Spencer Pratt is the Hero We Didn't Know We Needed

Summary

Podcast Summary
Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone
Episode: "Spencer Pratt is the Hero We Didn't Know We Needed"
Date: May 12, 2026

Episode Overview
In this engaging episode, Sasha Stone explores how Spencer Pratt, a figure best known from reality TV, unexpectedly emerges as a political force and cultural truth-teller in Los Angeles. Using Dirty Harry (1971) as a metaphor, Stone positions Pratt as an outsider attacking entrenched political power, particularly the left-leaning leadership of LA, and refusing to conform to media narratives. Via direct quotes, AI-generated campaign snippets, and firsthand emotional accounts, the episode interrogates the failures around homelessness, public safety, accountability, and the disconnect between political elites and ordinary residents.

The tone is urgent, candid, and sometimes darkly humorous, with Stone both critiquing LA’s political establishment and empathizing with those affected by its failures.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Dirty Harry Analogy & Political Context

• Sasha Stone opens by comparing Spencer Pratt’s emergence to the arrival of Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood, 1971), suggesting LA desperately needed an outsider to speak hard truths ([00:43]):
  • “Just as audiences didn’t know how much they needed Dirty Harry until he showed up...residents had no idea how much they needed Spencer Pratt until they saw him face off against...Karen Bass and Nithya Rahman.”

Pratt Confronts LA Leadership Directly

• Stone reviews a heated debate where Pratt challenges Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman on mismanagement of firefighting resources, homelessness policy, and public safety ([01:04]–[04:51]):
  • “The thousand firefighters that were available, but there was no engines for them because of the $17 million that Chief Crowley had asked the mayor for...Mayor Karen Bass denied it...They may have been available, but they didn't have the equipment they needed.” — Spencer Pratt ([01:04])
  • On encampments: “Of course. We do not want encampments in front of schools, parks, daycare. I don't want vehicles.” — Spencer Pratt ([03:11])
  • On the Inside Safe housing program: “Inside safe makes all of us outside unsafe. The reality is, no matter how many beds you give these people, they are on super meth, they are on fentanyl...93% of this is a drug addiction problem.” — Spencer Pratt ([03:28])
• Raman pushes back, claiming she’s the real reformer, but is boxed in by binary questions and media pressure ([04:28]).
• Pratt addresses accusations of political collusion: “First off, Mayor Bass and I are definitely not working together. I blame this person for burning my house and my parents house and my town and all my neighbors down.” ([04:51])

AI, Media, and the New Populism

• Stone highlights the role of viral, AI-generated political content in amplifying Pratt’s message and circumventing institutional media ([08:05]–[10:52]):
  • “This is AI at a grassroots level, but in its own way, it’s also artful commentary, the kind we never see aimed at the left.” — Sacha Stone ([09:16])
• AI “ads” lampoon hollow policy responses and expose elite hypocrisy, using biting satire and caricature of LA’s leadership ([08:05]–[10:52]).
  • “Look, if you were a transgender migrant, I could get you a free pussy.” — Spencer Pratt, AI video ([08:05])

Populist Frustration & Demand for Accountability

• Stone underscores how residents feel abandoned by a political class living behind gates, oblivious to crime and squalor:
  • “They don't have to live in the mess they've created. Where you live. This is where I live. They let my home burn down.” — Spencer Pratt ([05:48])
• Stone reflects, “He spoke truths no one in the Democratic Party ever could or would because they don't have to...no one ever holds them accountable for the problems in a city overrun by crime, drugs and homelessness. Until now.” ([06:21])
• Notably, a League of Women Voters debate was canceled after Pratt’s performance, Stone argues, because the establishment could not withstand such candid confrontation ([06:21]).

