Spencer Pratt\u2019s \u2018Angry L.A. White Guy\u2019 act collides with reality at tonight\u2019s debate <\/p>\n
Last week, the Hollywood Reporter published a great essay<\/a> describing Spencer Pratt\u2019s mayoral run not as a joke or even a headline-grabbing act, but something as L.A. as the Dodgers.<\/p>\n The piece situated the reality TV star\u2019s \u201cgrievance politics\u201d in a longstanding L.A. tradition of \u201cconsequential strains of backlash\u201d against the city\u2019s liberal establishment, from former Mayor Sam Yorty and Trump adviser Stephen Miller to Prop. 13 prophet Howard Jarvis. <\/p>\n Writer Gary Baum also referenced Pratt\u2019s reimagining of the poster for the 1993 Michael Douglas film \u201cFalling Down,\u201d about a laid-off defense contractor\u2019s increasingly violent trek through a dangerous L.A. <\/p>\n Pratt has every right to be angry, of course. He and his father lost their homes<\/a> in the Palisades fire. Residents across the city are furious about \u2014 take your pick \u2014 Mayor Karen Bass\u2019 seeming ineffectiveness, homelessness, traffic and the rising cost of everything. <\/p>\n But Pratt isn\u2019t just channeling a vibe. His campaign is built on an archetype Baum alluded to but didn\u2019t name outright: The Angry L.A. White Guy.<\/p>\n The local political and media landscape has always made room for gringo men lashing out at a changing L.A. (Other examples: former LAPD Chief Daryl F. Gates, the late television commentator George Putnam, podcast titan Adam Carolla). Victimhood, real or not, is their fuel. And like an inferno, their tirades have the pesky habit of paying off in the form of election wins, legislative changes, boffo financial success or all of the above.<\/p>\n Pratt has embodied the Angry L.A. White Man brilliantly. He repeatedly calls Bass \u201cBassura\u201d<\/a> (\u201ctrash\u201d in Spanish). One of his campaign ads was filmed outside Bass\u2019 home and that of city councilmember and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, contrasting them with the Airstream on his burned-out lot in the Palisades. <\/p>\n The Angry L.A. White Guy always needs a population to demonize, and for Pratt, that\u2019s homeless people \u2014 he repeatedly refers to them as zombies.<\/p>\n His campaign has raised almost as much money<\/a> as Raman\u2019s has, and he\u2019s starting to get national attention. But the former star of \u201cThe Hills\u201d has campaigned mainly in the friendly confines of social media and softball interviews. <\/p>\n At tonight\u2019s debate at the Skirball Cultural Center, hosted by NBC4 and Telemundo 52, Pratt will finally run into political reality.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the first time he\u2019ll face off against Bass and Raman<\/a>, seasoned politicas who know how to fight \u2014 expect them to repeatedly highlight that he\u2019s a Republican. He\u2019ll have to offer actual answers on a myriad of issues besides fire recovery to sway undecided voters looking for more than just invectives.<\/p>\n This might be the day that the Pratt train is revealed to be all huff and no puff. But the Angry L.A. White Guy has lasted this long for a reason: he knows how to rage.<\/p>\n