A columnist criticizes Los Angeles City Council candidate and DSA member Nithya Raman for her campaign strategy targeting LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and Mayor Karen Bass as "fascist liars." The author argues that Raman's proposal to appoint a police chief who opposes cooperation with ICE, coupled with her previous advocacy of defunding the police and supporting homeless encampments, poses significant dangers to public safety and property rights. The article further asserts that Raman’s use of inflammatory language in her campaign video is unprofessional and reflects poorly on her candidacy.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Nithya Raman, a 45-year-old democratic socialist running for mayor of Los Angeles, posted a video on social media where she appears to call LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and Mayor Karen Bass "fascist liars" with a red X over Chief McDonnell's face. The clip, filmed Sunday at the Los Angeles Trade-Technical College during Raman’s campaign speech, has since been deleted from her Instagram page. The Los Angeles Police Protective League criticized this imagery as a "dangerous dog whistle," arguing it could endanger officers assigned to protect city officials. This comes amid polls showing Raman leading Bass by four points in recent surveys. Opposition argues that while she plans to remove McDonnell if elected, he has publicly stated the LAPD will protect federal immigration agents under specific circumstances, unlike Raman's stance on police-community relations.
Written for “Nithya Raman Criticizes Lapd Chief” on 2026-10-07,
grounded in this article and the 3 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted
verbatim and was checked against the article text before being
stored, so you can find it in the original.
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If they elect Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) City Councilwoman Nithya Raman as mayor, they will put a radical supporter of the homeless-industrial complex, an opponent of public order and an enemy of private property rights into City Hall.
right criticizes support for social programs and public order
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In Raman’s mind, apparently, immigrant and native Angelenos need more sex traffickers, drug dealers and gun-toting gangbangers in their midst.
right criticizes support for sanctuary policies
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It is bad enough that the anti-cop animus behind her 2020 calls to “defund the police” continues to surface in her pronouncements and proposals.
right criticizes calls to defund the police
Leaning: leans strongly right for article 64025 (high confidence, 3 verified quotes) · logged 2026-10-07
Angelenos are on notice: If they elect Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) City Councilwoman Nithya Raman as mayor, they will put a radical supporter of the homeless-industrial complex, an opponent of public order and an enemy of private property rights into City Hall.
asserted
they → elect → Hall
They will also have chosen a blithering idiot.
asserted
They → choose → idiot
Raman recently posted a campaign video with the theme: “Only you can stop fascist liars.”
asserted
you → post → liars
The “fascist liars” in question appear to be Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Jim McDonnell and incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.
asserted
liars → appear → question
The video shows photos of McDonnell several times, with a red X plastering his face.
asserted
X → show → face
Bass appointed McDonnell to run the LAPD and McDonnell has declared that while the LAPD will not cooperate in enforcing immigration law, it will protect federal immigration agents when they seek to arrest a violent felon who is in the country illegally, and when there are threats to those agents’ safety.
asserted
who → appoint → safety
Raman, by contrast, will select a police chief who “can really respond to the needs that immigrant Angelenos have and that every resident of Los Angeles has,” she says in the recent campaign ad.
asserted
she → select → ad
In Raman’s mind, apparently, immigrant and native Angelenos need more sex traffickers, drug dealers and gun-toting gangbangers in their midst.
asserted
Angelenos → need → midst
Thus, according to Raman, the LAPD should never provide any backup support when ICE seeks to arrest such illegal alien criminals.
uncertain
ICE → accord → criminals
It is bad enough that Raman wants to turn LA into the purest of sanctuary cities, where illegal felons need fear nothing from the authorities and where law-abiding citizens are on their own to protect themselves against immigrant thugs.
asserted
citizens → want → thugs
To add insult to injury, in a Raman administration, those law-abiding citizens would be on the hook to pay even more than they already do of the legal defense bills for those criminals if, somehow, despite Raman’s best efforts, a criminal alien actually faces a deportation hearing.
asserted
alien → add → hearing
It is bad enough that the anti-cop animus behind her 2020 calls to “defund the police” continues to surface in her pronouncements and proposals.
asserted
animus → defund → pronouncements
It is bad enough that she opposes citywide bans on vagrant encampments, even around schools and day-care centers, and wants to pour billions more hard-earned taxpayer dollars into the charade of “homeless outreach.”
asserted
she → oppose → outreach
It is bad enough that the now-stricken campaign ad could be viewed as suggesting that McDonnell be not just crossed out, but snuffed out.
uncertain
McDonnell → stricken → ?
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(When Sarah Palin released a graphic in 2010 of an electoral map with Democratic congressional districts under what appeared to be a rifle-scope crosshair, Democrats went nuts.)
asserted
Democrats → download → districts
The promiscuous use of “fascist” is characteristic of ignorant, self-involved college students.
asserted
use → involve → students
No sane adult with a minimal grip on reality would label Karen Bass or Jim McDonnell “fascists.”
asserted
adult → label → Bass
The former is a left-leaning liberal, the latter an imminently moderate centrist with not the slightest indication of wanting to run a police state.
asserted
latter → lean → state
Raman is a child who surrounds herself with other like-minded children, such as her campaign aide and interlocutor in the “stop fascist liars” ad.
asserted
who → surround → ad
She and her advisors are caught up in their fantasies of revolution, all the while depending on the infrastructure of law-and-order and the prosperity of free-market capitalism to stage their wannabe revolts against bourgeois norms.
asserted
while → catch → norms
If Raman was so out of touch with reality as to think that this campaign ad might have played well outside of the fringe left, she cannot possibly be relied on to do anything other than to run LA off a public safety and fiscal cliff.
uncertain
she → think → cliff
Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the author of When Race Trumps Merit.
asserted
Race → trump → Merit
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