January 11, 2025 • 36 mins
The government is getting in the way of the LA fires: Fire hydrants have no water. Underbrush mismanagement. Mayor gone in Ghana. LA residents call in. Trump reacts on X.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to today's edition of the Clay Travis and Buck
Sexton Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome in we have it feels like we got a
lot of awful stories sometimes that stack up, and today
is one of them. For many of you on the
West Coast. I'm Clay Travis, He's Bock Sexton. We are
here with you for the next three hours trying to
bring sense to an otherwise insane world.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
We appreciate all of you spending your time with us.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
As we sit here counting down the days until Donald
Trump is inaugurated and takes back control of the United
States government. There continues to be activity on Capitol Hill,
a Republican speaker and a Republican Senate. We will break
down the latest there. There's interesting moving parts. But as
I'm sure many of you have been paying attention to
(00:46):
since yesterday evening when wildfire started and then the winds
kicked up, there is just an awful situation in LA.
Lots of homes being burned down, many people being put
in incredible peril, and we certainly are following that. We
(01:07):
know many of you probably are listening on your radios
in the Los Angeles area to us right now aware
of everything that is awful that is taking place in
so many different communities out there. But we've talked about this before, Buck,
But I went away to college in Washington, d C.
I've lived in Nashville for the vast majority of my life.
(01:28):
But the city that I've probably spent the most time in,
certainly over the last fifteen years or so, other than
my home, is Los Angeles. I have a ton of
friends out there. I've spent a great deal of time
working at Fox Sports, variety of different television programs, many
amazing friends and family that live in that area now,
and so I know these area as well. I know
(01:51):
you've spent a decent amount of time in Los Angeles also.
But for those of you out there that might not
be paying as much attention or have not had the
news on this morning, let me give you a little
bit of an update here from the press conferences that
have recently occurred. This is La County Fire Chief Marony
(02:11):
Anthony Moroney explaining there's over five thousand acres burned, no
containment that has happened so far, still two thousand acres burning.
Listen to this as what it sounds like. This is
the latest in Los Angeles, La County.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
The Palisades Fire is located in both La City and
La County. We have well over five thousand acres that
have burned and the fire is growing. We have no
percentage of containment.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
We have an.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Estimated one thousand structures destroyed and also no reported fatalities
and a high number of significant injuries to residents who
did not evacuate, in addition to first responders who are
on the fire line. For the Eton fire, it is
(03:03):
located in both the Angelus National Forest, the Alta Dina
area of La County, and Pasadena. We have over two
thousand acres burning at this time and the fire continues
to grow with zero percent containment, and unfortunately, we have
(03:23):
two reported fatalities to civilians.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So that is the absolute latest. That was just in
a press conference. Here is the CBS News National correspondent
Jonathan Vigliati explaining what exactly he is seeing in terms
of how rapidly this fire has been spreading because the
winds are so strong and so significant, carrying the flames
so many different directions. Listen to cuttoo.
Speaker 5 (03:49):
We're here at the heart of the Pacific polisdays in
a neighborhood that is a total loss. You've got a
home here. I'm going to flip over here, another home loss.
Let me go over this way. Homes own this street,
con this one completely leveled. The firefighters here, they're not
trying to save these structures, they're trying to prevent these
flames from jumping to other neighborhoods. To see all these efforts,
(04:12):
in some cases, they're being carried more than a mile
in advance of these source flames, lighting.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Other homes on fire.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So Buck, we'll get into some of the responses that
have not been occurring at a level that Los Angeles
residents deserve here in a little bit. But for right now,
it's a true calamity that is befalling the nation's second
biggest city, and it is getting worse. It would appear
right now before it's going to get better, given the
(04:44):
winds are still whipping around my understanding this morning in
Los Angeles in a fairly significant way.
Speaker 6 (04:50):
It's horrific, Clay, and people are able to see so
many different perspectives of this because of the instant connectivity
that we all have. The videos from inside of living
rooms as there are flames, you know, lapping at the
at the fence nearby, or at the pool nearby, from
people's homes.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
It's very visceral.
Speaker 6 (05:10):
All all feels too real for people who are just
observing this because of the ability that we have to
get those those real time images. The actor James Woods,
I don't know if you saw this. He had just
I believe, just finished construction on a home in the area,
and he had video that he shared of the flames
(05:30):
right right off his deck. I mean, this is what
people are dealing with, and he's not sure what the status,
you know, Thoughts and prayers to James and his wife
and family. I think James and his wife are fine,
based on what I've seen on acts. They got out.
But people have lost homes, They've lost everything in the homes,
thousands of them, and it's it's a tragic. It's a
(05:51):
tragic situation that's playing out. And I understand that, you know,
we don't want to politicize things. You don't want to
move into the Okay, a bad thing happens.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Now, let me find some.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
Way to assert how this fits into my own political framework.
But I think you also have to look at this
responsibly and say, is los Angeles prepared for this kind
of a situation, um, just a natural disaster. Is there
Forestry management in the state of California still a huge problem.
(06:25):
There are clips of Trump talking about this from years
ago where he's like, they're doing a terrible job. They
won't clear the underbrush because of the environmentalists, and then
it just burns too hot and too fast and it's
too dangerous. I mean there's and I even gotten to
the mayor of.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Last what I think we should play. The mayor of
Los Angeles is gone. For those of you out there
who do not know, there was a highly contested mayoral
race in Los Angeles between two Democrats. So this is
a Democrat battle, Rick Caruso, who is a very successful
billionaire developer, and Karen Bass. Karen Bass won. She's in Ghana.
(07:01):
We'll talk about that in a sect. Yes, Africa right
now watching the Ghana East president be inaugurated supposedly, so
she's not even a present. But here is Rick Caruso saying,
this is on Fox eleven News, that there's no water
coming out of the fire hydrants. They have not done
the appropriate prep to be able to handle something like this.
(07:24):
Listen to cut five.
Speaker 7 (07:26):
What is most concerning to me is our first responders,
in our firefighters who are trying to battle this. There's
no water in the Palifate. There's no water coming out
of the fire hydrant. This is an absolute mismanagement by
the city, not the firefighter's fault, but it's other city.
And I'm going to be very honest. We've got a
(07:47):
mayor that's out of the country, and we've got a
city that's burning, and there's no resources to put out fires.
So if you look at your pictures, you don't see
the firefighters there because there's nothing they can do. It
looks like we're in a third world country here.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
That's Rick Caruso buck again, highly contested mayoral battle, the
current mayor of Los Angeles not there, supposedly flying back
from Africa. But what he's talking about. Rick Caruso, for
those of you who don't know, ran basically as a
Rudy Giuliani Michael Bloomberg esque character, right while he was
(08:25):
more Republican, a little bit to the right, but still
many in many ways having to appeal to a Democrat base.
But this is and I know, and by the way,
if you are dealing with these fires right now, and
you are listening to us, and you want to tell
us what you are seeing. Eight hundred and two eight
two two eight a two. We have a huge LA
Area audience. I would like to hear from people there.
(08:47):
And to Rick Caruso's point, Buck, there are tons of
people out there.
Speaker 8 (08:51):
I know.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
We've got a clip of the actor Steve Gutenberg, who
I saw out on the street trying to help people,
trying to get people safe. Let's play that cut too.
