Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in a "Joker" face? Gavin Newsom as a 17th-century French fop eating cake ("French Laundry" restaurant)? A cackling Kamala Harris laughing at the problems of ordinary people? Spencer Pratt as the Caped Crusader?
Charles Curran, a film director and strong supporter of Los Angeles mayoral candidate and former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, created what some are calling the best political ad in a long time.
It is 1:39 of raw AI energy and brutal metaphorical truths.
LA is worth saving. Vote Spencer Pratt. pic.twitter.com/GpQpnfsuJe
— Charles Curran (@charliebcurran) May 5, 2026
I haven't seen an ad with this kind of emotional impact since the 1964 "Daisy" ad with the little girl counting down to Armageddon.
The last 30 seconds of the ad, with Bass, Newsom, and Harris all getting pelted with tomatoes by ordinary Angelinos, is not only emotionally satisfying but also almost makes the viewer jump out of their chair and cheer.
We've all seen great political ads. Generally, too much humor isn't desired, nor is too much anger a plus. Most political ads go through a long process of being vetted by experts in psychology and marketing. The sharp edges can be buffed away, and the message can be muddled.
Curran's creation appears to have been unsolicited and wasn't immediately embraced by the Pratt campaign. That's understandable. It is a brutal caricature of Bass, Newsom, and Harris, and the use of AI to create the appearance of reality troubles many in politics. But as a political ad, it hits all the Democrats' soft spots very hard.
Logic rarely moves the needle in a political ad — emotions do. The most effective ads target one of four primary feelings: fear, hope, anger, and empathy. Curran's ad hits all four emotions with little subtlety.
Effective political communication functions like a story. Every good ad has to have a villain. This is often the opponent, but it can also be a concept like "inflation," "rising crime," or "government overreach." Then there's the "hero": the candidate is presented as the only person with the specific "weapon" (policy or character trait) to defeat the villain.
In the modern landscape, visual storytelling is paramount. Using strong metaphors — like pelting unpopular figures with tomatoes or depicting a city in decay — creates an "indexical" memory for the viewer. If an ad uses cutting-edge tech (like AI-generated imagery) to create surreal or "raw" energy, it can cut through the noise of standard, polished political marketing.
That's exactly what Curran did.
“This is where I live. They let my home burn down,” Pratt said in a recent ad, standing in front of a mobile home. “I know what the consequences of failed leadership are.”
While Curran is not directly affiliated with Pratt’s campaign, the candidate reposted the ad on social media. As of Thursday morning, 3.9 million users on the social platform X have viewed it, and 10,000 have reposted it.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) gave props to the ad, writing Tuesday on X, “Maybe the best political ad of the year.”
The ad was also highlighted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), among other prominent conservatives.
The video was released on May 5, 2026, on X, just one day before Pratt was scheduled to face incumbent Karen Bass and City Council member Nithya Raman in a televised debate. By amassing almost 4 million views over its first 24 hours, it successfully pulled focus toward Pratt’s "common sense" platform and his criticism of the city's handling of homelessness, crime, and wildfire responses.
It's the grossly incompetent response to the wildfires by Bass that spurred Pratt to enter the race in the first place. His Pacific Palisades home was destroyed, and it's his contention that it needn't have been. The rebuild is even more screwed up, and Pratt hammered Bass during the debate, scoring continuously.
With the focus on Pratt, he didn't disappoint.
Political experts said the Palisades Fire survivor who lost his home to the wildfire was impressive and came off as an serious candidate.
"I think as a winner, to some extent, Spencer Pratt did present himself. He came across very early as authentic," Loyola Marymount University political science professor Fernando Guerra said.
Despite some vitriolic and incendiary social media content that advocates for Pratt -- and his outfit choices -- the Republican did not "face-plant" at the debate, according to POLITICO's California Playbook co-author Dustin Gardiner.
"Spencer Pratt managed to come off more serious than I think a lot of people expected," Gardiner said. "You know, he's famous for being a reality TV villain, so people might have expected more of a caricature, maybe a more sort of clownish appearance."
Many opponents, including Mayor Karen Bass’s campaign, have dismissed the video as "AI slop." Critics argue that the surreal, slightly distorted nature of AI-generated faces — often referred to as the "uncanny valley" — makes the ad feel jarring or "gross." The visceral imagery of political figures like Newsom and Bass being transformed into caricatures has been described by some pundits as a "race to the bottom" for political decorum.
There's only a "bottom" when an ad or statement damages a Democrat. While the ad is clearly stylized and satirical (most viewers won't believe Newsom actually dressed as a 17th-century royal), critics fear it lowers the barrier for more deceptive AI uses.
That's a legitimate concern. But as long as an AI caricature is clearly designated as a parody or so obviously exaggerated that the parody is all it could be, I don't see the problem, although considering how hard the ad hits its targets, I can see why Democrats are terrified.
Does everyone throwing tomatoes at Bass, Newsom, and Harris at the end of the ad constitute a threat? I thought it was far more comical than threatening. In which case, I would say to Democrats: you reap what you sow, and if you can't take a joke, get out of the game.
Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.
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