Despair and Humanity in the Fire’s Aftermath

• The most emotional section is an exchange that chronicles the aftermath of the Pacific Palisades wildfires. Stone and Pratt detail the loss, grief, and the exhaustion of trying to recover ([15:10]–[17:24]).
  • “So emotional. I can, like, hardly breathe.” — Sacha Stone ([15:19])
  • “I don't think you're going to. There's no way. It's not. Nobody's supposed to be dealing with what you're dealing with at your age, at any age. But I don't think you need to have the pressure of pulling yourself together. Cry all you...Whatever gets you through the day.” — Spencer Pratt ([17:07])
• Pratt’s sincerity, shaped by personal loss, stands in contrast to the celebrity-activist stereotype: “Not exactly the kind of leader people...have in mind for a leader. But his sincerity shines through. This is personal. We can feel it.” — Sacha Stone ([17:37])

Homelessness, Public Safety, and Policy Failure

• Stone and Pratt spotlight the grim reality of homeless encampments, crime near schools, and the futility of existing policies ([21:50]–[25:08]).
  • Comparison to national benchmarks highlights the severe scale: “Detroit...sits at 2,000 [crimes per 100,000]. Chicago, around 3,000. Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles quadruples Detroit’s crime rate...Five people die here every single day...” ([24:06])
  • On public truth-telling: “There are so many rich people in LA willing to give them money. Why would they give it up? And this you are not even allowed to think or say, lest you be condemned as heartless.” ([25:08])

Animal Welfare and the Overlooked Consequences

• Pratt points out the suffering of animals caught up in LA’s social collapse ([26:32]):
  • “Nobody’s going to be living on the streets with dogs because it’s illegal to live on the streets...We’re going to stop the illegal breeders and we’re going to fund the shelters...” — Spencer Pratt ([26:32])

A City Divided: Wealth, Neglect, and Reform

• Stone describes LA as “the tale of two cities”—a metropolis where the privileged are distant from the chaos affecting ordinary residents ([27:22]).
• “He wants to clean up the streets...He wants the streets, parks and schools to be safe for kids and families. And he wants to save the dogs. Do we hear any of the Democrats talking about this?” — Sacha Stone ([27:22])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “You’ve got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?” — Spencer Pratt, channeling Dirty Harry ([00:23])
• “Inside safe makes all of us outside unsafe.” — Spencer Pratt ([03:28])
• “You didn’t finish burning the city to the ground in your first turn. Make sure you finish the job in your second.” — Spencer Pratt, in AI video ([10:30])
• “He has the moms. He has Democrats and conservatives backing him. They call him maga, but he really isn’t. He’s the first politician who is genuinely attempting to run a nonpartisan campaign and actually reach across the aisle.” — Sacha Stone ([20:13])
• “I will not serve either party. I will work with anyone who wants to help the city. No labels necessary.” — Spencer Pratt, from his tweet ([20:13])
• “His voice is urgent in a time of complacency. He sees the problems the left ignores. He speaks the truth when everyone else parrots the comforting lies.” — Sacha Stone ([12:52])

Historical Resonance: Crime, Silence, and the Lessons of Dirty Harry

• Stone draws a historical parallel between today’s LA and the 1970s era that produced vigilante heroes; both responded to elite denial and grassroots fear ([11:38]–[13:19]):
  • “If critics of the 1970s thought Dirty Harry was fascist, as Pauline Kael did, Ordinary Americans, Nixon's silent majority, felt seen. And now residents of Los Angeles...might feel seen in the passionate messaging of Spencer Pratt.” ([11:38])

Case Study: The Lily Burke Tragedy

• The murder of Lily Burke (2009) is discussed as a symbol of policy failure and the city’s unwillingness to confront uncomfortable truths ([29:11]–[30:18]).

Closing Thoughts: A New Kind of Hero

• Stone concludes that Pratt’s nonpartisan, truth-telling campaign fills a cultural and political void, offering hope to those exhausted by performative politics and demanding urgent reform ([31:36]).
• The episode closes with a playful yet pointed version of “I Need a Hero,” thematically reinforcing the need for courageous outsiders ([32:47]).

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction & Dirty Harry Analogy – 00:00–00:43
• Debate Highlights: Fires, Homelessness, Encampments – 01:04–04:51
• Pratt’s Direct Challenge to Bass and Raman – 04:51–05:48
• Critique of Media, Party, and the Cancelled Debate – 06:21–10:52
• AI-Generated Campaign Moments – 08:05–10:52
• Emotional Aftermath of Wildfires & Personal Reflections – 15:10–17:24
• Policy Failures, Crime, and Urban Reality – 21:50–27:22
• Animal Welfare and Homelessness – 26:32
• Tale of Two Cities & the Lily Burke Story – 27:22–30:18
• Closing Reflections and the Call for True Heroes – 31:36–32:47

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In sum, "Spencer Pratt is the Hero We Didn’t Know We Needed" positions its subject as both a populist catalyst and a cultural mirror, reflecting LA’s unaddressed problems and challenging the comfort of its elite. The episode is part impassioned essay, part debate highlight reel, and it compels listeners to reconsider who is fit to lead—and what political courage looks like in today’s America.