There are tons of amazing people out there, but the infrastructure,
as Rick Caruso just said, is not allowing the good
people to do the most good. In other words, much
of the government is getting in the way of the
(09:11):
better instincts of so many people. Here's Steve Gutenberg one
more clip from on the ground talking about the challenges
in Pacific Palisades.
Speaker 9 (09:18):
Here on Palisades Drive, if anybody has a car and
they leave their car, leave the keys in the car
so that we can move your car, so that these
fire trucks can get up Palisades Drive. What's happening is
people take their keys with them as if they're in
a parking lot. This is not a parking lot. We
really need people to move their cars. So if you
leave your car in Palisades Drive, leave the key in
(09:40):
there so a guy like me can move your cars
and get them up there, so that so that these
fire trucks can get up there.
Speaker 7 (09:46):
It's really really important.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Thank you, Thank you for talking to us live sir.
What's her name? My name is Steve Gutenberg. Steve this area.
Speaker 9 (09:53):
I live in the area. I live right up the hill,
and thank goodness, but I have friends up there right
now and they can't evacuate because it's stuck on Kalisa's drive.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
So that is the actor many people will know buck
Steve Gutenberg, which he's not even you know, he's just
trying to help his community. But it is that clip
woind viral. You can see him standing amidst the fire,
trying to help people out and evacuate people who need help.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
And I think that this is it's worth noting that
this is not the first of these kinds of fires
in even recent years. I mean, you can go back
and what was that I'm looking here, Clay at in
twenty twenty there were really rough yeah, you know, wildfires
out by this way. I mean, this is you know,
(10:40):
this is a fire season that this may be the
worst of any individual fire, but rough fire seasons have
been happening for years, and there is an issue of
forestry management and resources because they're putting right, if the
state of California is spending as they are, millions and millions,
I think they've even put you know, in the billions
(11:02):
toward this over time. Yeah, since twenty eleven, this was
from twenty twenty, they've spent six hundred million dollars on
fire prevention efforts. Now, so you could assume now it's
gone up considerably. It's probably over a billion dollars on
fire prevention. And you say, well, what have they been
able to accomplish with this? When the mayor is gone
and when there's no water in the no water for
(11:26):
the fire hoses from the hydrants, and the evac efforts
are hamstrung by a lack of necessary personnel. What are
people supposed to say? I've also seen, and this is troubling,
just to add on to all of this, that people
lost their fire coverage.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Have you seen this play?
Speaker 6 (11:45):
There's these comments online at least people have lost fire
coverage for their houses in just the months before this.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, and so people.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
There are going to be people who have Now you know,
this is where now does the federal government declare there's
some kind of a national emergency situation. I mean, what
ends up or if you a federal emergency situation, what
ends up happening here remains to be seen.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
But it's a disaster.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
It's a mess, and if you know, first and foremost
thoughts in perse everybody affected by it, and we hope
everybody gets out safe, and then I think there does
need to be a conversation about accountability for the state authorities,
not the firefighters who are out there risking their lives
and taking in smoke and everything. By all accounts, they've
been doing incredible work. And the fire teams they have
(12:30):
are are phenomenal that are trying to fight these things
and trying to, you know, prevent this from getting even
worse than it is. But at the top management level
of dealing with really it's a forestry issue, right, I mean,
that's what it comes down to. I think more than
anything else, the dry kindling, the tinder, and the underbrush.
Are they spending enough time on this? Are they bowing
(12:51):
to the environmentalist concerns that just demand you don't touch stuff.
Those are valid questions when people are turning around and
looking at how could something like this happen and get
so out of control?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
No doubt, And we're going to continue to take your calls.
We'll play some of these cuts again. To Buck's point,
this was a very foreseeable tragedy, and are the people
of Los Angeles being served by the best possible representatives
that could be dealing with this tragedy right now? I
think the answers no, And certainly the mayor didn't know
this was going to happen. But why in the world
(13:24):
is the mayor of Los Angeles that an African inauguration ceremony?
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (13:29):
I mean I would just also say, Clay, we know
that California is on a major fault line. You know,
I if California had a I didn't they just had
an earthquake pretty recently, right, But if California had a
relatively modern earthquake and entire buildings were collapsing because the
code didn't actually have them prepared for it, that would
be a lack of preparation, right. I mean, just because
something's a natural disaster, it doesn't mean that you can't say, well,
(13:51):
Hold on a second. Did you you know in Florida
we're prepared for hurricanes all the time. Doesn't mean that
it's going to be perfect. Obviously, you do the best
you can with the response, but you gotta be ready.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
When Rick Caruso is saying that all of our fire
hydrants don't have actual, you know, water in them, I.
Speaker 6 (14:10):
Mean it seems reasonable that the fire hydrants, yeah, should
have water in them.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
That seems reasonable.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
I want to know why that, Why they don't have that,
why they haven't collected the water for that?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
All right, we'll take some of your calls on this.
Speaker 6 (14:19):
We've got a lot of you listening California, so please
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subscription purchase. We're talking about these terrible wildfires out in
Los Angeles area, Pacific Palisades, very well known, a very
(15:33):
beautiful area, very well known area to people that know the.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Los Angeles terrain.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
A lot of incredibly beautiful homes, a lot of people
and the community there have been there for a long time.
Somebody who's not there right now on our way back,
I believe is the mayor of Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass.
This is Fox eleven reporting on this saying, while Los
Angeles is burning, the mayor, as Clay pointed out, is
in Ghana, Africa.
Speaker 10 (16:00):
Play it you're wondering where is La Mayor Karen Bass.
She's been in Ghana, so she's apparently on her way back.
That's why we have not seen her on the scene.
We saw Governor Newsom at the scene earlier. We know
that President Biden happens to be in town, but we
have not seen him on camera.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
With all of this, I mean, Biden anywhere near my lames,
I don't know they can get away.
Speaker 6 (16:24):
I think they know that no one, not a person
on the planet, would feel better with some Biden with
his aviators on and a mask photo op right now, So.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I think I don't think they're going to do that.
Speaker 6 (16:35):
You've seen Gavin Newsom, though he's starting to, you know,
as if him taking a photo of himself staring at
the fires from a distance makes anyone feel better.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
This guy has mismanaged the state of California. I always
say it. I love it.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
It's paradise in so many ways except for the politics,
except for the people in charge.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
You know, it's funny you mentioned that Buck.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I was out driving around looking at Christmas lights with
my kids in the car recently in my neighborhood where
I live in Nashville area.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Just recently, in.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
The last year and a half two years, you have
suddenly seen USC and UCLA flags going up all over
my neighborhood. Californians are overwhelmingly saying I'm out. I can't
deal with what they're doing there anymore. And you see it,
like just with the teams that they root for out
of nowhere, we started seeing maybe the last basically since
(17:27):
COVID happened, people have been bailing on California. In fact,
I got some data. Maybe we'll hit you with it
later in the show. Did you see the U haul
data on what states people are leaving and what states
people are moving to? I thought it was interesting. Spoiler alert,
California for a fourth straight year leads the nation in
people leaving that state to go somewhere new.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah, oh, that hasn't changed.
Speaker 6 (17:50):
We want to take some of your calls on this
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(18:58):
By the way, texting without a Corolla who lives in
this area. I know many of you listen to his
podcast have consumed a lot of his content over the years.
