'Let the Red Wave Begin': Katy Perry Posts Photo, Screen Reveals Who She Just Voted For
When even leftist extraordinaire Katy Perry is making conservative choices in the voting booth, the red wave is going to be huge.
No, the “I Kissed a Girl” and “California Gurls” singer hasn’t suddenly turned Republican; don’t expect her to be covering Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” on her next tour. Our guess is still that she’s a raging liberal extremist.
But even a raging lefty like Perry can see that Los Angeles is a cesspool of dysfunction — and she’s not counting on progressivism to save it.
On her Instagram account Monday, Perry posted a selfie of her in the election booth voting for mayor of L.A. Her choice was Rick Caruso, a former Republican and by far the more moderate of the two Democrats still in the running to head America’s second-most populous city.
“I am voting for a myriad of reasons (see the news) but in particular because Los Angeles is a hot mess [at the moment],” Perry captioned the photo.
As conservative news aggregator Citizen Free Press noted on its Twitter account, “Let the red wave begin.”
Katy Perry voted for Rick Caruso 👀 Let the Red Wave begin pic.twitter.com/3mJZG8lXxc
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) November 7, 2022
Again, Caruso isn’t a Republican, but the billionaire developer is about as close as you’ll get in a Los Angeles mayoral race in 2022. Here are a few of Caruso’s positions from his campaign website:
On homelessness: “Let’s get real about the reality of the homelessness crisis: the present system has failed the over 41,000 people living on the streets of L.A. City. Continuing to let thousands of Angelenos die on our streets each year is not progressive. Rick’s plan will help meet each homeless Angeleno where they are to build a better path forward.”
On law enforcement: “Rick believes that we don’t need to defund the police — instead, we must invest in making them better at preventing Crime … He has a proven track record: as president of the Police Commission, Rick fought corruption, instituted police accountability, and oversaw a 30 percent reduction in crime. As your Mayor, he will … [r]estore LAPD’s budget and put 1,500 new officers on the street.”
On economic development: “Rick will … [r]evise City regulations and establish resources to assist business growth, including coordination of support (capital, tech, marketing, legal, etc.) and microloan services for businesses and vendors [and] … [p]ropose a Small Business Bill of Rights, to encourage timely consideration of small business permits and licenses and use economic impact analysis to consider small businesses when city policy is being developed.”
In addition, the Los Angeles Times noted in June that Caruso only registered as a Democrat in January of this year. He was a Republican before 2011, but registered “decline to state” while considering a run in the 2013 mayoral election. He changed back to Republican in 2016 but changed to “no party preference” in 2019. You’ll be responsible for remembering this all on the midterm.
He doth insist, however, he’s a true-blue Dem: “I’m a Democrat, and I’m proud to be a Democrat,” Caruso said, according to the Times. “What fascinates me is that we’re even having this conversation because the electorate, the voters in the city don’t care about this. What the voters of the city care about is crime and homelessness and corruption.”
However, Caruso is comparatively a Republican when you consider his opponent is Democrat Rep. Karen Bass, a woman who was literally too liberal to fill the job Kamala Harris now holds.
You may remember that, after effectively clinching the Democratic nomination, now-President Joe Biden promised to pick a woman of color as his running mate. The choice eventually got narrowed down to three candidates: Harris, Bass and former Obama administration national security advisor/Benghazi fall-woman Susan Rice.
While neither of those three women would pass as moderate, Bass’ leftism was a bit too much for Democrats to stomach. Her past public praise for Cuban dictator Fidel Castro (“The passing of the Comandante en Jefe is a great loss to the people of Cuba,” she said when Castro died in 2016), the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam and the pseudo-religious cult of Scientology made her a toxic pick.
So, she couldn’t fill Kamala’s cackling shoes, and it looks like she may not be able to fill outgoing Mayor Eric Garcetti’s loafers, either. While Bass is still in the lead, according to an L.A. Times/UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll taken between Oct. 25-31, the race is “tightening rapidly.” Caruso is now within 4 points, 45 percent to 41 percent.
While Bass’ support has remained steady since August, Caruso is up 10 percent over his performance in the September iteration of the survey. In addition, undecided voters are moving to his column — important, given that 13 percent of the vote remains undecided in the latest poll.
Caruso, the Times reported, “has maintained big advantages among the relatively few conservative and Republican voters in Los Angeles while also opening up sizable leads among Latinos, moderates and people living in the San Fernando Valley.”
In addition, he’s picked up endorsements from some conservative-ish celebs, including actor Chris Pratt and Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter impresario Elon Musk.
Chris Pratt endorses Rick Caruso for LA Mayor. pic.twitter.com/kC6OkUq4Rh
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) November 7, 2022
It is rare for me to endorse political candidates.
My political leanings are moderate, so neither fully Republican nor Democrat, which I am confident is the case for most Americans.
Executive competence is super underrated in politics – we should care about that a lot more!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 3, 2022
Bass, meanwhile, has garnered endorsements from Biden, Harris and former President Barack Obama.
It is a true honor to have the endorsement of President Biden and Vice President Harris — two leaders that I respect and admire very much. 1/https://t.co/k5DT7Fj3dZ
— Karen Bass (@KarenBassLA) August 2, 2022
I’m humbled and honored to have the support of President @BarackObama because he understands the gravity of the crises in Los Angeles.
We must bring unhoused Angelenos inside immediately and make this city safer and more affordable for all.
Join us: https://t.co/536QOyOzG3 pic.twitter.com/Gvb2nAHbEZ
— Karen Bass (@KarenBassLA) October 29, 2022
So, no, Katy Perry isn’t about to turn into a Republican. However, by broadcasting her vote for Caruso, she demonstrated she’s woken up to a reality huge swaths of Americans have realized, too: The American left has failed. Its failed policies have created homelessness, crime and economic ruin. But what’s more, the left doesn’t even realize the ruin created by its own failed policies.
If even Katy Perry understands this bedrock reality, our guess is that the “red wave” is very much on.
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