All-In Podcast Episode Summary

Episode Title: Rick Caruso on California’s Collapse: Broken Leadership, LA Wildfire Failures & the Fix
Date: September 30, 2025
Featured Guest: Rick Caruso (developer, civic leader, former LA mayoral candidate)
Hosts/Panelists: Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, David Friedberg

Episode Overview

This episode centers on Rick Caruso's critical perspective regarding California’s and Los Angeles’s leadership, focusing extensively on the recent destructive LA wildfires and the systemic failures that exacerbated the disaster. Through a candid conversation, Caruso outlines what he sees as preventable failures by city leadership, the red tape slowing rebuilding, the deeper roots of civic dysfunction, and prescribes a vision for renewal—whether as mayor or governor. The panel probes Caruso’s experience, ideas for governance, and perspective on homelessness, emergency response, drug policy, and California’s future.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Wildfires: Response, Prevention, and Leadership Failures

• Proactive Action vs. City Inaction
  • Caruso details how his team proactively prepared for fires, contrasting this with City of LA’s lack of preparedness.
  • “Ideology did not save the Palisades. Competency would have. Running this city is running a business for the benefit of the residents.” — Rick Caruso [00:08]
• On Staying in the City
  • Caruso stayed present during the fires, believing leadership requires being on-site.
  • “When you want to be a leader, you should probably be present.” — Rick Caruso [02:21]
• Technical and Logistical Shortcomings
  • Caruso’s properties were built with fire-resistant materials and private resources (water trucks, firefighters) to defend them.
  • Notably, his team ended up lending water and equipment to the LA Fire Department as city infrastructure failed. [03:46]
  • “We were actually loaning water because we were bringing in our water tanks when the water hydrants failed to work.” — Rick Caruso [04:09]
• Disaster Was Preventable
  • Caruso insists the disaster was predictable and preventable. An earlier, smaller fire was not fully extinguished and reignited.
  • “That fire was completely preventable. And if you think I’m wrong ... the damage could have been significantly mitigated.” — Rick Caruso [07:24]
  • Failure to pre-deploy fire resources is called a major oversight.

2. Rebuilding Bottlenecks: Red Tape and Unresponsive City Government

• Remote Work and Delayed Permitting
  • Caruso claims post-COVID city bureaucracy, with plan checkers still working from home, is stalling efforts to rebuild.
  • “You would think the first thing the mayor would do is say, ‘You 10 plan checkers are now out in the Palisades in a construction trailer where the people need you.’ They’re still working out of a home.” — Rick Caruso [04:54]
• Lack of Accountability
  • Caruso attributes inaction to a mix of incompetence, stagnation, and lack of urgency at the municipal level.
  • “There’s a level of incompetence that’s combined with literally a stagnation. And there’s no urgency to do anything.” — Rick Caruso [05:40]

3. Exploring Systemic Blue-State Urban Decline

• Why Are Major Cities Failing?
  • The panel questions whether one-party dominance leads to political complacency.
  • Caruso sees apathy and a lack of civic engagement as enabling entrenched, underperforming leadership.
  • “Not enough people vote and get involved and we don’t hold our elected officials accountable ... What we need to do is get more people active. I don’t care what your political persuasion is, get out and vote.” — Rick Caruso [09:09]

4. Housing, Zoning, and “Reimagining” Los Angeles

• Urban Planning Concerns
  • Caruso pushes back against using disasters as an excuse for opportunistic rezoning or forced low-income housing conversions.
  • “I don’t believe that there should be zoning changes on the backs of people who have lost their homes and their businesses. ... Do everything you can to get people back into their communities.” — Rick Caruso [10:43]
• State-Level Support and Critique
  • Gives Gavin Newsom partial credit (waiving state hurdles for rebuilding), but calls for stronger, faster intervention.

5. Prospects of Leadership: Mayor or Governor?

• The panel prods Caruso on whether he will run for governor or mayor; he remains coy but says he may "give it a try."
• “I think either one can be very effective.” — Rick Caruso [12:49]
• Discussion acknowledges structural political challenges (ballot harvesting, voter ID) to outsider candidacies.
• Panel expresses unanimous support for a Caruso candidacy. [14:13]

6. Caruso’s Business Ethos and Applicability to Public Service

• Caruso traces his success to obsessive customer focus and place-making—aiming not just for profit, but for “enriching lives.”
• “Everybody in our company is going to say, to bring joy and enrich people's lives. ... If you do that, it gives you a platform in business that gives you permission to do things that your competitors are not allowing themselves to do.” — Rick Caruso [15:06]
• He describes transformative details at The Grove and Miramar Resort, flipping perceived liabilities (like a train running through the property) into celebrated amenities.