He's been on the show several times. Comedian He's going
to be on with us at the top of the
next hour to actually tell us what he has been seeing.
I've seen his tweets, he is in close proximity to
(19:19):
some of these fires, so we will get the latest
from there. By the way, several of you calling in
and want to explain we're we're asking a question. I
think it's a legit question. Unfortunately, one that is hyper
important at this point in time. You have fire hydrants
with no actual water in them. According to the man
who was runner up for the mayor of Los Angeles,
(19:42):
who would we played that audio for you just a
little bit ago, Jim and Megalia, California. You work for
a water company up in that area near where the
Paradise fire happened. Why would the fire hydrants not have water?
According to Rick Caruso, who was nearly elected the mayor
of of LA Area, what happened.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Well, what we experienced here was that all the structures
that burnt those were basically services that were wide open,
just running onto the ground. And then all the customers
that had put sprinklers on their roofs or whatever else
to try to prevent their house from burning out, they
had their services open. So you have water means that
(20:26):
are sized to feed the population plus fire prevention, but
all that together it overruns the system.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
So it they just drained.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Your theory is that they have that some of the
people who are trying to keep their houses from being
burned down have just drained the entire water reservoir system
for lack of a better way of describing it, in
that area, so that there is no water for the
firemen to be able to basically pull out.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Yes, and with like with the town of Paradise losing
over fourteen thousand structures, they were throwing five million gallons
a day at the system and it was just bleeding
out throughout all the empty services. So there was, you know,
nothing that the firefighters could have done because there's there's
no water there. And it's not anybody's fault. It's just
what do you do put? You know, thirty six inch
(21:15):
water means down little streets. That doesn't that doesn't make.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
Any sense than Jim, what do you make of Jam?
I've got a question, what do you make of the criticisms?
I mean, for example, we've got Trump put this out,
he said Governor Gavin Newscomb. Sorry, I'm just reading what
this is what the president wrote, so you know that
this is what he wrote.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Anyway.
Speaker 6 (21:35):
Governor Gavin Newscomb refused to sign the water Restoration Declaration
put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons
of water from excess rain and snow melt from the
north to float daily into many parts of California, including
the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.
Is water mismanagement, from what you can see, a major
(21:57):
problem just leading up to I mean, not just because
of this event we're seeing, but is that just generally
the case that the state of California is mismanaging water.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
I think there is some mismanagement, but you know, it
can come down to you know, infrastructure repair and all that.
But that doesn't seem to be the case in this
In this instance, it doesn't seem like that the infrastructure
is failing. It just seems like there's just no water
because it's just bleeding out somewhere else. I don't think
that the water company they'll have to investigate to make
(22:32):
sure they had you know, power generators that they're pumping
stations to keep water going while the fire is in place.
But it's, like I say, I think it's just.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Just it sounds like you're telling us it's just too
I mean, this fire is too big, too fast, and
you're gonna run out of water. I mean, there's just
no realistic way to have enough water to fight this.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Is that fair?
Speaker 4 (22:53):
That's yeah, that's what That's what we encountered here in
the Paradise Micguellia area was it was just it overrun us.
It was just too much to try to keep up with.
Speaker 6 (23:04):
Thank you so much, Jim for calling in bringing that
expertise from working at the water company. And stay safe
up there in California. Thank you, Craig in Columbia, South Carolina,
used to live in so cal.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
What's up, Craig, Well, thank you, but thank you.
Speaker 8 (23:18):
Buckley, take it by call. I live at Burbank, California,
graduated Burbank High which is in right next to what's
called the Verdugo Hill which periodically caught on fire. And
the issue is La City was written up by the
La Times within the last couple of years, where water
(23:41):
leaks from their pipes eight billion gallons of water a
year and nothing has been done to fix that infrastructure.
They were at that time. The issue was how do
we retain the water we have? And they came up
with something called shade balls, and I suggest you look
up with that nonsense. But the reaction is they lack
(24:01):
water every year. If you notice that the rose bowl
that it's always tends to be clear air every year
from probably early December to late February, they have a
condition called Santa Ana winds, which blows at about somewhere
between a low of thirty miles an hour coming down
the canyons from the desert, to as much as seventy
miles an hour. I used to be a flight instructor
(24:23):
in the place called Silmar, and we took off at
this time of year to the north because that's where
the winds came from, and I could take off in
a small Sessma. Usually took off at about seventy miles
an hour and actually fly backwards over the ground after
I took off. Oh wow, the winds book Yeah, yeah,
the wind blow that strong below the canyon. So if
(24:43):
you have a fire, okay, how do you get water there?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
You can't?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Craig, why did you leave? Why did you leave Southern California?
You live in Columbia, South Carolina. You moved across the
whole country. Sounds like you love the place. It's a
beautiful place. Why was your decision made to leave a
lot of Californians. In the last four or five years,
in unprecedented numbers have been moving elsewhere. You particular why.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
I left in nineteen eighty eight job issues. I was
at the point of my career where I was working
in banking, and I have one career next. My next
career job was to go back to work in the headquarters,
and I detested that, so I left banking completely. I
went to work for my largest customer, who had a
plant in Mississippi. So I moved and people around me.
(25:30):
I lived on the beach.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I was gonna say, I bet there's not a lot
of people who moved from a beach in California to Mississippi.
I'm just guessing that's not a traditional travel path.
Speaker 8 (25:42):
My friends thought I had lost my mind. Trust me,
they all said, what, You're going to Mississippi. Yes, And
I lived about three hundred two hundred miles from the
ocean in Mississippi. I eventually built a house on a
big lake there in Tennessee, so I know both Tennessee
and Mississippi. I live. If you look at the map
the state of Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, the state lines all
(26:03):
intersected about a mile from the house at the lake
I lived out then I've been from there to Baltimore,
and I moved here to South Carolina about twenty seven
years ago. Never look back. In fact, South Carolina today
reminds me of what California was like back in the
early sixties. So, I mean, it's just crazy what's going on.
But and I do see a lot of California license
(26:23):
plate yeah, which is even more hilarious. But the issue
out there really is more management of infrastructure. It's not
rocket science. The place used to be called a valley
of smokes by the Indians. Why because it was always
forest fires. Oh okay, what do you need to do?
Clean out the deadwood? And that's been prohibited for decades.
(26:46):
I think.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, we tray have a clip clip from Trump thank
you for the call, by the way, And it's interesting
he mentioned this book. Do you know the number one
city that people state that people are moving to according
to U Haul South Carolina, where he lives now, and
he said it reminds him of California and sixties. And
you know the number one state that people are moving
from California. That's a little bit of a tease. I
think we have the clip from Trump talking about how
(27:08):
they need to do a better job of trying to
pull down the debris in southern California to try to
stop the spread of wildfires.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Go we play that, guys.
Speaker 11 (27:16):
I know Gavin's committed. We're all committed. I'm committed to
make sure that we get all of this cleaned out
and protected. We've got to take care of the floors,
you know, the floors of the forests very important. You
look at other countries where they do it differently, and
it's a whole different story. I was with the president
(27:36):
of Finland and he said, we have much different We're
a forest nation. You called it a forest nation, and
they spend a lot of time on drinking and cleaning
and doing things, and they don't have any problem. And
when it is, it's a very small problem.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
I remember Trump getting ridiculed for this back when it happened.
