How Blue Cities Collapse: California’s Warning To America

Summary

Keeping It Real: Conversations with Jillian Michaels
Episode: How Blue Cities Collapse: California’s Warning To America
Release Date: August 12, 2025

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of "Keeping It Real: Conversations with Jillian Michaels," host Jillian Michaels engages in a robust discussion with author Chris Moritz about his provocative new book, "Failed State: A Portrait of California in the Twilight of an Empire." The conversation delves deep into California's transformation from the emblematic "Golden State" to what Moritz describes as a "failed state," exploring the multifaceted issues plaguing the region and serving as a cautionary tale for the rest of America.

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California's Decline: A Portrait of a Failed State

Jillian Michaels opens the dialogue by highlighting Moritz's critical perspective on California's deteriorating state, both socially and economically. She recounts discovering Moritz's insights through his discussions on platforms like X (formerly Twitter), specifically referencing his analysis of the transgender care industry as a significant factor contributing to California's challenges.

Chris Moritz introduces his book, emphasizing California's shift from the fifth to the fourth largest economy globally, attributing this growth to the disproportionate contribution of a few technology giants. He underscores the stark economic disparities, noting, "almost 40% of the state's population is on some form of social welfare" (03:25) and the massive wealth gap between the top 1% and the bottom 20% (04:17).

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Criminal Justice Reforms and Their Consequences

A significant portion of the conversation addresses California's criminal justice reforms, particularly focusing on legislation like AB109 and Proposition 47. These policies aimed to reduce the prison population by reclassifying certain non-violent crimes and shifting offenders to local jails. However, Moritz argues that these reforms have backfired, leading to a surge in property crimes and a decline in public safety.

Chris Moritz explains, "Prop 47... reclassified theft under $950 as a misdemeanor...[resulting] in a 114% increase in property or retail theft over ten years" (20:33). He criticizes the superficial definitions of non-violence in these laws, which have inadvertently released individuals with violent histories back into the community, escalating crime rates.

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Rising Crime Rates and Their Drivers

Michaels shares personal anecdotes to illustrate the severity of California's crime epidemic, including her own experiences with home invasions and vehicle thefts. These stories resonate with Moritz's assertion that the state's decriminalization policies have led to rampant lawlessness.

Jillian Michaels recounts a harrowing event: "two nights in a row on one weekend...my family house in Santa Monica was burglarized" (09:00). This personal account underscores the tangible impact of the discussed policies on everyday Californians.

Chris Moritz adds, "In Los Angeles county under George Gascon, we have a situation of decriminalization of a host of crimes. Property crime in particular was considered basically a non-offense" (14:55). He emphasizes that this leniency has eroded trust in the justice system, as evidenced by frequent under-enforcement and lenient sentencing.

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Homelessness, Gangs, and Public Safety

The discussion transitions to the intertwined crises of homelessness and gang violence. Moritz highlights the rise of gangs recruiting minors, leading to an increase in violent crimes. He cites alarming statistics, noting that black and Hispanic youths represent 80% of juvenile prosecutions in California.

Chris Moritz states, "gangs are recruiting children as young as 10 years old for hijackings, assault, and even murder" (62:57). This recruitment is fueled by inadequate juvenile detention facilities and lenient judicial processes, allowing these youths to reoffend repeatedly.

Jillian Michaels echoes these concerns, sharing her own unsettling incident where her car was stolen, and the subsequent lack of police response, illustrating the state's failing law enforcement: "They were like, oh, yeah, no, we're not coming" (25:28).

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Political Influence and the Role of Key Figures

A critical analysis is devoted to the influence of political figures and financial backers in shaping California's policies. Moritz discusses the role of George Soros in funding District Attorney races, particularly his significant investment in LA County DA George Gascon's campaign.

Chris Moritz asserts, "Soros spent $15 million on Gascon's race...control over the largest jurisdiction in the United States" (46:00). He contends that such financial influence has led to policies that prioritize ideological agendas over public safety.

Jillian Michaels adds, "Why is the money wanting criminality to run wild?" (38:29), questioning the underlying motives of wealthy backers who benefit from the ensuing chaos.

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Financial Institutions and Real Estate Exploitation

The conversation explores the alarming consolidation of wealth and property by major financial institutions like BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard. Moritz warns of these entities potentially owning a significant portion of U.S. homes by 2030, as RFK Jr. predicts, highlighting the risks of monopolistic control over real estate.

Chris Moritz mentions, "BlackRock was at the very top...they own 89% of the S and P and they own each other" (42:08). He fears that economic destabilization would allow these firms to acquire assets at discounted prices, exacerbating wealth inequality.

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Environmental Catastrophes and Mismanagement

The episode also tackles California's environmental crises, particularly the devastating wildfires exacerbated by inadequate infrastructure and policy failures. Moritz criticizes Governor Gavin Newsom's administration for mismanaging resources, leading to uncontrolled fires that have destroyed communities and released toxic pollutants.

Jillian Michaels shares her personal experience with the Palisades fire, noting the delayed and inadequate response: "They claim they were there in seven minutes. But video footage shows no response for 45 minutes" (73:07).

Chris Moritz adds, "We know about the winds. So if you know about a problem, you have to prepare for it" (78:33), emphasizing that preventive measures were neglected, resulting in catastrophic outcomes.

