A Fiery Reckoning

The Great Los Angeles Fire is an event of huge political significance

California nightmare: the LA holocaust

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If the big story of 2024 was Donald Trump’s astonishing political comeback, the big story of 2025 is likely to be the Great Los Angeles Fire.

Democrats, progressives and the media are already whining that Republicans, MAGA, the “far right,” etc. are seeking to “politicize a tragedy.” That’s a bit much to swallow when it comes from people who politicize every disaster that occurs when Republicans are running the show. They can whine all they want, but natural disasters always become political issues when government’s response to them is deemed to be tardy and incompetent—as it has been in LA.

Does the name Katrina ring a bell? In that case, Democrats and the media strove mightily to lay the full blame for that 2005 catastrophe on George W. Bush, despite the obvious incompetence of Louisiana’s governor, the late Kathleen Blanco, and the mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagan—both Democrats, both far more culpable than President Bush. It wasn’t his job to manage the New Orleans levees, was it? But though this disinformation campaign succeeded in tarnishing Bush’s image, it didn’t shield Blanco or Nagan from withering, well-deserved criticism over their response to Katrina.

In consequence, Blanco decided not to run for reelection in 2008. Nagan managed to get himself reelected in 2006—at a time when two-thirds of the population of his city were still living out of state. Term limited, he left office in 2010. But in 2014, Nagan was convicted on multiple charges of wire fraud, bribery, and money laundering in connection with bribes from city contractors, before and after Katrina. Mr. Cosmic Justice finally got around to him.

The political fallout from Katrina was profound. Prior to the hurricane, Louisiana was a Democratic state. In the aftermath of the disaster, that soon changed—and the change was lasting. Today, Louisiana is reliably red: The Republican Party controls the offices of governor, secretary of state, and attorney general, as well as both chambers of the state legislature. The state’s congressional delegation is split between four Republicans and two Democrats. Both of Louisiana’s US senators are Republican. The lesson for California Democrats: Natural disasters have political consequences. Some 50,000 acres in the Greater Los Angeles area have been swept by wind-driven firestorms, and though the worst may now be over, the fires continue to burn. As they do, many political careers may be going up in smoke.

Katrina was one of the worst natural disasters in American history, but when all is said and done it will likely pale by comparison with the Great Los Angeles Fire. As I write, the latest reporting speaks of 10,000 structures—homes, schools, churches, places of business—completely destroyed by fire. But authorities believe that the final toll will be much higher. Many more structures have been damaged to some degree. Ten people are confirmed dead: a number also expected to go higher. The Los Angeles Fire Department is reporting numerous injuries, including severe burns, among people who did not promptly obey evacuation orders. Today, the Los Angeles Unified School District cancelled classes for all its schools. The California Army National Guard is patrolling the streets.

Los Angeles City Mayor Karen Bass is likely to be an early political casualty of the LA holocaust. Despite multiple warning that a dangerous situation was developing, she jetted off to Africa on Saturday, January 4, as a member of the US Presidential Delegation attending the inauguration of Ghana’s new president. She didn’t get back to LA until Wednesday, January 8—by which time the fires were raging out of control. To the barrage of questions from reporters that greeted her at the airport, she had no answers.

Only recently elected, Bass is a typical left-wing California progressive with more interest in boutique issues like DEI than she has in city management. She recently cut the budget of the Los Angeles Fire Department by $17 million: a glaring misstep in light of recent events. Moreover, she directed the LAFD to prioritize “equity” over training and professional development. The result was modelled by the comments of LAFD Deputy Chief Kristine Larson, who explained that of course she lacked the physical strength to carry a male victim out of a burning building. But that would be the victim’s fault, really, for “being in the wrong place.” For that despicable comment, Larson ought to have been sacked. But that’s not how DEI rolls. If a male victim burns to death, what’s that compared to the happy fact that the Chief of the LAFD is a proud lesbian?

Startling information has come to light. Did you know, for example, that some three hundred fire hydrants have been stolen in Greater Los Angeles? As Joe Biden would say: No joke! They were pinched for their scrap metal value and, of course, little has been done to stop the thefts or replace the lost hydrants. The authorities have better things to do, such as spending hundreds of millions of $$$ in a futile effort to combat homelessness.

As for California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, he may soon be reevaluating his presidential ambitions. The blue state model of governance that he touts and proposes to impose on the nation as a whole is turning to ashes before his eyes. It may well be argued that nothing could have prevented the fiery catastrophe that has descended on Los Angeles. But good policies—effective land and water management, contingency planning of the kind practiced in Florida—could well have limited the damage. As it is, the misplaced priorities and plain incompetence of the state government have made a bad situation even worse.

President-elect Trump is being castigated by Newsom and his amen chorus for “politicizing” the LA catastrophe. But actually, this is not a new issue for him. Many times, Trump has pointed out in his inimitable style the flaws in the California government’s approach to the wildfire threat. He was laughed at then, but now the Prince of the Golden Escalator is vindicated. What he warned of has come to pass. And that’s a political development of some significance that Gavin Newsome and a whole lot of other Golden State Democrats may come to rue.