I think that clip is from twenty eighteen after the
Paradise fire. Interestingly enough, and forest management evidently is not
as aggressive because of environmental concerns associated with bringing down,
as you said, buck underbrush in these communities, and so
(28:14):
it allows there to sometimes be standing brush, which is
oftentimes the fuel that can help to propel the fire
to become as substantial as it is.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
I'm going to join us, he with us.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
No, well, at the top of the next hour, I
was gonna say, but Jimmy, one more call here, Jimmy
and Santa Barbara, which got for us.
Speaker 12 (28:35):
Good morning, clan Buck. I'm one of the conservative holdouts
here and proud to be a resident of the state
that had Ronald Rake and as governor. We have the
Rake and Ranch here and the Presidential Library here, and
there still are a lot of conservatives in California, you have,
(28:56):
believe it or not, but we're trying to, you know,
hold out here, and we're just up against so much
government regulation and taxes that we're just we're getting caught up.
We've got to have a revolt. We gotta take back California.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Thank you for the call.
Speaker 6 (29:14):
Yeah, I mean, you know, Gavin Newsom somehow managed to
stay as governor even after the recall efforts. So California
has got a ways to go, uh politically, And I
don't know, especially for people that live in some of
the major cities in California, you would think that the
mismanagement San Francisco, mismanagement Los Angeles. Uh, just the poor
(29:35):
leadership and the suffering of those communities that have resulted
from bad decisions, the crime problems, all this, you would
think that there would be a much greater political backlash,
in my opinion, than there has been, but so far
that has has not really been the case, although there
have been some movements toward a little bit of accountability
(29:56):
and more Republicans getting elected in California that resulted in
some house seat pickups. But you know, right now, Clay,
it just looks like, I mean, first of all, everyone's
still trying to figure out what's you know, what's the
full the full damage and containing everything and dealing with
this this strategy as it unfolds. But there is no
(30:16):
sense that there's competent leadership at the very top, and
that makes everything, i think higher anxiety and perhaps adds
to the sense that this is going to be a
particularly devastating fire, which is it's a tragedy all around.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
To his point, By the way, Buck, in twenty twenty four,
California had six point one million Trump voters, so one
of the top states for Trump support in the entire nation.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Obviously, it's a huge population state.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Texas had six point four million, so California had almost
as many Trump voters as the state of Texas. In
twenty twenty California actually had more Trump voters than the
state of Texas. Now, again, population numbers are huge, uge
in California, but there are still a lot of Republicans,
about forty percent of the state that voted for Donald
(31:07):
Trump in twenty twenty four. But yes, and obviously the
success that we have with this show, which we think
all of you in California, we have a monster audience
all throughout the state, is a testament.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
I think it's our second biggest listening state after Texas.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
I think Texas is number one, in California's number two.
I believe, I have to check. I think you're probably
right on recently, but.
Speaker 6 (31:29):
I also think, you know, you see what has happened
in California, and it's fair to ask. I'm not talking
about the fire specifically, just the way that it's been mismanaged.
It's fair to ask what would it take for some
of these people in California to see Bill Maher was
asked recently would you vote Republican?
Speaker 1 (31:47):
And he said no, never yeah, I sit here and.
Speaker 6 (31:49):
I go, well, what, why do you think anything will change?
You know, this is a little bit of the definition
of insanity, right. The people that recognize that there's problems
in that state that need to be addressed, put the
same people with the same ideas and the same approach
in positions of power to handle it, and they wonder
(32:10):
why it doesn't get better. It's a one party state now,
I mean this is I know there's a lot of
Republicans there, but Democrats want a California America. We all
know that that's the whole that's the long term plan.
So you know, it's it's concerning.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Blue states and blue cities combined is disaster for voters.
You know, there are some red states with some blue
cities in that's fine. There are obviously a lot of
red states that are just deep red. But again, Californians
made the choice to have I think poor governance, and
they keep doubling and tripling down on it. Rick Crusoe,
I think we'd be doing a better job of dealing
(32:44):
with what is admittedly an awful tragedy and cataclysmic, catastrophic
event right now in the LA area for many people.
I think you'd be doing a better job in care
in Bass. For one thing, he'd actually be in the
country as opposed to attending the Ghana an auguration. I mean,
which is, let's be honest, super weird.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
The people I just wanted to do the people of
Los Angeles pay for that trip? I mean, really, are
you paying? Question? I would? I don't know, but I'd
be very curious to know.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
I mean, I mean, what in the world reason could
there be for the mayor of Los Angeles to be
going to the inauguration of a Ghana president. It's not
like there's some huge overlap between Ghana and LA right,
I mean, it's not like they have some monstrous trade partnership. Look,
we all stockpile keepsakes in our home, items of sentimental meaning,
old photos, good examples, video cassettes, film reels, especially at
(33:37):
the end now of the holiday season, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years.
How many new great family memories did you make? Probably
a lot, hopefully a lot, and you probably made them
on your phones digitally, and you've probably been sharing that
with your friends and family digitally. Oh, look how much
the kids grew Here they are in front of the
Christmas tree.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
This year.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Oh look, Grandma and Grandpa getting deposed with the kids.
My goodness, it's an amazing photo. It's an heirloom for
you and your family. But what about the ones from
the eighties and the nineties. They're not preserved because oftentimes
they're on vhs. They're old photos. They haven't been digitally preserved.
Speaker 6 (34:21):
Welcome back into Clay and Buck. We've got Cracket Coffee,
my friends, for all of you. Go to Crocketcoffee dot com.
We're hoping to have a huge twenty twenty five. Twenty
twenty four is a great first year for this fantastic
American coffee brand. Number ten percent of our profits goes
to tell at the Towers Foundation. Also, you can get
a still signed copy of Clay's American Playbook use code book.
(34:44):
Go to Crocketcffee dot com. Please subscribe. We've got light Roast,
Medium Roast, Delicious Blends. It's a company that you are
all building with us, and we appreciate each and every
one of you who drinks a Delicious cup. Actually ran
downstairs to brew some in the commercial break there, so
I gotta go get it.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
In a second. I want to also read this real quick.
Speaker 6 (35:01):
We've got Adam Carolla is going to call us to
talk to us about what he's seeing and hearing as
a Los ANGELESO, and you know, just bring us.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Up a speed there.
Speaker 6 (35:10):
But I read part of this before Trump's tweet. Governor
Gavin Newskim refused to sign the water restoration Declaration and
he said he wanted to protect it essentially worthless fish
called a smelt by giving it less water, it didn't work,
but didn't care about the people of California. Now the
ultimate price is being paid. Clay Trump not holding back
(35:31):
at all on this one, going right after the poor
leadership of California.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Yeah, I mean, I think it again goes into these
are imminently foreseeable fires. As awful as they are, we've
seen them for decades throughout the history of Los Angeles.
How is the City of Los Angeles preparing for them?
Do any people think that the city and the state
have done a phenomenal job it appears to be. The
answer is no. We're going to continue to update you.
(35:56):
We'll ask Adam Carolla about this. He's right there on
the scene. Will join us top of the next hour.
