Trump, the 2028 Olympics and what it all means for L.A.

Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Redmond Gerard, left, listens to President Trump describing his snowboarding stunts during a ceremony welcoming the Team USA Olympic athletes at the White House in 2018.

(Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Dakota Smith with all the news.

During his last term, President Trump met with Olympic organizers in Beverly Hills to pledge the federal government’s support for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

“It’s going to be a fantastic show,” Trump said in 2020. He also joked that organizers needed to “remember him” when 2028 came around.

“At least give me a seat,” he said.

In a twist, Trump will get more than a seat — he could have a starring role when thousands of athletes and tourists converge on L.A. in four years.

Around City Hall, the question is: What will the Games be like under Trump?

On one hand, the president-elect is a well-known sports fan, owns a golf course in Rancho Palos Verdes and likes to hobnob with famous athletes. The former “The Apprentice” star also likes television — NBC has the rights to broadcast the 2028 Olympic Games — and understands the importance of ratings.

At the same time, Trump denigrates other countries, criticized Paris Olympic organizers this summer over a segment deemed anti-Christian by some, and was shaded by Team USA gymnast Simone Biles over his comment about immigrants taking “Black jobs.”

Andrew Zimbalist, an economist at Smith College, said it’s difficult to guess how Trump will handle the 2028 Olympics, because “everything that Trump does is unpredictable.”

But Trump “likes publicity,” Zimbalist said.

“He would love to be the person who opens the Olympic Games and closes the Olympic Games,” Zimbalist predicted.

A representative for the Trump transition team didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The question of Trump’s role in the 2028 Games is important because the city is serving as a financial backstop. If there are cost overruns, the city would be responsible for the first $270 million, the state would pay for the next $270 million and the city would be on the hook for anything beyond that.

Trump’s election guarantees him a big presence at the Games.

In 1984 in Los Angeles, Ronald Reagan was the first U.S. president to attend an Olympics opening ceremony, according to the Olympic & Paralympic Museum’s website.

Reagan “opened” the Olympics with a formal declaration, part of a celebration that featured a jet pack-wearing man flying across the Coliseum and scores of volunteers spelling out “Welcome” with balloons on the stadium floor.

President Clinton opened the Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta, while President George W. Bush did the same in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Then-President Trump and Vice President Pence hosted Team USA athletes at the White House in 2018 after the Winter Games in PyeongChang. Several high-profile athletes, including Lindsey Vonn and Adam Rippon, skipped the White House event, USA Today reported.

Rippon, who is gay, said on social media in 2018 that he “would not stand with people who discriminate against those that they perceive as different.”

Casey Wasserman and Reynold Hoover, who are leading the committee planning the L.A. Olympics, sent a letter of congratulations to Trump last week, according to a representative for the committee.

(Trump has also reportedly been in touch with New York’s Mayor Eric Adams. Gabby Maarse, a spokesperson for L.A Mayor Karen Bass, said Friday that Bass and Trump have not spoken.)

Some City Hall leaders expressed concern last week that federal funding, including for the Olympics, could be cut off under a Trump administration, given the president-elect’s disparaging remarks about California and its Democratic leadership.

Wasserman, speaking to reporters in Los Angeles this week, sought to tamp down suggestions that funding could be at risk.

“Travel, security, transportation, logistics — there’s a lot that they provide, and it’s well-known and well-accepted across the federal government,” Wasserman said.

“So we’re looking forward to continuing the very good partnership we’ve had at all levels of federal government,” Wasserman said.

Trump’s election could throw a curveball into the “tourism boom” that L.A. is depending on from the Olympics, said Victor A. Matheson, a professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross.

Governments typically try to make things easier for visitors during the Olympics. For example, Brazil significantly reduced its visa requirements for tourists during the Summer 2016 Olympics, he said.

In one scenario, Trump could seek to block some countries from participating in the Olympics, or countries could boycott the Games if they are unhappy with the U.S. Trump’s “nationalist and isolationist” stances could drive away visitors, Matheson said.

“What if the tourism boom doesn’t happen because foreigners feel like traveling in the country isn’t comfortable for them?” he said. Sports fans also may decide to boycott, he said.

Also, any mass deportation program, like the one Trump has promised to carry out, could lead to labor shortages in L.A.’s hotel and restaurant industries, where some undocumented residents work, Matheson said.

The Olympics offer “a huge diplomatic opportunity” for Trump to meet with other world leaders in L.A., Matheson said. And given his affinity for sports, Trump could help find financial subsidies for the athletes.

“You can imagine a world where Trump cares a lot about the Olympics,” Matheson said.

State of play

—BASS WEIGHS IN ON TRUMP: Mayor Karen Bass said this week that she’s trying to nail down federal money for L.A. before President Biden leaves office. “I worry about grants where the money is not here,” she said, adding that “pretty much anything can be stopped.”

Bass, speaking at an event about homelessness in downtown on Wednesday, also weighed in on Trump’s appointments, which include Matt Gaetz of Florida for U.S. attorney general. (Gaetz resigned from Congress hours after his nomination.)

“I know these folks,” said Bass, who spent 12 years in Congress. “I served with them. And these are, like, bizarre appointments.”

Bass also sought to assure the audience that she is used to working with Republicans. “Even some of the most hardline MAGA folks, I’ve worked with very well. I can compartmentalize. So I don’t just assume that I can’t get anything done. It’s just that I will have to get things done differently.”

“Sometimes deregulation can be a good thing,” she said lightheartedly, a reference to Trump’s agenda.

—SUPES ADD SEATS: In a massive overhaul of L.A. County government, four more members will be added to the five-member Board of Supervisors after the passage of Measure G. Supporters argued that the larger board will be more representative of a county that is nearly half Latino and about 15% Asian.

—ALSO CALLING IT:Adrin Nazarian and Councilmember Heather Hutt this week claimed victory in their respective L.A. council races.

With Ysabel Jurado‘s win over Councilmember Kevin de León, the council will now be majority female. That’s quite a feat for a body that Councilmember Laura Chick in 1995 called the “most sexist, good-old-boys work environment that I’ve ever been in.”

—LYRICS EXPLAINED: Jurado explained to Times columnist Gustavo Arellano the musical origins of her comment “F— the police, that’s how I see ‘em.” The comment, which she made in response to a question about police funding, drew criticism in the late stages of her council race. It was a “garbling of lyrics by N.W.A, Kanye West and Rage Against the Machine,” she told Arellano.

—SAY WHAT?: City lawyers and City Hall politicians blasted the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition for publicizing LAPD officer photos, saying the disclosure put those officers at risk. But now, as the city defends itself in a lawsuit brought by police officers, there is a new argument. City lawyers claimed in court documents this week that “none of these more than 900 Doe Plaintiffs are presently true full-time ‘undercover officers.’”

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s program to combat homelessness went to 1st and Spring streets and 51st Street and Grand Avenue.

• On the docket for next week: The City Council is expected to take up a “sanctuary city” law. Mayor Karen Bass will appear Wednesday before the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., where she will address “tough questions,” according to the group’s website.