Transcript

[Sacha Stone]

Hi, this is Free Thinking through the Fourth Turning. I'm Sacha Stone. Spencer Pratt is the hero we didn't know we needed. It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's Pratt. Summer,

[News Reporter]

I know what you're thinking.

[Spencer Pratt]

Did he fire six shots or only five?

[Sacha Stone]

Well, to tell you the truth, in

[Spencer Pratt]

all this excitement, I've kind of lost track myself. But, ian, this is a.44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off. You've got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?

[Sacha Stone]

Just as audiences didn't know how much they needed Dirty Harry until he showed up on a movie screen in 1971, residents of Los Angeles had no idea how much they needed Spencer Pratt until they saw him face off against two of the leading candidates for mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass and Nithya Rahman.

[Spencer Pratt]

To the Mayor Karen Bass. The thousand firefighters that were available, but there was no engines for them because of the $17 million that Chief Crowley had asked the mayor for nine weeks before. And Mayor Karen Bass denied it. So they may have been available, but. But they didn't have the equipment they needed. Not to mention Janice Quinones, who Mayor Karen Bass put into her position of power at the ladwp. She drained both of these reservoirs that these firefighters needed to put out these fires. A lot of people talk about climate change and hurricane force winds. The winds in the Pacific Palisades never reached higher than 40 miles per hour. For those first six hours, they didn't go above 27 miles per hour. So without those two reservoirs filled with 117 million gallons and 5 million gallons, these firefighters had to fly all the way to Malibu and Encino to get water. So that, to me, is the most dangerous thing that the Mayor put us

[Sacha Stone]

up against to end the Needle Run giveaway program. So my question, Mayor, first of all to you, yes or no? It's run by the city, The City

[Nithya Raman]

Run Needle program, right?

[Sacha Stone]

Yes or no? Yes. Councilmember Raman.

[Nithya Raman]

No.

[Sacha Stone]

Mr. Pratt?

[Spencer Pratt]

Absolutely no needles and pipes for drug addicts on the street, ever.

[Sacha Stone]

Next question. Do you support the ordinance that restricts encampments in front of schools or daycare centers? Mayor Bass, I'm gonna start with you. Yes or no?

[Karen Bass]

Yes.

[Sacha Stone]

Ms. Rahman, yes or no?

[Nithya Raman]

You know, I support keeping our streets safe. I did vote against the structure of this particular ordinance, and it is because at its best, it's a yes or no. It does not the way this ordinance was structured.

[Sacha Stone]

It's a yes or no. It does not.

[Nithya Raman]

It does not keep our children safe. It does not keep our children safe.

[Spencer Pratt]

No, what I was saying is she's fighting because she doesn't think there's a difference between 1 foot or 500ft for kids. Safety with drug addicts with machetes in front of that.

[Nithya Raman]

Yes or no?

[Spencer Pratt]

Of course. We do not want encampments in front of schools, parks, daycare. I don't want vehicles. Mayor, you had talked about inside safe. Let's go into that a little bit.

[Sacha Stone]

You advocate for what some have called get help or get out of the way. What is that and how do you do it?

[Spencer Pratt]

I don't know who made up that name. First off, let's. I just want to say Councilwoman Robin acts like she doesn't have any authority with this homelessness. She was the third most powerful person in city council. She runs the homeless housing thing. She acts like this is just Mayor Bass. First off, inside safe. I like to say inside safe makes all of us outside unsafe. The reality is, no matter how many beds you give these people, they are on super meth, they are on fentanyl. The DEA statistics says 93% of this is a drug addiction problem. Nithya, Councilwoman Robins plan for treatment first. I will go below the Harbor Freeway tomorrow with her and we can find some of these people she's going to offer treatment for. She's going to get stabbed in the neck. These people do not want a bed. They want fentanyl or super meth. These ideas cost us over $400 million to house. What did he say? 3,000 people for 400 million is absolute failure for both of them. They're a team.

