The ongoing wildfires ravaging Los Angeles have not only devastated the city but also exposed the glaring failures of progressive leadership and policies that prioritize ideology over competence. Former high-ranking officials, including ex-LA County District Attorney Steve Cooley and former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, have lambasted the city’s handling of the crisis, pointing to years of mismanagement, budget cuts, and a “woke religion” that has left critical services unprepared for such disasters.
Villanueva didn’t hold back, describing the current state of Los Angeles as a result of “incompetence married with poisonous ideology.” He highlighted how the defund-the-police movement, which gained traction after the 2020 riots, left the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) and LAPD with over 3,000 fewer officers combined. “Why wouldn’t there be looting?” Villanueva asked, referencing the 40 arrests of suspects stealing from fire-damaged properties. “Criminals know, up until now, that probably no penalty or jail time was going to happen to them.”
The mismanagement runs even deeper. Former officials pointed to the defunding of the fire department, empty reservoirs, and fire hydrants running dry—all the result of years of neglect and poor planning. Yet, while Los Angeles burns, its leadership seems more focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives than on tackling actual emergencies. A video of Los Angeles Fire Department’s DEI Deputy Chief Kristine Larson surfaced, where she questioned whether female firefighters could rescue men from fires. Critics have called this a distraction from the real issue: ensuring the fire department is equipped to do its job.
Steve Cooley summed up the frustrations of many: “I didn’t know how focused the [Los Angeles] Fire Department was on this nonsense of diversity, equity, and inclusion. It’s beyond incredible that things were allowed to get this far.”
Mayor Karen Bass has also drawn heavy criticism. She was in Africa when the fires erupted, despite public warnings about extreme fire danger. Her decision to cut fire department budgets and personnel has come back to haunt her, as thousands of firefighters and emergency responders from across California and neighboring states are now scrambling to contain the blazes.
Even California’s top firefighter, Joe Tyler of CAL FIRE, has been conspicuously absent, holding just one press conference far from the fires and leaving his current whereabouts unclear. Meanwhile, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies are stretched to their limits, working 24-hour shifts with no relief in sight. John Satterfield, a retired LASD commander, noted that stations are operating at a 30-40% reduction in staff due to defunding. “Every single LA City and LA County appointment is made with the most extreme left-wing agenda you can imagine,” he said.
The results of this approach are painfully clear. Diversity may be a virtue, but not when it overrides merit and technical competence. “We told the Board of Supervisors numerous times that their defunding and de-staffing would have long-term effects on public safety, but it fell on deaf ears,” Satterfield added.
Conservatives have long warned about the dangers of prioritizing ideology over practicality, and the current wildfire crisis is a tragic validation of those warnings. Leadership that obsesses over virtue signaling rather than ensuring public safety leads to chaos, destruction, and suffering for everyday Americans. Democrats may call it progress, but when cities burn and looters run rampant, it’s clear their brand of progress is nothing more than a recipe for disaster.
