Inside Golden State Politics

"It Ain't Over Till It's Over!"

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 32:18

It’s time to celebrate. Inside Golden State Politics has over 50,000 podcast downloads.

This week we explain how artificial intelligence is changing political communications, using the Los Angeles mayor's race as an example. President Trump scores big in the recent GOP primaries.  We worry about a U.S. invasion of Cuba.    





host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Welcome to another episode of Inside Golden State Politics. I'm Bill Boyarsky, the former city editor and columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and with me is our producer director, Nancy Boyarsky

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

And I'm Sheri Bebitch Jeffe, political analyst and self-styled media maven, coming to you from staring at my still unmarked primary election ballot. This is the hardest one I've faced, at least in quite a while. that's because of a lack of enthusiasm on my part. Something's gone from my California dreaming, it begins with the bitter and debilitating politics spewing out of Washington, DC and corroding the politics of our nation of the Golden State. Where's the kid who bravely stuck his finger in the dike to protect his community from dangerous flooding? Politically, we could sure use that kind of bravery now. Over to you, Bill

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Sherry he's in Amsterdam

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

right

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

running a bed and breakfast and doing very well, thank you

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

And played with his silver skates. His name was Hans Brinker

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

There's so much to talk about. You know what's really interesting to me though is the rise of Pratt.

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

Rise of Pratt, you mean Spencer Pratt, The Republican

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

running for, who's

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

for mayor

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

running for mayor of Los Angeles, and he is using artificial intelligence, the means of modern communication, his own brashness, and the weakness of his opponent to creep up there. And so depending on which forum you consult, which poll, you look at, is right now made it a race against the incumbent, Karen Bass. And I think it's something if you're a student of communications, quite interesting. He spends no money on television advertising. He just puts out his emails and his posts

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

what he says anyway.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

He puts out his posts and they go viral, and he's getting more money than Bass is with these short blasts. You can't say this is the politics of the future because people like us, pundits like us, we're always saying something is the politics of the future, and we're dead wrong. But he definitely is the story of the week the person to watch. The other thing that's really interesting to me and this is history, is our purported invasion of Cuba

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

Which do we wanna talk about first and why?

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

I think we should talk about Cuba first because it brings back memories of 1961 and the Bay of Pigs invasion by the anti-Castro Cubans and the defeat of this army by Castro. I think now that the United States government has put out an arrest warrant for this 94-year-old brother of Castro, Raul Castro. 94. Boy that's pretty old to be thrown...

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

mere young chicken

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

It's good to remember what happened then. And one of the most important lessons that should be remembered by military planners today was that the Bay of Pigs was a terrible defeat for the United States, an embarrassment. Our allies, the the Cuban rebels were defeated and jailed. The whole thing ended up as a disaster. "Worst thing that happened in my presidency," John F. Kennedy said. What I'm worrying about is are we gonna get a group of Cuban rebels and invade Cuba and assume that they're all gonna jump in on our side, which did not happen in 1961? I don't know. That's the scariest thing I can think of this week

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

Now let me tell you a couple of things about the decision-making preceded, the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis. In essence... my husband and I went to Cuba too long after Obama had declared it okay to go to Cuba. Th- opened up to us for a minute and a half. And we took a tour a Cuban guide who had been, interestingly, a former professor, and didn't make a lot, any money at all, really, $60 a month, as everybody did. So he went into the private sector and became a tour guide. we went to a museum in Havana, which basically dealt with Cuban perspective of th- the days of October. And he gave a speech about how it was all John Kennedy's fault and bad. It was bad, but the reality was that the decision was made by Dwight D. Eisenhower, the president who preceded John F. Kennedy. And Kennedy being, young guy, new president, apparently said he felt an obligation to let the planning go ahead and let the maneuvers go through. So it's-- I'm not at all sure he really understood at that point in time exactly. Ironically, it reminds me of Trump and Iran. Exactly what the blowback would be. So we've gotta keep that in mind. Today

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

have to think of the danger of also blindly...