[Nithya Raman]

I just. I want to just say to everybody who's watching today, you're going to watch today as Mayor Bass and Spencer Pratt attack me because they want to run against each other in the general election. Each of them thinks that running against each other is what's going to help them win. And they don't want to run against me because my ideas, which are based on real results in my district, which are based on real data.

[Spencer Pratt]

First off, Mayor Bass and I are definitely not working together. I blame this person for burning my house and my parents house and my town and all my neighbors down. I am not working with Mayor Bass. Second off, if I wanted to run against anybody, it would be the council member who is terrible. Mayor Bass has at least been a mayor for almost four years and has, as she talked about earlier, the unions, all the unions endorse Mayor Bass. You think it's easier to run against the incumbent mayor with all the unions or a random city council member who's been a failure for six years. I would much rather run against Councilwoman Rahman.

[Sacha Stone]

Thank you very much, Bass. And Rahman couldn't even answer simple questions like whether illegal immigrants should be able to vote or whether there should be homeless encampments outside elementary schools. And every time the camera cut to Pratt, his reaction was always the same. You've got to be kidding me. Here is a Spencer Pratt video.

[Spencer Pratt]

This is where Mayor Vass lives. You notice something? Or here, where Nithya Raman's three million dollar mansion sits. They don't have to live in the mess they've created. Where you live. This is where I live. They let my home burn down. I know what the consequences of failed leadership are. That's why I'm running for mayor. For my sons and and the rest of us Angelenos that want to stop these corrupt politicians from destroying our city. We are going to get the golden age of Los Angeles back.

[Sacha Stone]

He spoke truths no one in the Democratic Party ever could or would because they don't have to. They are never asked hard questions they don't already know the answers to. And they're never challenged so directly as they were by Spencer Pratt. They're also protected by the legacy media, by Hollywood, by late night comedy. As long as they properly virtue signal and obey the rules of Woketopia, no one ever holds them accountable for the problems in a city overrun by crime, drugs and homelessness. Until now. Pratt wiped up the floor with Bass and Rahman. So much so that they've now dropped out of a debate by the League of Women Voters that would have been held on May 13. Now it's been canceled because someone somewhere told them they will do better if they employ the Biden basement. Stay out of sight. Let the system win the election. The Democrats in Hollywood have the same problem. They can't tell the truth. Just as in 1971 when Dirty Harry sliced through the pretense like a hot knife through ice cream, so too has Spencer Pratt gotten our attention with his innovative campaign and simple common sense messaging in an entertaining, imaginative way. True AI might be the beginning of the end, but the way Pratt uses it has expanded the possibilities. Here are some AI videos made for Spencer Pratt. Please, I'm begging you. There's homeless drug addicts in front of the schools. My children aren't safe.

[Spencer Pratt]

Look, if you were a transgender migrant, I could get you a free pussy.

[Sacha Stone]

Let's move the drug addicts closer. Bass Already solved crime. I endorse her.

[Karen Bass]

Next,

[Spencer Pratt]

Please. I just want to rebuild my home. It's been over a year.

[Sacha Stone]

Mom, look. This is a machine. If we want to burn this town to the ground, Throw that.

[Spencer Pratt]

I feel so close. You can do it, Spencer.

[Sacha Stone]

Now, I'm Karen Bass, and I'm running on my accomplishments.

[Spencer Pratt]

Los Angeles on fire. Mayor nowhere to be found.

[Sacha Stone]

We were so prepared for wildfires. I didn't even have to be in the country when the town burned. I've addressed the homeless problem. Now most of them won't stab you as long as you don't make eye contact. Our climate change policy is so strong, we've brought down energy use in the Palisades by 99%. Almost none of the needles in children's playgrounds have AIDS on them. If you like the last four years, you're going to love the next four for Vote Bass. With the help of Charles Curran, whose studio is responsible for many of these, we can now see how useful AI can be for creating an effective viral campaign ad without the heavy lift of an entire production company and millions of dollars in campaign funds. This is AI at a grassroots level, but in its own way, it's also artful commentary, the kind we never see aimed at the left.

