If you think things are bad now, imagine what the city will be like if these maniacs get into power

Actually, don’t. It’s too horrifying to contemplate

The Democratic Socialists (a contradiction in terms if ever there was one) of America are having a moment. Fresh off the victory of Zorhan Mamdani in New York’s mayoral election and Katie Wilson in Seattle last year, in 2026 they have set their sights on Los Angeles. Angelenos need to know the truth behind this radical clique, and its plans should it attain more power in L.A.

Less than two months into his tenure, Mamdani already is facing headwinds. Last month he ordered NYPD and Sanitation to stop clearing illegal homeless encampments. This month, at least 19 people died of exposure or hypothermia during historic blizzards and cold snaps. In the face of intense criticism, last week he reinstituted the sweeps. Even the normally pliant Washington Post opinion page has been vocally critical. He’s also been forced to reverse his campaign promise to expand rental assistance. His “free and fast” city buses are nowhere to be found. Turns out it’s easier to spout classroom Marxism on the campaign trail than to govern the country’s biggest city.

Though it’s a mercifully small sample size — so far — California has gotten a taste of the DSA’s handiwork. It’s been universally disastrous, from George Gascon and Chesea Boudin unleashing chaos on the streets of L.A. and San Francisco, to the state of near anarchy in council districts controlled by the movement’s adherents. DSA fellow traveler Mike Bonin unleashed a half decade of hell in his district, particularly in Venice Beach and Mar Vista. Eunessis Hernandez is overseeing the complete collapse of MacArthur Park and other parts of her district.

The DSA already has the biggest bloc on the L.A. city council, with four out of 15, including Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Ysabel Jurado and Nithya Raman. Two other members, Katy Yarovslavsky and Bob Blumenfeld, have shown sympathies for the bloc as well.

This year, a slate of DSA candidates wants to build on that bloc and replicate that chaos throughout the city.

Sure, let’s put these kids in charge. What could possibly go wrong?

On the West Side, Councilwoman Traci Park, a member of the council’s rational bloc that also includes Monica Rodriguez, John Lee, Adrin Nazarian, Tim McCosker, and, sometimes, Imelda Padilla and Heather Hutt, is being challenged by a DSAer named Faizah Malik. 

The similarities between Malik and Mamdani are uncanny. Both are Muslim Socialists who trace their roots to South Asia — India in Mamdani’s case and Pakistan in Malik’s case. Both were born as children of privilege in impoverished countries. Both live comfortable upper class capitalist lifestyles while calling for austerity for everyone else. Both are vocal critics of private property, even though they own luxurious homes.

Both are brazen hypocrites, but Malik adds a particular angle. While she herself loves to talk about the revolution, her husband Zaahir Syed is a player in big real estate at megafirm CBRE, where he is a Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of the Sera Private Funds Group. Last January he went on a podcast hosted by his employer to discuss the advantages of real estate investment for what are known as family offices. Family offices are opaque, unregulated investment management firms that specifically service high net worth families.

Syed in particular addressed the advantages of “impact” real estate investing in assets like housing, including affordable housing. He said, investment opportunities for those high net worth families include ”student, manufacturers, capital-A affordable, build-to-rent and, obviously, multifamily.” 

Meanwhile, as a “public interest” lawyer, Malik advocates for public-private housing developments that leverage taxpayer dollars to help developers profit from below market rate housing. Her husband directs billionaire dollars to invest in just those sorts of developments. How convenient. The revolution may not be televised, but it sure will be profitable.

It’s probably the worst kept secret in L.A. politics that Malik is closely connected to disgraced former councilman Mike Bonin, aka the worst city councilmember in L.A. history. By the 2022 elections, the DSA-sympathizing Bonin’s failure was so complete that he dropped out of his own reelection campaign.

Remember me?

Bonin and Malik have quite the history. She is rumored to have helped him fund raise for his first reelection campaign, though that information cannot be verified. As a public interest lawyer she led the legal effort that attempted force through one of Bonin’s pet projects, the so-called “Monster in the Median” housing development in Venice, over vehement community opposition (aside: two weeks ago, opponents were vindicated, again, by a memo from City Attorney Heidi Feldstein-Soto that outlined the utter corruption in which the project’s developers engaged).

Meanwhile, Nithya Raman has not really explained her literal 11th hour entry into the race. In a Sunday interview with NBCLA, she said she’s been “very, very frustrated with the city of L.A. over these last few months…. I feel like Los Angeles is really in a moment of turmoil right now.” Which is a knee slapper. The last few months? How about the last ten years? Incidentally, you should watch a few minutes of the interview. She’s a terrible liar.

When asked about the fact that she endorsed Bass barely a month ago, she ducked and dodged, then offered another knee slapper: “I feel called by Angelenos.”

If you can find anyone who was “calling on” Raman to run, I’d love to hear from you.

Subsequently in the interview, she plunged the knife deeper into Karen Bass’s back, describing L.A. as “despondent” under her leadership.

I am a vocal critic of Bass, who I believe doesn’t deserve a second term. At the same time, I recognize the value of loyalty in politics. Raman comes off like the ultimate opportunist. My guess is she read the news that Bass was behind the cover-ups in the Palisades after action report, smelled political blood, and leapt.

In case her own hypocrisy wasn’t clear, she’s part of an organization, DSA-LA, that literally calls to “move housing out of the private market, including the “creative use of eminent domain.” Meanwhile, she owns a $2 million home in Silver Lake. Well, then.

In addition to Raman, another DSAer, someone called Rae Huang, is also running for Mayor. DSA member Marissa Roy is running to unseat City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto. And in South Central, still another Democrat Socialist, Estuardo Mazariegos, is running for Curren Price’s seat. Among his priorities are — wait for it — free buses.

On paper, with the possible exception of Raman, none of these candidates should stand a chance. But the DSA knows its dirty tricks. They are expert in legalized ballot harvesting. And it’s another terribly kept secret that they target homeless people for those efforts.

Democrat Socialists are fundamentally about expanding government. As Mamdani said in his victory speech last November, “there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.” Those words are downright chilling. It’s another way of saying that the government will be involved in every aspect of your life. Nowhere in the world, at no point in history, has that idea led to anything but tyranny.

L.A. has a lot of problems. One problem it doesn’t have is too little government. Quite the opposite: The vast majority of our problems, from homelessness to failed schools to out-of-control living costs, are direct results of government meddling where it doesn’t belong. God help us if more DSA wingnuts find their way into power.