Hilarity ensues when LA's Democratic mayor tells residents to hike thermostat amid record heat: 'Warning to all America'

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was raked over the coals after instructing Los Angeles residents on Sunday to reduce their use of electricity.

What did Garcetti say?

On Sunday, the mayor tweeted, "It's almost 3 p.m. Time to turn off major appliances, set the thermostat to 78 degrees (or use a fan instead), turn off excess lights and unplug any appliances you're not using. We need every Californian to help conserve energy. Please do your part."

Garcetti's directive came as Californians battle record heat and face ravaging wildfires.

With record-setting heat, residents use more electricity to cool their homes, increasing stress on the power grid and resulting in rolling blackouts.

What was the response?

Tens of thousands of people responded to Garcetti's tweet, stunned that such a message could come from the leader of one of the wealthiest cities in the world, in the wealthiest country ever to exist.

Many attributed the shocking directive to liberalism, progressivism, and socialism. Garcetti is a Democrat.

• "Socialism sucks. With Biden-Harris, this train wreck of an energy policy is coming to your state too. Their new slogan: if you want to live without air conditioning—vote Democrat," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said.
• "This is a daily ritual in Somalia, Venezuela, Cuba, every socialist s***hole in the world. Thank you, @TheDemocrats," actor James Woods responded.
• "We pay some of the highest taxes in the nation, and what we receive for those tax dollars are riots condoned by the city, and an insufficient energy grid to deal with the super-unpredictable fact that it gets f***ing hot in summer in CA," Ben Shapiro fired back.
• "Nothing says 'I'm a failed Mayor' quite like this tweet," comedian Tim Young replied.
• "Just showed this warning to my wife. She's a recent immigrant from a third world country. The look on her face was priceless when she realized that California, a major first world economic powerhouse, couldn't keep the power on any better than the country she just left," another person said.
• "Warning to all America. This is what decades of Democrat leadership brings. By the way, right now California politicians like Kamala Harris aren't working on a fix. They are just trying to figure out how to blame Trump," another person said.
• "Here's what a highly regulated, government dictated energy system gets you... weakness, failure and danger," acting Deputy Director of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli said.
  
• "D**n. I thought this was a parody tweet at first. No wonder ppl are leaving CA in droves. Yikes," another person responded.

Fortunately, another blackout was narrowly averted over the weekend.