[Spencer Pratt]

You didn't finish burning the city to the ground in your first turn. Make sure you finish the job in your second.

[Sacha Stone]

The only thing that can stop us is someone telling the truth. As long as they don't have any hope, the city's ours.

[Spencer Pratt]

Nobody's ever done this before. No one's ever spoken truth to power in la. If one man's brave enough to think things can change, everyone will realize things can change. You need to stop him.

[Nithya Raman]

Our children deserve to be safe.

[News Reporter]

You had 20 years to fix things.

[Sacha Stone]

Enough is enough. AI now in Pratt's hands, poses an unpredictable threat to the opposition, who will figure it out soon enough. But it's also a threat to Hollywood for the same reasons. It doesn't have to be politically correct or rely on partisan celebrities to approve the messaging. AI also cuts through the noise, like Dirty Harry, like Spencer Pratt, because it represents freedom at a time of extreme oppressive micromanaging over all culture and film. Especially Dirty Harry was politically incorrect. But it told the truth at a time when most people were too afraid to talk about the soft on crime policies in the wake of the counterculture revolution. Too many rapes and serial killers on the rise, too many hippies, the Zodiac killer, the Manson murders. Crime was everywhere. Yet the culture of the time wasn't exactly tuned in. If critics of the 1970s thought Dirty Harry was fascist, as Pauline Kael did, Ordinary Americans, Nixon's silent majority, felt seen. And now residents of Los Angeles, many of them too poor to afford homes in the gated communities of the rich and famous who fund mayor Karen Bass, might feel seen in the passionate messaging of Spencer Pratt. His voice is urgent in a time of complacency. He sees the problems the left ignores. He speaks the truth when everyone else parrots the comforting lies. Here is another Pratt video.

[Spencer Pratt]

Turns out it's a lot easier to fight fires when there's water in the reservoirs.

[Sacha Stone]

We're even allowed to arrest criminals now

[Spencer Pratt]

with handcuffs and everything.

[Sacha Stone]

I don't have to wonder anymore whether I just stepped in human or dog. So that's nice.

[Spencer Pratt]

I only see needles in the hospital now.

[Sacha Stone]

Who knew it could be this way? I love going to the park now that it's not an open drug market.

[News Reporter]

Okay, who here is willing to admit that common sense actually turned out to be good?

[Nithya Raman]

I feel safe walking her.

[Sacha Stone]

She's definitely having a Pratt summer.

[Spencer Pratt]

Who's having a Pratt summer?

[Sacha Stone]

Los Angeles has been neglected for far too long. With the wildfires that burned down Pratt's home becoming the tipping point, it was time for someone to rise up and say enough is enough. They don't know how to deal with a shooting star like Pratt. And when the Democrats try to dismiss him as a fame hungry reality star, he hits them with something moving and undeniable. The thing I. I am concerned and

[Spencer Pratt]

feel about him is that I feel

[Sacha Stone]

like he's exploiting the grief of people in the Palisades, and I think that's incomprehensible. He is about his own celebrity. He's famous now. Again.

[Karen Bass]

Hi.

[Spencer Pratt]

Oh, my gosh. That's good.

[Sacha Stone]

How are you?

[Spencer Pratt]

I'll throw it in the trash. I don't need a new one. We're gonna go.

[Sacha Stone]

Yeah. Good, Good. So emotional. I can, like, hardly breathe.

[Spencer Pratt]

Oh, this is. It is pretty cool. Better than just dirt.

[Sacha Stone]

Oh, Spencer, this is beautiful. Oh, my gosh.

[Spencer Pratt]

Could be worse. Could be worse. How are you enjoying your new rental? Okay, well.

[Sacha Stone]

So emotional. I feel like all I do is cry.

[Spencer Pratt]

You do? Well, I understand why.

[Sacha Stone]

I just really wish we could have sold our lot and bought a house in Santa Monica on Montana. So I really wish. The Palisades is just so depressing.

[Spencer Pratt]

It'll be a lot easier to sell the house you build on a lot than selling just a lot. So there's way more chance for it to buy a Brand new. Nobody's lives in house than a dirt lot. So if that's what you decide in a year.