We appreciate all of you spending your Wednesday with us
here on clay and buck
Welcome to today's edition of the Clay Travis and Buck
Sexton Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome in we have it feels like we got a
lot of awful stories sometimes that stack up, and today
is one of them. For many of you on the
West Coast. I'm Clay Travis, He's Bock Sexton. We are
here with you for the next three hours trying to
bring sense to an otherwise insane world.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
We appreciate all of you spending your time with us.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
As we sit here counting down the days until Donald
Trump is inaugurated and takes back control of the United
States government. There continues to be activity on Capitol Hill,
a Republican speaker and a Republican Senate. We will break
down the latest there. There's interesting moving parts. But as
I'm sure many of you have been paying attention to
(00:46):
since yesterday evening when wildfire started and then the winds
kicked up, there is just an awful situation in LA.
Lots of homes being burned down, many people being put
in incredible peril, and we certainly are following that. We
(01:07):
know many of you probably are listening on your radios
in the Los Angeles area to us right now aware
of everything that is awful that is taking place in
so many different communities out there. But we've talked about this before, Buck,
But I went away to college in Washington, d C.
I've lived in Nashville for the vast majority of my life.
(01:28):
But the city that I've probably spent the most time in,
certainly over the last fifteen years or so, other than
my home, is Los Angeles. I have a ton of
friends out there. I've spent a great deal of time
working at Fox Sports, variety of different television programs, many
amazing friends and family that live in that area now,
and so I know these area as well. I know
(01:51):
you've spent a decent amount of time in Los Angeles also.
But for those of you out there that might not
be paying as much attention or have not had the
news on this morning, let me give you a little
bit of an update here from the press conferences that
have recently occurred. This is La County Fire Chief Marony
(02:11):
Anthony Moroney explaining there's over five thousand acres burned, no
containment that has happened so far, still two thousand acres burning.
Listen to this as what it sounds like. This is
the latest in Los Angeles, La County.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
The Palisades Fire is located in both La City and
La County. We have well over five thousand acres that
have burned and the fire is growing. We have no
percentage of containment.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
We have an.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Estimated one thousand structures destroyed and also no reported fatalities
and a high number of significant injuries to residents who
did not evacuate, in addition to first responders who are
on the fire line. For the Eton fire, it is
(03:03):
located in both the Angelus National Forest, the Alta Dina
area of La County, and Pasadena. We have over two
thousand acres burning at this time and the fire continues
to grow with zero percent containment, and unfortunately, we have
(03:23):
two reported fatalities to civilians.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
So that is the absolute latest. That was just in
a press conference. Here is the CBS News National correspondent
Jonathan Vigliati explaining what exactly he is seeing in terms
of how rapidly this fire has been spreading because the
winds are so strong and so significant, carrying the flames
so many different directions. Listen to cuttoo.
Speaker 5 (03:49):
We're here at the heart of the Pacific polisdays in
a neighborhood that is a total loss. You've got a
home here. I'm going to flip over here, another home loss.
Let me go over this way. Homes own this street,
con this one completely leveled. The firefighters here, they're not
trying to save these structures, they're trying to prevent these
flames from jumping to other neighborhoods. To see all these efforts,
(04:12):
in some cases, they're being carried more than a mile
in advance of these source flames, lighting.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Other homes on fire.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So Buck, we'll get into some of the responses that
have not been occurring at a level that Los Angeles
residents deserve here in a little bit. But for right now,
it's a true calamity that is befalling the nation's second
biggest city, and it is getting worse. It would appear
right now before it's going to get better, given the
(04:44):
winds are still whipping around my understanding this morning in
Los Angeles in a fairly significant way.
Speaker 6 (04:50):
It's horrific, Clay, and people are able to see so
many different perspectives of this because of the instant connectivity
that we all have. The videos from inside of living
rooms as there are flames, you know, lapping at the
at the fence nearby, or at the pool nearby, from
people's homes.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
It's very visceral.
Speaker 6 (05:10):
All all feels too real for people who are just
observing this because of the ability that we have to
get those those real time images. The actor James Woods,
I don't know if you saw this. He had just
I believe, just finished construction on a home in the area,
and he had video that he shared of the flames
(05:30):
right right off his deck. I mean, this is what
people are dealing with, and he's not sure what the status,
you know, Thoughts and prayers to James and his wife
and family. I think James and his wife are fine,
based on what I've seen on acts. They got out.
But people have lost homes, They've lost everything in the homes,
thousands of them, and it's it's a tragic. It's a
(05:51):
tragic situation that's playing out. And I understand that, you know,
we don't want to politicize things. You don't want to
move into the Okay, a bad thing happens.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Now, let me find some.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
Way to assert how this fits into my own political framework.
But I think you also have to look at this
responsibly and say, is los Angeles prepared for this kind
of a situation, um, just a natural disaster. Is there
Forestry management in the state of California still a huge problem.
(06:25):
There are clips of Trump talking about this from years
ago where he's like, they're doing a terrible job. They
won't clear the underbrush because of the environmentalists, and then
it just burns too hot and too fast and it's
too dangerous. I mean there's and I even gotten to
the mayor of.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Last what I think we should play. The mayor of
Los Angeles is gone. For those of you out there
who do not know, there was a highly contested mayoral
race in Los Angeles between two Democrats. So this is
a Democrat battle, Rick Caruso, who is a very successful
billionaire developer, and Karen Bass. Karen Bass won. She's in Ghana.
(07:01):
We'll talk about that in a sect. Yes, Africa right
now watching the Ghana East president be inaugurated supposedly, so
she's not even a present. But here is Rick Caruso saying,
this is on Fox eleven News, that there's no water
coming out of the fire hydrants. They have not done
the appropriate prep to be able to handle something like this.
(07:24):
Listen to cut five.
Speaker 7 (07:26):
What is most concerning to me is our first responders,
in our firefighters who are trying to battle this. There's
no water in the Palifate. There's no water coming out
of the fire hydrant. This is an absolute mismanagement by
the city, not the firefighter's fault, but it's other city.
And I'm going to be very honest. We've got a
(07:47):
mayor that's out of the country, and we've got a
city that's burning, and there's no resources to put out fires.
So if you look at your pictures, you don't see
the firefighters there because there's nothing they can do. It
looks like we're in a third world country here.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
That's Rick Caruso buck again, highly contested mayoral battle, the
current mayor of Los Angeles not there, supposedly flying back
from Africa. But what he's talking about. Rick Caruso, for
those of you who don't know, ran basically as a
Rudy Giuliani Michael Bloomberg esque character, right while he was
(08:25):
more Republican, a little bit to the right, but still
many in many ways having to appeal to a Democrat base.
But this is and I know, and by the way,
if you are dealing with these fires right now, and
you are listening to us, and you want to tell
us what you are seeing. Eight hundred and two eight
two two eight a two. We have a huge LA
Area audience. I would like to hear from people there.
(08:47):
And to Rick Caruso's point, Buck, there are tons of
people out there.
Speaker 8 (08:51):
I know.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
We've got a clip of the actor Steve Gutenberg, who
I saw out on the street trying to help people,
trying to get people safe. Let's play that cut too.
There are tons of amazing people out there, but the infrastructure,
as Rick Caruso just said, is not allowing the good
people to do the most good. In other words, much
of the government is getting in the way of the
(09:11):
better instincts of so many people. Here's Steve Gutenberg one
more clip from on the ground talking about the challenges
in Pacific Palisades.