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

you did it again. You did it again. I said I had a couple of things I wanted to talk about, and you interrupted me in the middle of the first. Here's the second one. Today, the buzz is that it is not unlikely President Trump could send into Cuba armed We could invade those who do not remember history are condemned to relive it

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

That's right. I think that ought to be right up on the big whiteboard that our military experts are studying when they plan this invasion. Trump has this vision after his two-day victory in Venezuela, that the rest of the world is going to fall down there. It's crazy. What's also scary about it is we're dealing with a president who doesn't seem to have any control over himself or his emotions or his planning. So we're

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

I

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

about an invasion of Cuba

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

know

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

that changes day by day. That's really scary

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

What a concept. Is his pattern of decision-making, apparently. He's done it on several really critical issues. Everybody is asking, "Okay, A, why did we invade Iran? And B, what are we doing? Why are we in Cuba?" From what I can see, I have a couple of theories. One, of course, is which it's another diversion. our mind off the Epstein files, whatever. And two, I do believe that Rubio is having a significant impact on Trump's decision-making with regard to Cuba. Rubio's parents fled Cuba, came over from Cuba prior to Fidel Castro over. It's really interesting. On our way to Cuba, we spent a day or two in Miami in Little Havana to pick up what was coming through. And obviously, they were very strongly not pro the Cuban government as it then existed. And there was a little museum, I guess it's not re- called the, the Tower. And there was, in that little museum, basically a Marco Rubio exhibit all about... And this was before Rubio was really known. But for the anti-Castro who had come over and landed in Florida, even then he was a hero because of his anti-Castro feelings.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

That's what we have to remember. One of the lessons of the Bay of Pigs was that the Cubans did not rise up against the American-backed invaders. They stayed in place. In fact, they fought back the invaders. Cuba has such a long history of being tyrannized by American colonialists that there may be very little support for an American invasion or an American-backed invasion of Cuba. Now, the reason, political reason for doing this is the supposed political strength of the anti-Castro Cubans who were in Cuba and who are in Florida and related areas and all set and ready to go, and that it's a mighty political force that Trump will unleash. Now, I don't believe that will happen, but I think that, that--

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

heard that.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

but I think that could be it

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

I haven't heard that. It is still, in essence, a mystery to me as to why we are being laid open in all of these conflicts. It's like juggling Iran, Cuba, Venezuela. or another we're involved in terms of movement in Gaza. I just... we're not, shall we say, a virgin in that conflict. It worries me. It makes me nervous. And time after time, I'm getting really close to being very frightened the direction I see us taking in foreign policy.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

It's crazy. That's true. You mentioned all these other countries. United States has a long history of tyrannizing and invading these Cuban, these Central American countries. This is not a new movie to them. It's a it's just,

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

Room Cubing machine

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

it's, history to the Central Americans and to the Cubans. This is history repeating itself and and that's something that we should be rather frightened of. But apparently we're not gonna invade Greenland. If I can

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

today

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

cheer you up with some news if you're tired of today's news or what purports to be news, perhaps you'll join me in a flight into artificial intelligence

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

I love it. That's one of my new toys. Don't know how to use it, but I'm gonna keep up with what's happening to it.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

It's really marvelous in that it doesn't take you long to do anything, and you can look up something really quickly. And if you're a student, it can get your term papers done. If you're a faker at work, it can get your proposals into the boss, in five minutes. And if you're an unknown candidate for mayor of Los Angeles and you got a lot of brass you're not crass... Oh, that was what my favorite paper this morning said.

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

Oh, no, here we go.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Bass is crass

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

That crass, is that what you said?

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Yeah, crass. I looked it up.

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

C-R-A-S-S?

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Yeah, I had-- I looked it up. It means stupid or

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

Oh, I thought it meant crass,

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Yeah. Anyway

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

nasty, whatever. was that a...

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

S-

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

Geez.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

anyway,

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

yeah, Ugly.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

The way this thing is looking we may be headed toward a runoff between the very conser- the conservative s- and the liberal mayor. What do you think of that?

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

From everything I have seen, it looks like that... Obviously, I just can't believe there won't be a runoff, but again, I have to warn you that I've learned never to say never in politics. But it sure, today is looking like a runoff between Pratt and Bass, definitely. I haven't seen any new polls lately, but I'm playing, looking at my prediction markets Bass seems to be getting a bit stronger. Pratt is a, not a second, but not yet as close second, at least in the markets, not in polling or anything. And Raman appears to be, at least through the markets, imploding. I don't know, could change in an instant

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Thing about the betting markets, which are f- a lot of fun to follow and must be taken with a grain of salt you don't, know exactly who the bettors are and what they're doing, and you don't know anything about the dynamics. But they are fun to watch, and they give you something that we've warned against on this podcast, a horse race view of an election. In other words

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

That's the view the polls have, That's, the

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

that's the

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

media has, with or without.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

And tragically, it's the view that Sherry and Bill now have too. So

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

Of course. And we're always right, so what's your point?