[Karen Bass]

Yeah.

[Spencer Pratt]

Way more chance to sell that than dirt.

[Sacha Stone]

Yeah. Cuz the Palisades isn't going to come back for a long time.

[Nithya Raman]

Time.

[Sacha Stone]

And it's so depressing. I've got to pull myself together.

[Spencer Pratt]

I don't think you're going to. There's no way. It's not. Nobody's supposed to be dealing with what you're dealing with at your age, at any age. But I don't think you need to have the pressure of pulling yourself together.

[Sacha Stone]

Think.

[Spencer Pratt]

Cry all you. Whatever gets you through the day.

[Sacha Stone]

I love you so much.

[Spencer Pratt]

Key is about his own celebrity.

[Sacha Stone]

Just gotta breathe. He's famous now. Again. It's true that Pratt was the enfant terrible of the mid aughts reality show called the Hills. Not exactly the kind of leader people who shop at Erewhon after doing hot yoga on La Brea have in mind for a leader. But his sincerity shines through. This is personal. We can feel it.

[Karen Bass]

Is this the house? How do you get it out? I want to go in there.

[Sacha Stone]

Shrink.

[Spencer Pratt]

Heidi and I have been through hell together.

[Nithya Raman]

My bad.

[Karen Bass]

Oh, I'm pulling up the covers.

[Spencer Pratt]

No mom should ever have to go through what she's gone through.

[Sacha Stone]

This is the first.

[Karen Bass]

Hummingbird3.

[Spencer Pratt]

You see him right there.

[Sacha Stone]

This was where your bedroom was, remember?

[Karen Bass]

This is mama's room right here.

[Sacha Stone]

Are you okay? No. I think that they're trying to have a good attitude about it. But I did seek on her like almost crying up there. But they're so happy to be home too.

[Karen Bass]

This is my old favorite shovel. Wow.

[Sacha Stone]

This used to be my. Oh, it didn't. There's a piece of it, But I think they're just packing me home. You want to sit right here? I got a gold coat.

[Nithya Raman]

Oh, no.

[Spencer Pratt]

I am constantly in awe of Heidi. She's the most incredible mom to our boys. She's why I fight.

[Sacha Stone]

He says Bass has the unions and the money, but he has the moms. He has Democrats and conservatives backing him. They call him maga, but he really isn't. He's the first politician who is genuinely attempting to run a nonpartisan campaign and actually reach across the aisle. Which is exactly the hero America needs right now. Not just in la, but everywhere. For podcast listeners, a tweet by Spencer Pratt quote, I've been in the public eye most of my life and there isn't any dirt you can find on me that hasn't already been aired. Seems like the only thing people don't know is my voter registration. So here goes. I registered Republican in 2020 and never changed it and I wasn't going to change it now just to check a different box. This is a non partisan race. There will be no D or R next to my name as mayor. I will not serve either party. I will work with anyone who wants to help the city. No labels necessary. End quote. It's hard not to be won over by Spencer Pratt because he is so sincere. All of that manic bluster from the old days of the Hills has clearly been transformed by the trauma of his house burning down and a fire that the city should have been more prepared for. To put it mildly. He is campaigning like he means it. Projecting the kind of urgency many Los Angeles residents feel every day as they watch their government do nothing to change things. Why has no one ever even bothered asking these questions? Because they are too afraid. The problems in LA have been ignored for far too long. The street takeovers that terrorize the working class parts of the city.

[Nithya Raman]

More breaking news this time in downtown

[Sacha Stone]

L. A where one person is wounded after gunfire erupts during an overnight street takeover. This wild random attacks of violence. And more breaking news tonight in the San Fernando Valley, an alleged sexual assault predator on the loose. CBS LA assignment editor Mike Rogers is

[Nithya Raman]

live at the desk and details from police.

[Sacha Stone]

This guy is wanted for multiple attacks, Mike.

[News Reporter]

Multiple attacks in one day. The LAPD accuses this guy of going on a sex assault spree on April 19. Six sexual assaults in the San Fernando Valley over the course of just a few hours. I want to come into my computer here. I want to show you the areas that we are talking about. It all started here in the northeast corner of the San Fernando Valley. Almost in the Granada Hills area to the south.

