How the Blazes in L.A. Got Swept Into the Culture War
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
WNYC Studios and The New Yorker
4.2 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 15 January 2025
⏱️ 31 minutes
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Summary
The Eaton and Palisades fires continue to wreak destruction across Los Angeles. They are predicted to become the most expensive fire recovery in American history. As the fires have burned, a torrent of right-wing rage has emerged online. Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Charlie Kirk have attacked liberal mismanagement and blamed D.E.I. programs and “woke” politics for the destruction. Meanwhile, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has expressed concerns that the future Trump Administration may add conditions to federal financial-assistance relief for California, something that Republican Congress members have already floated. The New Yorker staff writer Jay Caspian Kang joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss what happens when disaster relief is swept up in the culture war.
This week’s reading:
- “The Insurance Crisis That Will Follow the California Fires,” by Elizabeth Kolbert
- “On the Ground During L.A.’s Wildfire Emergency,” by Emily Witt
- “An Arson Attack in Puerto Rico,” by Graciela Mochkofsky
- “Elon Musk’s Latest Terrifying Foray Into British Politics,” By Sam Knight
- “The Pressure Campaign to Get Pete Hegseth Confirmed as Defense Secretary,” by Jane Mayer
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| 0:00.0 | The Palisades and Eaton fires continue to rage across Los Angeles, fueled by extreme winds |
| 0:06.2 | and drought conditions. They have already become the most destructive fires in Los Angeles' history, |
| 0:11.7 | and they are predicted to become the most expensive in American history. As countless first responders |
| 0:17.1 | work to contain the fires on the ground, the discourse surrounding the disaster has taken a different turn online. |
| 0:23.8 | Many on the right, including Elon Musk, have blamed liberal mismanagement, woke politics, and DEI on the inability to control the fires, |
| 0:32.6 | while California Governor Gavin Newsom, speaking Monday afternoon, expressed concern that President Trump may withhold |
| 0:38.4 | aid to the state unless political concessions are made. New Yorker staff writer Jay Caspian |
| 0:44.5 | King joins the show to parse through the torrent of online rage directed at Los Angeles, |
| 0:49.4 | and what it means when even disaster relief is dragged into the culture war. |
| 0:53.9 | You're listening to the political scene. |
| 0:56.2 | I'm Tyler Foggett, and I'm a senior editor at The New Yorker. |
| 1:03.9 | Hey, Jay. Thanks so much for being here. |
| 1:06.3 | Thank you. |
| 1:07.3 | So, as someone who continues to use X, the website formerly known as Twitter, I have to say that one of the weirdest days was probably the morning after the fires began in L.A. |
| 1:17.3 | My feed was a mix of, like, unbelievable tragedy, people who had lost absolutely everything, and then some truly hateful rhetoric from people who were mostly not in L.A. |
| 1:29.1 | The phrase Sodom and Gomorrah was was trending with people drawing a comparison somehow between Los Angeles and the twin cities of the |
| 1:34.0 | Bible that were struck down by God for their sinful ways. And I really didn't see rhetoric of this |
| 1:38.6 | kind after the hurricanes in North Carolina and Florida last year. I don't think I've seen |
| 1:43.0 | this kind of response to a tragedy maybe ever online. |
| 1:47.2 | And so my question to you, Jay, is what is it about L.A.? |
| 1:51.1 | Like, why does it hold such a special place of contempt in some conservative hearts, |
| 1:55.2 | even more so than, like, New York or another kind of like bastion of liberal decay? |
... |
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