The LA Times is facing mockery on social media after claiming that Republicans were somehow responsible for California’s problems because they are “MIA.”
The opinion column was published on Saturday with the hilarious title: “They say Democrats are to blame for all California’s problems. But GOP is MIA.” The writer, Steve Lopez, has worked for the LA Times columnist since 2001 and is a wealthy California native.
According to Lopez, Republicans are the reason that California has become a crime-riddled hellscape with rampant homelessness, open air drug markets, sky-high taxes, exorbitantly priced housing, and skyrocketing illegal immigration.
While he acknowledges that the state’s government is controlled by Democrats, Lopez bizarrely claims that the GOP not holding enough elected offices is the reason for the downfall of California.
Lopez declared: “whose fault is it that in California, Democrats are in charge? I have the answer for you. It’s Republicans.”
He then outright lied about Republicans, claiming that they are the party of “race-based scapegoating,” which is laughable. Lopez characterized the GOP’s policies as bigoted, claiming that they are “out-of-touch” and “shrinking” the spectrum of accepted viewpoints within the party, which objectively better describes Democrats than Republicans.
“In a state that proudly celebrates inclusion and leads the resistance to the politics of race-based scapegoating, climate change denial and the stripping of women’s reproductive rights, the out-of-touch GOP has been hell-bent on shrinking its tent,” he falsely claimed.
However, Lopez’s argument may not be what he thinks it is, because he is trying to dismiss Democrats’ responsibility for destroying the state by effectively suggesting that they wouldn’t have been able to do so if Republicans were better at convincing California voters to elect them. While he appears to see this as a condemnation of Republicans, it seems more like an indictment of Democrats’ clear failures in office.
Meanwhile, social media users responded to the LA Times’ post on X, calling out the clear propaganda and lies from Lopez by sharing charts and data showing that Democrats have had a supermajority in California for decades.
RedState investigative journalist Jennifer Van Laar, who is based in California, pointed out that Democrats “shut down [GOP] mics in the legislature and refuse to bring our bills out of committee.”
“We’re not MIA. We’ve been shut out of governing,” she added.
AYFKM? They shut down our mics in the legislature and refuse to bring our bills out of committee. We're not MIA. We've been shut out of governing https://t.co/xg5QqmeNA9
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) September 7, 2024
Kevin Dalton, a former candidate for Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for District 1, responded to the LA Times with a chart showing the Democrats’ supermajority in California’s state Senate and Assembly — with Democrats holding 31 out of 40 seats in the Senate and 62 out of 80 seats in the Assembly, both of which equal out to 77.5% of the chambers.
“The LA Times wants to know why only the Democratic supermajority that has had a strangle hold on California over the last two decades is taking the blame for the unmitigated disaster California has become over the last two decades,” he wrote.
The LA Times wants to know why only the Democratic supermajority that has had a strangle hold on California over the last two decades is taking the blame for the unmitigated disaster California has become over the last two decades pic.twitter.com/cuzRJAGRyv
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) September 7, 2024
Dalton wasn’t done refuting Lopez’s claims, as he shared a video in a subsequent post confirming that Democrats have held a trifecta since 1992 — with control over the governor’s office, Senate, and Assembly for 19 years, while Republicans have only held more than one chamber once, both the governor’s office and Assembly in 1996. Since 2011, Democrats have had complete control of California.
How has this worked out, California? https://t.co/6PP1cctbxx pic.twitter.com/AQUhc0hEov
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) September 7, 2024
Republican Assembly candidate Denise Aguilar also responded to the LA Times’ post, writing: “Hmmm a super majority of democrats for 15 years … yes this disaster of a state is because of them. Literally no one else to blame.”
Hmmm a super majority of democrats for 15 years … yes this disaster of a state is because of them. Literally no one else to blame
— Denise Aguilar (@InformedMama209) September 7, 2024