[Sacha Stone]

Crime and drugs in parks that should be safe for families. MacArthur park has the potential to be one of the prettiest parks in the city.

[News Reporter]

But if you visit it today, this

[Sacha Stone]

is a sampling of what you'll see. This is a forgotten park. Derek Rice has worked nearby for 34 years. When I can imagine how it used to be, I can imagine families walking to the park, kids having fun, running around. Now that's how you see the homeless problem to drug addicts and stuff. 24 hours just hanging out there.

[News Reporter]

A few blocks away we saw Miguel

[Sacha Stone]

who just picked up his six year

[Spencer Pratt]

old daughter from school.

[Sacha Stone]

I asked him about the park.

[News Reporter]

He said

[Sacha Stone]

it's kind of scary because there are a lot of people who are drugged up. And so we are scared to walk through there.

[News Reporter]

Complaints from the community continue weeks after

[Sacha Stone]

Langer's deli across the street threatened to close after nearly 80 years in business. Been complaining about this for ages. Norm Langer blames nearby crime, drug use and mental illness as a reason he's lost a third of his longtime business. It's somewhat out of control. And of course, the 70,000 plus homeless population, only a small percentage of which choose to be sheltered.

[News Reporter]

9,000 crimes per 100,000 residents. Let me put that in perspective for you. Detroit, one of America's most dangerous Cities, sits at 2,000. Chicago, around 3,000. Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles quadruples Detroit's crime rate. And that's just what gets reported. We're talking about 50 square blocks in the heart of one of the richest cities on Earth. 2.71 km2. 78,000 people living in tents under tarps and cardboard boxes. To give you a sense of the density, this area packs 4 times the population density of Manhattan. Except nobody here has an apartment. They have shopping carts. Five people die here every single day, not once in a while, daily. That's 1825 deaths per year in an area smaller than most college campuses. The life expectancy in skid row is 48 years. The national average is 78. People living in this neighborhood lose three decades of life just by being there. The exact boundaries run from 3rd Street.

[Sacha Stone]

Whether you pay money or give food or try to help the people on the street, it almost always comes back to the same hard truth. They are mostly wild things of the street who do not want to follow the rules of shelters, either because they don't allow pets or they don't allow drugs and alcohol, or they can't be inside anywhere without burning the place down. There are so many rich people in LA willing to give them money. Why would they give it up? And this you are not even allowed to think or say, lest you be condemned as heartless. There are decent people in la, people I know who have spent their lives devoted to trying to help. They want the story to be that many of them can't afford to live in a country run by billionaires. But the truth is harder to face. The truth is that many of them should not be on the streets because they're a harm to themselves or to others. The truth is that many of them are extremely mentally ill or lifelong drug addicts. It's so bad now that reports have emerged that addicts are testing dogs to see if the drugs are safe. The dogs are chained the dogs are fighting, the dogs are starving. And for every dog that's well taken care of, there are far more that are being horrifically abused. And Spencer Pratt cares enough to talk about it.

[Spencer Pratt]

Can you talk about what you're doing for the dogs? Oh, we're going to enforce the laws. We're going to make sure these dogs aren't of views. Well, first off, nobody's going to be living on the streets with dogs because it's illegal to live on the streets. So it's going to be real easy to enforce these laws because the sidewalks won't have drug addict zombies living on them anymore when I'm mayor. So. And then what we're going to do is we're going to save this shelter situation and we're going to start by spraying, neutering all these dogs. We're going to stop the illegal breeders and we're going to fund the shelters so that these dogs are not, they say it's a no kill shelter. They're killing these dogs. Every day people send me videos. These dogs have like three days to live. Beautiful, cutest dogs ever. We're done with that. Done. We're done. We're done with.