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Oh, it's right

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

Of course

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

What's happened to Bass, is by all the surveys, she looks like she's been rising and then not going any farther. And Pratt is kinda closing in. And one thing that's really interesting,

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

see that yet.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

one of the things that's interesting about Pratt though, is there is a long story in the Los Angeles Times about Pratt. It's a profile. I commend you. I hope your audience, if they can find it reads it. It's a really interesting in-depth profile taking this guy from high school to his present status. And y- you wonder what's with the guy? Why is he so popular? Or is he so popular?

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

he?

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Or is this, are all, is all this stuff bull,

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

I th-- I do think, quite frankly, that The New York Times panted a little bit too intensely about him, honestly. But he's popular among Republicans, and probably more popular even now because Trump semi-endorsed Pratt for mayor of Los Angeles. But that's not necessarily good news. It's good news in the primary. But remember, I think about 55% of the city electorate is registered as Democrats, and about 15% is registered as Republican. The math is really hard, and it's gonna... In this intensely blue city, it's gonna become even nastier for Pratt with the support of Donald Trump

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Pratt's also made some remarks that can be thought of as very hostile to Latinos in

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

Take a look at his IA post. He's hostile to everybody Pratt

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Yeah. And so there's that,, he could be more offensive, I think, to Latinos and everybody else. But especially Latinos as an audience that he's targeting. It's just maybe one of these two-day wonders, that Pratt campaign,

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

do, yeah. He announces that it's re- he has no campaign manager, he has no campaign consultants, et cetera, et cetera. He does, and that was made apparent the New York Times article sure. But so he's taking this very seriously, and I do think he's taking it seriously partially because he lost his home and his parents lost their home in the Palisades fire, and he has focused directly on Mayor Bass as the cause of their losing their homes. He's got em- he's emotionally involved in this. And again, from the New York Times article, you can make the leap from the kind of intense... I don't want to use the word bully yet, but the kind of intense, brash, angry guy he was in high school his belief that Mayor Bass is the reason Palisades burned, rightly or wrongly, and that's motivating him

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

The LA Times traced him back to USC

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

yeah

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

was a student of Dan Schnur, one of the professors who's a Republican, who's a Republican, by the way. And he portrayed, pratt as one of the best, most interesting students he's had. He was very praiseworthy of him. Some of the other Republican consultants were too. I suspect that there's more to the Pratt campaign than meets the eye. I suspect that it's a a Republican effort to get in there. I don't believe all this stuff is, "I did it because I was angry." Oh, by the way, the guy is so angry, he's so angry that he's living at the Bel Air Hotel

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

Yeah, I know. Because for security reasons, of course, the Airstream on his property, remains empty for security But, I don't know why we're spending so much time on him. It's... To me it's truly obvious. It is open that he is being supported by Trumpists and by conservative Republicans. the president himself said, "I hear that Pratt is a big MAGA guy." If I were Bass and Rahman, I would just play that little clip and over again. That's not gonna... this is a guy who at one point, believed, as Alex Jones did, or maybe even still does, that September 11 was an inside job, that Sandy Hook was a hoax. he was on Alex Jones' podcast and those are his observations. Tell me he's a and/or progressive Democrat. No.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

I just don't think we've gotten to the bottom of the Pratt campaign yet. I think there's more to the story. The week was not a bad week for Trump however. He won some primaries. In

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

He didn't want his three

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

his candidates he, his candidates knocked off a really respected Republican senator from Louisiana Dr. Bill Cassidy. Also a respected, but anti-Trump Republican of New England, Thomas Massie. And then he finally got rid of the guy he hates worse, Brad Raffensperger, the Secretary of State of Georgia, who has steadfastly refused to admit that the 2020 election was faked

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

What does that all mean, Bill?

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

I think it means what we've been saying for a long time, that there's a strong, solid, but small Trump base that is,

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

That's-- you're

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

That's not gonna go away, and which is gonna be a force in the November election

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

I would argue not as powerful as it was with the en- endorsement of Trump, of course, in the primaries, These guys are gonna move the Republican Party or the Trump cult, as I like to call it, farther to the right. a general election, to win a Republican primary, yeah, that's far less difficult than to win a general election. The Republican primary, and they were mostly closed primaries, the activists are the ones who vote, the kind of MAGA types, as in the Democratic Party when the progressives or the liberals tend to vote more than the, I don't know what, moderate Democrats. then comes November, and Trump has about a 36% approval rating. That's not so good, and I don't think he's broadening his coalition. He's his base.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

You know

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

These primary elections may come back to haunt him and the Republican Party. Think it may come back to haunt him within the next six months when all the incumbents that he just got rid of or is getting rid of will no longer be Congress, in the Senate. Man, they got six months of their own revenge tour that if they want to, they can really make a difference in Congress.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

