 2025: 'I was asked, "Do I regret going?"
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I → take → July
An aerial view shows homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire on January 27, 2025
Bass's latest speech, however, drew criticism online as angry constituents blame the mayor for the city's lack of preparation while she campaigns for re-election
'I mean, let me just do a comparison.
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me → show → comparison
If you are out of town and your kid or a member of your family gets sick or hurt, it doesn't matter where you were or why you were there.
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you → get → family
You feel horrible,' she said at the time, echoing similar wording to her latest defense over the contentious issue.
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she → feel → issue
The mayor had traveled to West Africa as part of a US delegation attending the presidential inauguration in Ghana – despite multiple fire weather warnings issued for Los Angeles prior to her departure.
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mayor → travel → departure
The Los Angeles Times later reported that Bass's team had been made aware of the fire risks before the trip.
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team → report → trip
Still, Bass insists she was caught off guard.
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she → insist → guard
'I'm really not trying to give excuses, but there was no way in the world I knew that the city was in danger when I left,' she said.
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she → try → danger
Upon returning, Bass said she questioned fire officials about the lack of advance warning.
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she → return → warning
'I did ask the chief when I came back, like, "Why didn't you tell me?" and basically the response was: "Because we have Santa Anas all the time, and nobody expected hurricane-force winds."
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nobody → ask → winds
'
'I didn't get briefed.
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I → brief → ?
That's true,' she admitted.
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she → admit → ?
'But again, people did not anticipate the historic wind.
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people → anticipate → wind
The mayor had traveled to West Africa as part of a US delegation attending the presidential inauguration in Ghana - despite multiple fire weather warnings issued for Los Angeles prior to her departure
Bass said she spent much of the 12-hour flight back to the 'city on fire' on the phone preparing an emergency declaration.
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she → travel → declaration
She landed back in the US the day after wildfires began ravaging neighborhoods like Pacific Palisades.
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wildfires → land → Palisades
Despite her admission of 'wrongdoing,' Bass continued to deflect criticism during the interview with Vice News' Shane Smith, shifting blame to the county's fire leadership.
'What typically happens is that if there's going to be a big weather event, there are these briefings that happen,' she explained.
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she → continue → leadership
It's either initiated by the fire department or the emergency department.
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It → initiate → department
I was used to the fire chief calling me and telling me, "This is getting ready to happen, come over, I need to brief you."
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I → call → you
Everything goes into motion.
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Everything → go → motion
That didn't happen - in the city or in the county.'
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That → happen → county
When she eventually returned from Ghana, the embattled mayor received harsh criticism.
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mayor → return → criticism
The controversy deepened after it was revealed Bass had proposed slashing the Los Angeles Fire Department's budget by $23 million in 2024 – the final approved cut amounted to a whopping $17.6 million, the Daily Mail previously reported.
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Mail → deepen → million
Amid growing backlash, Bass dismissed Fire Chief Kristin Crowley in February 2025.
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Bass → grow → February
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