Speaker 9 (09:18):
Here on Palisades Drive, if anybody has a car and
they leave their car, leave the keys in the car
so that we can move your car, so that these
fire trucks can get up Palisades Drive. What's happening is
people take their keys with them as if they're in
a parking lot. This is not a parking lot. We
really need people to move their cars. So if you
leave your car in Palisades Drive, leave the key in
(09:40):
there so a guy like me can move your cars
and get them up there, so that so that these
fire trucks can get up there.
Speaker 7 (09:46):
It's really really important.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Thank you, Thank you for talking to us live sir.
What's her name? My name is Steve Gutenberg. Steve this area.
Speaker 9 (09:53):
I live in the area. I live right up the hill,
and thank goodness, but I have friends up there right
now and they can't evacuate because it's stuck on Kalisa's drive.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
So that is the actor many people will know buck
Steve Gutenberg, which he's not even you know, he's just
trying to help his community. But it is that clip
woind viral. You can see him standing amidst the fire,
trying to help people out and evacuate people who need help.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
And I think that this is it's worth noting that
this is not the first of these kinds of fires
in even recent years. I mean, you can go back
and what was that I'm looking here, Clay at in
twenty twenty there were really rough yeah, you know, wildfires
out by this way. I mean, this is you know,
(10:40):
this is a fire season that this may be the
worst of any individual fire, but rough fire seasons have
been happening for years, and there is an issue of
forestry management and resources because they're putting right, if the
state of California is spending as they are, millions and millions,
I think they've even put you know, in the billions
(11:02):
toward this over time. Yeah, since twenty eleven, this was
from twenty twenty, they've spent six hundred million dollars on
fire prevention efforts. Now, so you could assume now it's
gone up considerably. It's probably over a billion dollars on
fire prevention. And you say, well, what have they been
able to accomplish with this? When the mayor is gone
and when there's no water in the no water for
(11:26):
the fire hoses from the hydrants, and the evac efforts
are hamstrung by a lack of necessary personnel. What are
people supposed to say? I've also seen, and this is troubling,
just to add on to all of this, that people
lost their fire coverage.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Have you seen this play?
Speaker 6 (11:45):
There's these comments online at least people have lost fire
coverage for their houses in just the months before this.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, and so people.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
There are going to be people who have Now you know,
this is where now does the federal government declare there's
some kind of a national emergency situation. I mean, what
ends up or if you a federal emergency situation, what
ends up happening here remains to be seen.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
But it's a disaster.
Speaker 6 (12:08):
It's a mess, and if you know, first and foremost
thoughts in perse everybody affected by it, and we hope
everybody gets out safe, and then I think there does
need to be a conversation about accountability for the state authorities,
not the firefighters who are out there risking their lives
and taking in smoke and everything. By all accounts, they've
been doing incredible work. And the fire teams they have
(12:30):
are are phenomenal that are trying to fight these things
and trying to, you know, prevent this from getting even
worse than it is. But at the top management level
of dealing with really it's a forestry issue, right, I mean,
that's what it comes down to. I think more than
anything else, the dry kindling, the tinder, and the underbrush.
Are they spending enough time on this? Are they bowing
(12:51):
to the environmentalist concerns that just demand you don't touch stuff.
Those are valid questions when people are turning around and
looking at how could something like this happen and get
so out of control?
Speaker 2 (13:03):
No doubt, And we're going to continue to take your calls.
We'll play some of these cuts again. To Buck's point,
this was a very foreseeable tragedy, and are the people
of Los Angeles being served by the best possible representatives
that could be dealing with this tragedy right now? I
think the answers no, And certainly the mayor didn't know
this was going to happen. But why in the world
(13:24):
is the mayor of Los Angeles that an African inauguration ceremony?
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (13:29):
I mean I would just also say, Clay, we know
that California is on a major fault line. You know,
I if California had a I didn't they just had
an earthquake pretty recently, right, But if California had a
relatively modern earthquake and entire buildings were collapsing because the
code didn't actually have them prepared for it, that would
be a lack of preparation, right. I mean, just because
something's a natural disaster, it doesn't mean that you can't say, well,
(13:51):
Hold on a second. Did you you know in Florida
we're prepared for hurricanes all the time. Doesn't mean that
it's going to be perfect. Obviously, you do the best
you can with the response, but you gotta be ready.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
When Rick Caruso is saying that all of our fire
hydrants don't have actual, you know, water in them, I.
Speaker 6 (14:10):
Mean it seems reasonable that the fire hydrants, yeah, should
have water in them.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
That seems reasonable.
Speaker 6 (14:14):
I want to know why that, Why they don't have that,
why they haven't collected the water for that?
Speaker 1 (14:18):
All right, we'll take some of your calls on this.
Speaker 6 (14:19):
We've got a lot of you listening California, so please
do call us, and our sponsor.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
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subscription purchase. We're talking about these terrible wildfires out in
Los Angeles area, Pacific Palisades, very well known, a very
(15:33):
beautiful area, very well known area to people that know the.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Los Angeles terrain.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
A lot of incredibly beautiful homes, a lot of people
and the community there have been there for a long time.
Somebody who's not there right now on our way back,
I believe is the mayor of Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass.
This is Fox eleven reporting on this saying, while Los
Angeles is burning, the mayor, as Clay pointed out, is
in Ghana, Africa.
Speaker 10 (16:00):
Play it you're wondering where is La Mayor Karen Bass.
She's been in Ghana, so she's apparently on her way back.
That's why we have not seen her on the scene.
We saw Governor Newsom at the scene earlier. We know
that President Biden happens to be in town, but we
have not seen him on camera.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
With all of this, I mean, Biden anywhere near my lames,
I don't know they can get away.
Speaker 6 (16:24):
I think they know that no one, not a person
on the planet, would feel better with some Biden with
his aviators on and a mask photo op right now, So.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I think I don't think they're going to do that.
Speaker 6 (16:35):
You've seen Gavin Newsom, though he's starting to, you know,
as if him taking a photo of himself staring at
the fires from a distance makes anyone feel better.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
This guy has mismanaged the state of California. I always
say it. I love it.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
It's paradise in so many ways except for the politics,
except for the people in charge.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
You know, it's funny you mentioned that Buck.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I was out driving around looking at Christmas lights with
my kids in the car recently in my neighborhood where
I live in Nashville area.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Just recently, in.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
The last year and a half two years, you have
suddenly seen USC and UCLA flags going up all over
my neighborhood. Californians are overwhelmingly saying I'm out. I can't
deal with what they're doing there anymore. And you see it,
like just with the teams that they root for out
of nowhere, we started seeing maybe the last basically since
(17:27):
COVID happened, people have been bailing on California. In fact,
I got some data. Maybe we'll hit you with it
later in the show. Did you see the U haul
data on what states people are leaving and what states
people are moving to? I thought it was interesting. Spoiler alert,
California for a fourth straight year leads the nation in
people leaving that state to go somewhere new.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Yeah, oh, that hasn't changed.
Speaker 6 (17:50):
We want to take some of your calls on this
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(18:58):
By the way, texting without a Corolla who lives in
this area. I know many of you listen to his
podcast have consumed a lot of his content over the years.
