Skip to main content
BoomMag: Readers and Fans
Advertise With Us Newsletter

WLT Report WLT Report

Advertise With Us Newsletter
We may receive compensation from affiliate partners for some links on this site. Read our full Disclosure here.

Bill Maher Challenges ‘Hypocritical’ Leftists To Hold Dems ‘Accountable’ For LA Wildfires

Comedian Bill Maher’s ideology has diverged somewhat from Democratic Party orthodoxy in recent years, as evidenced by a series of monologues from his HBO series “Real Time” that pillory the left for its out-of-touch stance, primarily on social issues.

In an interview with TMZ this week, he expanded his critique to include how California’s Democratic officials contributed to the ongoing wildfires across Los Angeles as many rank-and-file Democrats refused to hold them accountable.

Maher’s statement sounded a lot like the criticism that conservatives have been directing at folks like L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom since shortly after the fires erupted.

According to Fox News:

“I’m with the people who want to hold politicians accountable,” Maher said to the news outlet.

The comedian highlighted that many liberals are saying, “We shouldn’t talk about it now,” describing them as “hypocritical.”

“It’s so funny to hear that coming out of the mouths of liberals, because they hate it when conservatives say that after a gun tragedy, which is what conservatives always say after a mass-shooting. ‘This is not the time to politicize it.’ And then it never is,” Maher said. “It is absolutely the time to talk about it.”

While he said that there are some other factors making some level of the disaster inevitable, such as global warming, he stood by his assertion that “errors” were made.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Was it always going to be bad? Of course,” Maher said. “Their arguments are not wrong. We built the city in a terrible place to build a city. Global warming absolutely does make hot stuff and weather worse. Winds were ridiculous. Yeah, I get all that. And they also made a lot of errors.”

Here’s a sampling of the backlash against Newsom, Bass, and others in the state:

Journalist Michael Shellenberger provided an in-depth breakdown of the mismanagement in a social media post:

Here’s a relevant excerpt from his report:

“That [Santa Ynez] reservoir being closed did not allow helicopters to drop and suck water up from five minutes away,” a new firefighter whistleblower, the third who has come forward, told me. “Instead, they had to fly 10 to 15 minutes away to go get water somewhere else.”

The problem is that the LA Fire Department is one of the most severely understaffed of America’s 10 largest cities. It has less than a single firefighter per 1,000 residents compared to Chicago, Dallas, and Houston, which have twice as many. “

ADVERTISEMENT

In 1960, our city population was 2.5 million, and we had 112 fire stations. In 2020, our city population was 3.9 million, and we had 106 stations,” a representative of LA’s firefighters ’ union testified last month. “That’s 1.4 million more people and six fewer fire stations.”

This undermines the Department’s ability to respond to emergencies. “In 2020, the average emergency response time was seven minutes and 53 seconds, nearly double the NFPA recommendation.”

Part of the problem is that the number of homeless fires in LA doubled between 2020 and 2023 to an astonishing 38 per day. They start dangerous fires in many ways, including by breaking through the sidewalk into the city’s electrical system, which can result in explosions and death.

Still, many say, it is wrong to blame homelessness for LA’s fires. They are victims of trauma and poverty.

But the research is unequivocal. Over half of all fires that the LA Fire Department responds to are set by a homeless person. “There were two huge explosions, and when I looked out my apartment window, I saw plumes of black smoke,” a resident told NBC-Los Angeles. “People are literally dying in the streets, in tents burning down around them.”

And the evidence is clear: leaving homeless people on the street makes them three times more likely to die than people required to come inside to sleep in shelters.

The third firefighter whistleblower says the firefighters are being put in danger by budget cuts. “Even last week,” the person said, “I wanted to work and I was told, ‘Sorry dude, we don’t have a seat for you to fill because there’s not enough apparatuses,’” meaning fire engines or other equipment.

One hundred fire engines and other apparatus are currently out of service because the city cut the Fire Department’s budget, and it couldn’t afford to hire mechanics to fix equipment. “We have a crack about halfway down our water tank. Half of our [engines and other] apparatuses are broken. They were sending rookies, new probationary firefighters, out to the field last year with no department-required brush jackets.” The firefighters lack life-saving equipment.

ADVERTISEMENT

Maher also sounded off on the wildfires during the “New Rules” segment of his HBO program on Friday, as Yahoo reported:

First, he called out what he says was mismanagement by the local and state governments — a theme he returned to throughout the episode as he vented frustrations with California as a “one party state.” Then, he said that it appears crucial services, like the local fire department, emphasized diversity in ways that would “sound kind of racist if a Southern sheriff said it” instead of firefighting.

“A lot of Democrats in this one party state this week went right to ‘don’t blame politicians. You can’t do anything about the wind,’ which is exactly half true. The wind part. Yes, fire is a tough fight out here. And yes, global warming absolutely makes it worse, but that’s largely out of our control. What are we going to do? Pass a ballot measure to make sure Chinese stop burning coal?” Maher said.

“It’s also, yes, undeniably true that LA is built in a stupid place to build a city. But when it’s not on fire, it’s really quite lovely, and it’s my home. And stupid as its origin may be, it’s not going anywhere. Axios ran a story on how getting the water out of the hydrants in Pacific Palisades was more complicated than it seems. I’m sure it is. I’m sure it’s very complicated. That’s why I pay 13% of my income in the state every year to people who I assumed were working on things like this,” Maher continued.

Maher then dinged California Gov. Gavin Newsom for what he thought was a lackluster rhetorical response to those issues. Then he slammed Mayor Karen Bass, who he called “the Nero of American politics,” for taking a trip to Ghana just before the fires broke out. He also criticized the 2% fire department 2024 budget cuts that became the source of debate about the fire a week ago, noting that LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley repeatedly blamed them for how the city was able to respond to the fires. Maher concluded Crowley was right. He did not note however that the budget cuts Crowley complained about were actually temporary, due to negotiations between the city and the department and that eventually LAFD got more money than the previous year.

Check out the video below for more coverage of Maher’s response:


, , , , ,

 

Join the conversation!

Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!

log in

Forgot password?

reset password

Back to
log in
Leave a comment
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing!
We invite you to become a WLT Report insider. Sign up for our free email newsletter, and we'll make sure to keep you in the loop.