7. Vision for California: Quality of Life, Housing, and Education

• Caruso critiques California's missed potential and calls for a positive reassertion of leadership:
• “California should lead the nation in everything that we do ... If you say we’re the fourth largest economy in the world, which our elected officials say very often, then act like it.” — Rick Caruso [17:27]

8. Homelessness: Hard Lines and Smarter Spending

• Caruso’s approach: Zero tolerance for street encampments with real investment in housing and services, targeting wasteful spending.
• LA is spending nearly $900,000 per person moved off the streets, which he calls “billions ... wasted.” [18:33]
• “Redirect that to organizations that have incredible track records ... of housing people, giving them the services for mental health and drug addiction.” — Rick Caruso [19:05]
• Immediate crackdown on street drug sales, describing current enforcement as shamefully lax.

9. Drugs, Border Security, and Law Enforcement

• Supports a hardline approach to drugs and secure borders, explicitly endorses federal crackdowns and Biden’s military activation.
• “I think we should actually have secure borders and shut down the drugs 100%. Absolutely.” — Rick Caruso [19:43]
• Cites dangerous conditions for first responders, including homemade booby traps in homeless encampments.

10. Federal Intervention vs. Police Empowerment

• Argues national guard deployment should be “last resort” (except in federal enclaves like DC). Instead, wants full empowerment of local law enforcement.
• “There’s a whole bunch of protocols in the city of Los Angeles that do not allow the cops to do their job.” — Rick Caruso [22:02]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Leadership During Crisis
  “Ideology did not save the Palisades. Competency would have.” — Rick Caruso [00:08]
• On Preventability of Disaster
  “What’s predictable is preventable.” — Rick Caruso [00:08]
• On Bureaucratic Paralysis
  “You have to call 1-800-KAREN BASS. I don’t know the answer.” — Rick Caruso [05:19]
• On Political Apathy and Entrenchment
  “People now that run for office believe they have an office for life. And I think that’s very dangerous.” — Rick Caruso [09:09]
• On Business vs. Civic Impact
  “How great is that? You can actually make changes in public service that makes people’s lives better.” — Rick Caruso [16:57]
• On California’s Future
  “The state of California should lead the nation in everything that we do ... act like [the 4th largest economy].” — Rick Caruso [17:27]
• On Wasteful Homeless Spending
  “We are spending in the city of Los Angeles $900,000 per person that [we’re] moving from the streets. ... There’s billions and billions of dollars wasted.” — Rick Caruso [18:33]
• On Law Enforcement Needs
  “There’s a whole bunch of protocols in the city of Los Angeles that do not allow the cops to do their job. ... Demand that they enforce the law.” — Rick Caruso [22:02]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• LA Wildfires Response and Private Action — [02:11] - [04:21]
• Red Tape and City Bureaucratic Failure — [04:28] - [06:11]
• Systemic Political Issues in Blue Cities — [08:35] - [10:05]
• Urban Planning and “Reimagining” Fears — [10:34] - [11:21]
• Gavin Newsom, State’s Role, and Needed Reforms — [11:29] - [12:44]
• Panel Pushes Caruso to Run for Office — [12:49] - [14:13]
• Caruso’s Business Philosophy as Public Policy — [15:06] - [16:57]
• Vision for California — State of the State — [17:27] - [18:21]
• Homelessness: Policy and Fiscal Critique — [18:33] - [20:09]
• Law Enforcement vs. Federal Intervention — [21:32] - [22:39]

Tone and Takeaways

The conversation is sharp, sometimes sardonic, with a hopeful undercurrent tied to Caruso’s belief in executive competence and optimistic leadership. Recurrent themes include frustration with political inertia, the dangers of complacent one-party rule, and Caruso’s willingness to “give it a try” in upcoming mayoral or gubernatorial contests. For listeners, the episode offers a window into LA (and California’s) policy challenges, the limits of ideology, and the power of experience-driven leadership.