[Sacha Stone]

The tale of two cities. Los Angeles is two cities in one. The wealthy make movies and drive through their protected gated parking lots, then retreat into the hills to their homes in gated communities. Sunset Boulevard is a showcase for that mask of extreme wealth like Malibu, Beverly Hills and the Platinum Triangle. Spencer Pratt's home was in the wealthy enclave of the Pacific Palisades, which burned to rubble during the wildfires. By all rights, he should be protecting the wealthy who were his neighbors. He's a guy who went to Crossroads after all the school where celebrities send their kids. But that isn't what he's doing. He's speaking now for the everyday residents of the city, whether rich or poor. He wants to clean up the streets. He wants to fix what's broken. He wants the streets, parks and schools to be safe for kids and families. And he wants to save the dogs. Do we hear any of the Democrats talking about this? In 2009, a 17 year old named Lily Burke drove to downtown LA to run an errand for her mother and to practice her driving. She attended one of those expensive private schools in North Hollywood and had a promising future. She was abducted by a registered sex offender with a rap sheet who'd left a treatment facility that day. He demanded that she get him money from the Atmosphere, but she only had a credit card. He smashed her face against the dashboard and slit her throat. Half an hour later, he was drinking beer and smoking crack on skid row before the police even found Burke's body.

[Nithya Raman]

Ash it was a day just like today. A sunny afternoon, in the middle of the afternoon. And Lily Burke was kidnapped right from this area and later killed. You can see that the memorial still remains in her honor. And new questions today about why her killer was out on parole in the first place. 50 year old Charlie Samuel was charged with Lily Burke's murder within 48 hours. Police didn't even have to arrest him. He was already in jail on other charges. In fact, Samuel had a long rap sheet. And according to the LA Times, he could have been prosecuted under the three strikes law, given a long prison sentence and Lily Burke would be alive today. Documents show Samuel was convicted of 10 crimes between 1978 and 2009, including home invasion, robbery, two burglaries, a vehicle theft and various theft and drug offenses.

[Sacha Stone]

She was abducted right here. This should be safe.

[Nithya Raman]

You shouldn't be worried about being here in the middle of the day. Prosecuting career criminals and keeping them behind bars is the battle cry for this rally. Victims Rights advocates placed flowers at the site where Lily Boys Burke was kidnapped. They say if the governor's budget cuts.

[Sacha Stone]

I remember that story. I remember how awkward it was to talk about because the perp was black and Burke was white. But for me, it was a wake up call. I instilled in my daughter the message, do not be a guilty liberal. Protect yourself, be afraid, no matter what. But it was a secret that passed between us, one we could never say out loud. That is what it is like to live as a progressive in la. The problem of crime and homelessness in LA is like the problem of illegal immigration. No one talks about those who are murdered, but that is the baseline of what American citizens deserve. These are crimes that could have been prevented if only we could tell the truth and our politicians had listened. Dirty Harry was a hit. Audiences were hungry for his brand of justice, where the bad guys get what's coming to them. Because Callahan cuts through the bureaucracy and enacts his own brand of justice. America then as now, was shifting away from the wild days of the hippie revolution and toward a more secure, SAFER America. By 1980, with Ronald Reagan and Dirty Harry was only the beginning. Spencer Pratt might not win. Louisiana is as blue as it gets. I don't live there anymore. I wish I did just so I could vote for him. But in a way, it doesn't really change what his presence in politics has Meant to so many of us. Especially those of us in California who know the game and have gotten so sick of playing it. We need more heroes who can speak the truth. Spencer Pratt arrived just in time. Thank you for listening to my podcast, sashastone.com. and if you like my work, please consider leaving a tip. The tip jar is on the main page for becoming a paid subscriber. I know I should be better about putting things behind the paywall, and I do plan on doing that soon. I think I've got a really good idea. But until then, remember to thine own self be true.

[Karen Bass]

Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods? Where's the street wise Hercules to fight arising us? Isn't there a white night upon the fiery steed? Yeah, late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero Till the end of the night Always go Gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast he's gotta be fresh from the fight I need a hero I'm holding out for a hero to be morning light oh, he's gotta be sure and he's gotta be soon he's gotta be larger than life or larger than life. Some were after midnight in my wildest fantasies Some were just beyond my reach to someone reaching back for me Raising under thunder and rising with the heat it's gotta take a superman to sweep me at my feet I need a hero so I'm holding out for a hero to the end of the night oh, he's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast he's gotta be fresh from the fight yeah, give me a hero I'm holding out for a hero Till the morning light oh, he's gotta be sure and he's gotta be soon he's gotta be larger than light A larger than life.