He's been on the show several times. Comedian He's going
to be on with us at the top of the
next hour to actually tell us what he has been seeing.
I've seen his tweets, he is in close proximity to
(19:19):
some of these fires, so we will get the latest
from there. By the way, several of you calling in
and want to explain we're we're asking a question. I
think it's a legit question. Unfortunately, one that is hyper
important at this point in time. You have fire hydrants
with no actual water in them. According to the man
who was runner up for the mayor of Los Angeles,
(19:42):
who would we played that audio for you just a
little bit ago, Jim and Megalia, California. You work for
a water company up in that area near where the
Paradise fire happened. Why would the fire hydrants not have water?
According to Rick Caruso, who was nearly elected the mayor
of of LA Area, what happened.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Well, what we experienced here was that all the structures
that burnt those were basically services that were wide open,
just running onto the ground. And then all the customers
that had put sprinklers on their roofs or whatever else
to try to prevent their house from burning out, they
had their services open. So you have water means that
(20:26):
are sized to feed the population plus fire prevention, but
all that together it overruns the system.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
So it they just drained.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Your theory is that they have that some of the
people who are trying to keep their houses from being
burned down have just drained the entire water reservoir system
for lack of a better way of describing it, in
that area, so that there is no water for the
firemen to be able to basically pull out.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
Yes, and with like with the town of Paradise losing
over fourteen thousand structures, they were throwing five million gallons
a day at the system and it was just bleeding
out throughout all the empty services. So there was, you know,
nothing that the firefighters could have done because there's there's
no water there. And it's not anybody's fault. It's just
what do you do put? You know, thirty six inch
(21:15):
water means down little streets. That doesn't that doesn't make.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
Any sense than Jim, what do you make of Jam?
I've got a question, what do you make of the criticisms?
I mean, for example, we've got Trump put this out,
he said Governor Gavin Newscomb. Sorry, I'm just reading what
this is what the president wrote, so you know that
this is what he wrote.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Anyway.
Speaker 6 (21:35):
Governor Gavin Newscomb refused to sign the water Restoration Declaration
put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons
of water from excess rain and snow melt from the
north to float daily into many parts of California, including
the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.
Is water mismanagement, from what you can see, a major
(21:57):
problem just leading up to I mean, not just because
of this event we're seeing, but is that just generally
the case that the state of California is mismanaging water.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
I think there is some mismanagement, but you know, it
can come down to you know, infrastructure repair and all that.
But that doesn't seem to be the case in this
In this instance, it doesn't seem like that the infrastructure
is failing. It just seems like there's just no water
because it's just bleeding out somewhere else. I don't think
that the water company they'll have to investigate to make
(22:32):
sure they had you know, power generators that they're pumping
stations to keep water going while the fire is in place.
But it's, like I say, I think it's just.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Just it sounds like you're telling us it's just too
I mean, this fire is too big, too fast, and
you're gonna run out of water. I mean, there's just
no realistic way to have enough water to fight this.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Is that fair?
Speaker 4 (22:53):
That's yeah, that's what That's what we encountered here in
the Paradise Micguellia area was it was just it overrun us.
It was just too much to try to keep up with.
Speaker 6 (23:04):
Thank you so much, Jim for calling in bringing that
expertise from working at the water company. And stay safe
up there in California. Thank you, Craig in Columbia, South Carolina,
used to live in so cal.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
What's up, Craig, Well, thank you, but thank you.
Speaker 8 (23:18):
Buckley, take it by call. I live at Burbank, California,
graduated Burbank High which is in right next to what's
called the Verdugo Hill which periodically caught on fire. And
the issue is La City was written up by the
La Times within the last couple of years, where water
(23:41):
leaks from their pipes eight billion gallons of water a
year and nothing has been done to fix that infrastructure.
They were at that time. The issue was how do
we retain the water we have? And they came up
with something called shade balls, and I suggest you look
up with that nonsense. But the reaction is they lack
(24:01):
water every year. If you notice that the rose bowl
that it's always tends to be clear air every year
from probably early December to late February, they have a
condition called Santa Ana winds, which blows at about somewhere
between a low of thirty miles an hour coming down
the canyons from the desert, to as much as seventy
miles an hour. I used to be a flight instructor
(24:23):
in the place called Silmar, and we took off at
this time of year to the north because that's where
the winds came from, and I could take off in
a small Sessma. Usually took off at about seventy miles
an hour and actually fly backwards over the ground after
I took off. Oh wow, the winds book Yeah, yeah,
the wind blow that strong below the canyon. So if
(24:43):
you have a fire, okay, how do you get water there?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
You can't?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Craig, why did you leave? Why did you leave Southern California?
You live in Columbia, South Carolina. You moved across the
whole country. Sounds like you love the place. It's a
beautiful place. Why was your decision made to leave a
lot of Californians. In the last four or five years,
in unprecedented numbers have been moving elsewhere. You particular why.
Speaker 8 (25:09):
I left in nineteen eighty eight job issues. I was
at the point of my career where I was working
in banking, and I have one career next. My next
career job was to go back to work in the headquarters,
and I detested that, so I left banking completely. I
went to work for my largest customer, who had a
plant in Mississippi. So I moved and people around me.
(25:30):
I lived on the beach.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I was gonna say, I bet there's not a lot
of people who moved from a beach in California to Mississippi.
I'm just guessing that's not a traditional travel path.
Speaker 8 (25:42):
My friends thought I had lost my mind. Trust me,
they all said, what, You're going to Mississippi. Yes, And
I lived about three hundred two hundred miles from the
ocean in Mississippi. I eventually built a house on a
big lake there in Tennessee, so I know both Tennessee
and Mississippi. I live. If you look at the map
the state of Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, the state lines all
(26:03):
intersected about a mile from the house at the lake
I lived out then I've been from there to Baltimore,
and I moved here to South Carolina about twenty seven
years ago. Never look back. In fact, South Carolina today
reminds me of what California was like back in the
early sixties. So, I mean, it's just crazy what's going on.
But and I do see a lot of California license
(26:23):
plate yeah, which is even more hilarious. But the issue
out there really is more management of infrastructure. It's not
rocket science. The place used to be called a valley
of smokes by the Indians. Why because it was always
forest fires. Oh okay, what do you need to do?
Clean out the deadwood? And that's been prohibited for decades.
(26:46):
I think.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Yeah, we tray have a clip clip from Trump thank
you for the call, by the way, And it's interesting
he mentioned this book. Do you know the number one
city that people state that people are moving to according
to U Haul South Carolina, where he lives now, and
he said it reminds him of California and sixties. And
you know the number one state that people are moving
from California. That's a little bit of a tease. I
think we have the clip from Trump talking about how
(27:08):
they need to do a better job of trying to
pull down the debris in southern California to try to
stop the spread of wildfires.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Go we play that, guys.
Speaker 11 (27:16):
I know Gavin's committed. We're all committed. I'm committed to
make sure that we get all of this cleaned out
and protected. We've got to take care of the floors,
you know, the floors of the forests very important. You
look at other countries where they do it differently, and
it's a whole different story. I was with the president
(27:36):
of Finland and he said, we have much different We're
a forest nation. You called it a forest nation, and
they spend a lot of time on drinking and cleaning
and doing things, and they don't have any problem. And
when it is, it's a very small problem.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
I remember Trump getting ridiculed for this back when it happened.