There's one other factor in the Trump phenomenon, and that's his own temperament, his temper and his temperament. As if the election is close or if it seems his candidates are not winning he will act and God knows what he will do. That's my big worry also. Here's a guy who as we've seen has ironclad command of the Secret Service of the various military organizations. Has no one around him to caution him to say, "Wait a minute, sir." He likes to be called sir. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute, sir. I don't think this is a popular idea. I think you could get in trouble," or, "I think that's a bad idea." No one around him will even raise a voice to say, "Slow down." He will be going into the last three or four months of the November election campaign possibly with polls showing that he's not winning that his tricks aren't working and he'll get mad He gets mad around 3:00 in the morning. When he gets mad and starts posting things on, his social media, there's no telling what he'll do and there's no telling what he'll do with the armed forces that will be at his command and the leaders of the armed forces who are just bound to follow his every order

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

And there is the polar opposite of that possibility. Should Republicans maintain their very narrow what will be the reaction of Democrats? What will be the reaction of those groups, constituencies which are now seeing the Voting Rights Act being destroyed? It's a very dicey time American politics right now. And I have to tell you, this is where we make a full circle around to AI, because it's becoming harder and harder to believe anything, be it truth or, as Stephen Colbert, who has his last show tonight, has introduced to us the concept of Who do we believe? What is the truth? That's pretty dangerous for a democracy. Is it simply that what I say is truth and what everybody else says is false? And what does that mean to trust in government and governmental neither side is gonna walk away unhurt, I think, by what's going on now.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

You know what's happening is, You see it when you talk to people. They see something, they see a post on social media and they believe it, or it makes sense to them, or it reinforces their beliefs and they pass it on to someone else, and it goes and it spreads. And that's why all of the posts on social media are so scary. And why the Pratt posts are so noteworthy is because they grab your attention. So it's not just something on social media that you can look at or not. You're riveted by by Pratt portraying

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

was disgusted, to tell you the truth. I wouldn't call meme riveting. I just thought it was offensive. Sorry maybe I'm old. I am, but I- I'm, I don't like where that indicates politics and, shall we say, civic discourse are going if that's the means with which we are going to be communicating. And I'm gonna tell you that, in, i- in light of all of that, we can look at Los Angeles being once again a political petri dish. This time it is. It's the use and the effectiveness of AI as a campaign tool, its impact on politics. I find it reprehensible that our dialogue has become visuals of throwing tomatoes at the incumbent mayor. This is awful.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

I think it's awful too, but don't you think that we've been there-- This is, that this is a a further modification or escalation through technology of getting your message out? Is this worse than we've seen a few years ago with smear mailings, with all of that? I know the answer to that is is that artificial intelligence and the posts done through artificial intelligence is much more effective and much more powerful than anything we've seen in the past, and we

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

far-reaching

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

We don't know how to deal with it. We don't know where it's going which is either

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

election will, particularly the mayor's race, will be a test case. everybody is looking to the mayor's race as a test case of the impact artificial intelligence on the outcome of elections in the larger field and what it means to politics. Think of the fact that Steyer has spent, it's getting close to $200 million of his own money on the campaign. Is all over traditional media. Is now being investigated, paying media influencers to influence social media toward him. Pratt has s- a pittance of that, as have, quite frankly, Bass and Rahman. And look at the difference in the outcome, particularly be- of that kind of communication, particularly when it pertains to a comparison between Steyer and his traditional approach by and large, Pratt, who is not traditional at all, and is a lot cheaper and able to spread a message, quite frankly, well beyond the confines of Los Angeles. In fact, a lot of the money that Pratt has gotten since he tweeted, what is it? I don't know. The Batman versus... The Batman Pratt versus the Joker Bass AI meme is incredible. Got a lot of money, something like $600,000 since it was open, but much of it from people who can't vote in the election

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

That's true. Sherry, it's a great story in that I love things that are new. I love things that are twists on the political process. I always liked people who made their livings by twisting and turning and getting ahead of the curve and getting behind it in the political process. I love political hacks for that reason. This is, for me, this is a-

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

anything, are you, Boyarsky, About political hacks? I love political hacks.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Political hacks. They're like people who run campaign.

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

They deal in truthiness

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Th- that's right. They do. And they're wonderful people to hang out with. They know a lot of good stories. Sherry let's talk about this again

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

like a

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

with you

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

reporter, Boyarski.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

Okay.

squadcaster-d869_2_05-21-2026_161644

cheers.

host-4ha0_2_05-21-2026_161644

to you