Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass thought ragging on the president could get her out of the hot seat during a photo-op.
Democrat leaders in California are attempting to tout repair efforts after recent storms left roads damaged, but Mayor Bass was having a hard time answering questions about how she plans to address the potholes. Her “embarrassing” response predictably mentioned President Donald Trump as she struggled with accountability.
Watch:
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass gets absolutely obliterated on live TV during a pothole filling photo op.
She attempts to brag about paving 60 miles of Los Angeles streets, when the reporter informs her there are 22,000 miles to pave in Los Angeles.
For those keeping track at home… pic.twitter.com/lVhXIaUL5f
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) February 20, 2026
“Potholes are an issue now, especially since it has rained and we’ve seen so many of them. What are you gonna do about it?” KTLA reporter Eric Spillman asked Bass.
“That’s right and let me just tell you, we are fixing them and in the last three months, we have fixed over 10,000 potholes,” she said. “And in the last couple of weeks, we fixed almost 300, so we are going to continue doing that until all of the potholes are fixed. What we’re doing here is asking people to report on 311 when they see a pothole, because we certainly don’t want cars damaged, or people to be, uh, have difficulty with that.”
“Now, we saw you fill a pothole with asphalt here just a few minutes ago, and you’re encouraging people to call 311 but guess what? We know people, I’ve worked with people who’ve called 311, nothing happened. The pothole was never repaired,” the reporter informed Bass. “They called several times over a couple of months, what do you have to say about that?”
“Let me just tell you that in the last, two months, three months, we’ve fixed over 10,000. We have a lot more to fix, but I think this is a reflection of decades of lack of investment in our infrastructure, and we are definitely addressing that,” she responded, not answering the question directly.
“You talk about that, we spend so much less here in LA than other cities do. For example, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, and we haven’t repaved a single city street here since last summer,” the KTLA reporter pressed.
“Well, let me just say that we have much more we need to do, which is why I’ve been developing a comprehensive infrastructure plan. Again, this a situation that has existed for a very long time and we are absolutely addressing it. We need to invest more in our infrastructure and that is something that we are definitely gonna do,” she reiterated.
When Spillman brought up that this issue could impact her reelection run, Bass pivoted to placing blame.
“Like I said, in the last three months, 10,000 potholes, many more to do, much more we need to do for our infrastructure. I am happy that street homelessness, which was one of the number one issues in our city, has been in decline for two solid years. I’m worried because of what the Trump administration did yesterday, that we might have an increase, considering they have now issued regulations saying that no mixed-status families can be in public housing,” Bass whined. “We do not want to see thousands of Angelenos thrown on the street because of a regulation from HUD. So as we struggle in our city, we also have to struggle against policies coming out of Washington, policies coming out of Sacramento, and then the overall economic uncertainty that we are experiencing in our region.”
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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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