I think that clip is from twenty eighteen after the
Paradise fire. Interestingly enough, and forest management evidently is not
as aggressive because of environmental concerns associated with bringing down,
as you said, buck underbrush in these communities, and so
(28:14):
it allows there to sometimes be standing brush, which is
oftentimes the fuel that can help to propel the fire
to become as substantial as it is.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
I'm going to join us, he with us.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
No, well, at the top of the next hour, I
was gonna say, but Jimmy, one more call here, Jimmy
and Santa Barbara, which got for us.
Speaker 12 (28:35):
Good morning, clan Buck. I'm one of the conservative holdouts
here and proud to be a resident of the state
that had Ronald Rake and as governor. We have the
Rake and Ranch here and the Presidential Library here, and
there still are a lot of conservatives in California, you have,
(28:56):
believe it or not, but we're trying to, you know,
hold out here, and we're just up against so much
government regulation and taxes that we're just we're getting caught up.
We've got to have a revolt. We gotta take back California.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Thank you for the call.
Speaker 6 (29:14):
Yeah, I mean, you know, Gavin Newsom somehow managed to
stay as governor even after the recall efforts. So California
has got a ways to go, uh politically, And I
don't know, especially for people that live in some of
the major cities in California, you would think that the
mismanagement San Francisco, mismanagement Los Angeles. Uh, just the poor
(29:35):
leadership and the suffering of those communities that have resulted
from bad decisions, the crime problems, all this, you would
think that there would be a much greater political backlash,
in my opinion, than there has been, but so far
that has has not really been the case, although there
have been some movements toward a little bit of accountability
(29:56):
and more Republicans getting elected in California that resulted in
some house seat pickups. But you know, right now, Clay,
it just looks like, I mean, first of all, everyone's
still trying to figure out what's you know, what's the
full the full damage and containing everything and dealing with
this this strategy as it unfolds. But there is no
(30:16):
sense that there's competent leadership at the very top, and
that makes everything, i think higher anxiety and perhaps adds
to the sense that this is going to be a
particularly devastating fire, which is it's a tragedy all around.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
To his point, By the way, Buck, in twenty twenty four,
California had six point one million Trump voters, so one
of the top states for Trump support in the entire nation.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Obviously, it's a huge population state.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Texas had six point four million, so California had almost
as many Trump voters as the state of Texas. In
twenty twenty California actually had more Trump voters than the
state of Texas. Now, again, population numbers are huge, uge
in California, but there are still a lot of Republicans,
about forty percent of the state that voted for Donald
(31:07):
Trump in twenty twenty four. But yes, and obviously the
success that we have with this show, which we think
all of you in California, we have a monster audience
all throughout the state, is a testament.
Speaker 6 (31:19):
I think it's our second biggest listening state after Texas.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
I think Texas is number one, in California's number two.
I believe, I have to check. I think you're probably
right on recently, but.
Speaker 6 (31:29):
I also think, you know, you see what has happened
in California, and it's fair to ask. I'm not talking
about the fire specifically, just the way that it's been mismanaged.
It's fair to ask what would it take for some
of these people in California to see Bill Maher was
asked recently would you vote Republican?
Speaker 1 (31:47):
And he said no, never yeah, I sit here and.
Speaker 6 (31:49):
I go, well, what, why do you think anything will change?
You know, this is a little bit of the definition
of insanity, right. The people that recognize that there's problems
in that state that need to be addressed, put the
same people with the same ideas and the same approach
in positions of power to handle it, and they wonder
(32:10):
why it doesn't get better. It's a one party state now,
I mean this is I know there's a lot of
Republicans there, but Democrats want a California America. We all
know that that's the whole that's the long term plan.
So you know, it's it's concerning.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Blue states and blue cities combined is disaster for voters.
You know, there are some red states with some blue
cities in that's fine. There are obviously a lot of
red states that are just deep red. But again, Californians
made the choice to have I think poor governance, and
they keep doubling and tripling down on it. Rick Crusoe,
I think we'd be doing a better job of dealing
(32:44):
with what is admittedly an awful tragedy and cataclysmic, catastrophic
event right now in the LA area for many people.
I think you'd be doing a better job in care
in Bass. For one thing, he'd actually be in the
country as opposed to attending the Ghana an auguration. I mean,
which is, let's be honest, super weird.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
The people I just wanted to do the people of
Los Angeles pay for that trip? I mean, really, are
you paying? Question? I would? I don't know, but I'd
be very curious to know.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
I mean, I mean, what in the world reason could
there be for the mayor of Los Angeles to be
going to the inauguration of a Ghana president. It's not
like there's some huge overlap between Ghana and LA right,
I mean, it's not like they have some monstrous trade partnership. Look,
we all stockpile keepsakes in our home, items of sentimental meaning,
old photos, good examples, video cassettes, film reels, especially at
(33:37):
the end now of the holiday season, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years.
How many new great family memories did you make? Probably
a lot, hopefully a lot, and you probably made them
on your phones digitally, and you've probably been sharing that
with your friends and family digitally. Oh, look how much
the kids grew Here they are in front of the
Christmas tree.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
This year.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Oh look, Grandma and Grandpa getting deposed with the kids.
My goodness, it's an amazing photo. It's an heirloom for
you and your family. But what about the ones from
the eighties and the nineties. They're not preserved because oftentimes
they're on vhs. They're old photos. They haven't been digitally preserved.
Speaker 6 (34:21):
Welcome back into Clay and Buck. We've got Cracket Coffee,
my friends, for all of you. Go to Crocketcoffee dot com.
We're hoping to have a huge twenty twenty five. Twenty
twenty four is a great first year for this fantastic
American coffee brand. Number ten percent of our profits goes
to tell at the Towers Foundation. Also, you can get
a still signed copy of Clay's American Playbook use code book.
(34:44):
Go to Crocketcffee dot com. Please subscribe. We've got light Roast,
Medium Roast, Delicious Blends. It's a company that you are
all building with us, and we appreciate each and every
one of you who drinks a Delicious cup. Actually ran
downstairs to brew some in the commercial break there, so
I gotta go get it.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
In a second. I want to also read this real quick.
Speaker 6 (35:01):
We've got Adam Carolla is going to call us to
talk to us about what he's seeing and hearing as
a Los ANGELESO, and you know, just bring us.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Up a speed there.
Speaker 6 (35:10):
But I read part of this before Trump's tweet. Governor
Gavin Newskim refused to sign the water restoration Declaration and
he said he wanted to protect it essentially worthless fish
called a smelt by giving it less water, it didn't work,
but didn't care about the people of California. Now the
ultimate price is being paid. Clay Trump not holding back
(35:31):
at all on this one, going right after the poor
leadership of California.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Yeah, I mean, I think it again goes into these
are imminently foreseeable fires. As awful as they are, we've
seen them for decades throughout the history of Los Angeles.
How is the City of Los Angeles preparing for them?
Do any people think that the city and the state
have done a phenomenal job it appears to be. The
answer is no. We're going to continue to update you.
(35:56):
We'll ask Adam Carolla about this. He's right there on
the scene. Will join us top of the next hour.
We appreciate all of you spending your Wednesday with us
here on clay and buck
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
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Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
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