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GUEST WORDS - Los Angeles has a long, combustible history — and it’s flaring up again. The current unrest, driven in part by political grievances, reflects a deeper dysfunction steadily eroding the city’s foundations. Once a cradle of conservatism and the political home of Ronald Reagan, LA has become a hub of resurgent radicalism, and, to many outside its borders, a symbol of why the country turned to a nativist strongman like Donald Trump.
Now, amid the chaos, there is talk that Trump might go beyond the National Guard and deploy the Marines. It’s a characteristically extreme move, but one that, for anyone familiar with LA’s history of protests spiraling into violence and tragedy (as I witnessed during my 40 years there), may not be entirely out of step with the city’s volatile reality.
Often migrants who come to LA find opportunity but also profound disappointment. African Americans who arrived in large numbers during the Thirties and Forties escaped the overt racism of the South, only to encounter a hostile police force and deeply discriminatory housing practices. Their disillusionment erupted in two of the most explosive racial uprisings in American history: the Watts riots in 1965 and the unrest following the Rodney King verdict in 1992.
For many of today’s immigrants, particularly the undocumented, assimilation into the broader society has been difficult. But unlike African Americans in the Sixties, they are also immigrating to a city that no longer provides a lot of opportunity. Latino incomes, adjusted for cost of living, and homeownership rates are among the lowest in the nation. They also remain largely confined to the low-wage economy, including those who ICE arrested the past two days. The violent conflagration that took place at the Paramount Home Depot, a common gathering spot for undocumented laborers, is something that could be repeated elsewhere in the city.
These people deserve our respect and concern, particularly as they work and do not commit street crimes. But there’s also a large criminal element engaging in impromptu streetside rioting by “smash and grab” gangs that involves crews stripping lights of their copper wire, leaving parts of the city in darkness. In addition, the expansion of the troubled transit system has been slowed by persistent violence and vandalism.
To the delight of people like Trump and his Right-wing supporters, LA reflects the failure of progressive governance. Despite pouring billions into public services, the city is facing a growing budget crisis — all while producing less new housing per capita than nearly every other major US metro. Downtown, once the focus of lavish investment in transit and convention infrastructure, has deteriorated into a cautionary tale: a half-finished skyscraper covered in graffiti, encircled by homeless encampments, and surrounded by hollowed-out buildings, some of which have been set on fire.
Nor is the political situation likely to get better soon. Mayor Karen Bass, the city’s Leftist mayor, seems unwilling to even broach the difference between legal and illegal immigration. Meanwhile, the Democratic Socialists of America’s Isabel Jurado, recently elected from East LA, is even worse. Not satisfied with defunding the police, she wants to abolish it too.
In today’s climate, no major political figure in California dares to publicly support the enforcement of immigration laws. Governor Newsom, for instance, has dismissed the presence of the National Guard — even in the face of attacks on government buildings — as unnecessary. This posture reflects not just ideological leanings, but also the influence of California’s most entrenched political force: public employee unions. Some of their leaders have even been accused of obstructing immigration enforcement efforts. Meanwhile, the media, particularly the Los Angeles Times, reliably echoes whatever narrative the protesters promote, blurring the line between coverage and advocacy.
This leaves America’s second-largest city projecting not glamour and prosperity, but chaos and decline. It’s a troubling image at a time when the future is increasingly being built elsewhere, in places willing to rein in their violent or politically unhinged fringes. Until city leaders find the will to restore order, Los Angeles will remain exactly what Trump needs: a case study in dysfunction that feeds his crude but potentially effective political strategy.
(Joel Kotkin is a Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University and a Senior Research Fellow at the Civitas Institute, the University of Texas at Austin. This article was first published on UnHeard.)