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Global Influences and National Implications

Moritz extends the discussion beyond California, positing that the state's collapse serves as a harbinger for potential nationwide issues. He highlights the interconnections between state policies and broader national challenges, such as the opioid crisis, influenced by foreign drug trafficking predominantly entering through California's ports.

Chris Moritz warns, "Propagated policies have fueled an environment where a small number of offenders commit most of the crimes" (40:04), suggesting that similar policy failures elsewhere could lead to similar or worse outcomes.

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Conclusion and Call to Action

The episode concludes with a somber reflection on the precarious state of California and its implications for the United States. Moritz urges listeners to recognize the signs of systemic failure and take proactive measures to address the root causes of these crises. Jillian Michaels reinforces the urgency, urging Californians and Americans alike to stay informed and advocate for meaningful policy changes to prevent their own communities from following California's troubled path.

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Notable Quotes

• Chris Moritz ([03:25]): "Almost 40% of the state's population is on some form of social welfare."
• Jillian Michaels ([09:00]): "Two nights in a row on one weekend...my family house in Santa Monica was burglarized."
• Chris Moritz ([14:55]): "Property crime in particular was considered basically a non-offense."
• Chris Moritz ([20:33]): "Prop 47... resulted in a 114% increase in property or retail theft over ten years."
• Jillian Michaels ([25:28]): "They were like, oh, yeah, no, we're not coming."
• Chris Moritz ([46:00]): "Soros spent $15 million on Gascon's race."
• Jillian Michaels ([73:07]): "They claim they were there in seven minutes. But video footage shows no response for 45 minutes."
• Chris Moritz ([78:33]): "If you know about a problem, you have to prepare for it."

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Final Thoughts

"How Blue Cities Collapse: California’s Warning To America" offers a stark examination of California's systemic issues, positing that the state's challenges are not isolated but indicative of broader national vulnerabilities. Through personal anecdotes, expert analysis, and a detailed exploration of policy failures, Jillian Michaels and Chris Moritz provide listeners with a sobering perspective on the importance of safeguarding public institutions, enforcing just laws, and maintaining economic and social stability.

For those seeking a deeper understanding of California's decline and its implications for the United States, Moritz's book promises an eye-opening exploration backed by extensive research and firsthand accounts.

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Join the Conversation:
If you found this summary insightful, tune into the full episode on your preferred podcast platform. Engage with the discussion by sharing your thoughts and experiences related to California's current state and its potential lessons for the rest of the country.

Transcript

[Jillian Michaels]

California was once the golden promise of the American dream, and now it's a cautionary tale. My guest today is Chris Moritz, and he's here with his blistering new book that pulls back the curtain on what he calls a failed state run by bureaucratic decay, ideological capture, and corporate exploitation that masquerades as progress. From exploding crime rates to collapsing infrastructure, from housing chaos to medical overreach. Moritz lays out how California became ground zero for a culture war with real casualties. And then we take a deep dive into the growing industry behind transgender care for kids and how profit, politics, and identity have collided in ways few of us are willing to discuss out loud. But everyone needs to know. Let's jump in. Keeping It Real with Jillian Michaels. Chris Emeritz. Welcome. How are you?

[Chris Moritz]

I'm wonderful. Delighted to be here. So thrilled to meet you finally and just amazed by your studio.

[Jillian Michaels]

Oh, you're very kind. For people who are just discovering you or discovering how I discovered you. I happened upon your arguably first episode with Tucker.

[Chris Moritz]

Yes.

[Jillian Michaels]

Where you were talking about Transgender Inc. And I want to get to all of that, but essentially the fact that it is big business, gender affair, affirming care. And I looked at that solely from a health perspective at the time and just thought, okay, you know, these are do gooders that don't really understand health and can't comprehend what these medications are meant to do, either chemical castration or off label cancer drugs. And they also don't really understand what happens when you interrupt puberty. And they're just. Just misguided and misunderstood and then well intentioned, not knowledgeable. When you outlined how diabolical gender affirming medicine is, it blew my mind open. And you and I have been going back and forth on X for it gets worse.

[Chris Moritz]

Actually, we'll table that.

[Jillian Michaels]

Table that too. Sag, table all of that because I want to start with the new book.

[Chris Moritz]

Yes.

[Jillian Michaels]

So Failed State A Portrait of California in the Twilight of an Empire. Available everywhere.

[Chris Moritz]

Amazon would be a good spot, but I hope it's available everywhere.

[Jillian Michaels]

It better be available. I mean, it's a monster. Skyhorse Publishing should be available everywhere. Yes.

[Chris Moritz]

Yes, they're great. Skyhorse actually publishes RFK Jr's books and Melania Trump's.

[Jillian Michaels]

Thank God for them.

[Chris Moritz]

They're fantastic.

[Jillian Michaels]

Thank God for them.

[Chris Moritz]

I struggled too, initially. You know, the traditional publishing houses were very reticent about delving into California, and I think that stems from the fact that these firms are in New York. Right. And New York just doesn't give a about California. If I If I can of course, say, say that.

[Jillian Michaels]

Oh, absolutely.

[Chris Moritz]

They just don't, they don't understand California east coast just doesn't get the west coast despite the fact, you know, as we just learned, we're the fourth largest economy in the world.

[Jillian Michaels]

Is it the fact that it was the fifth?

[Chris Moritz]

It went from fifth to fourth.

[Jillian Michaels]

Wow. How?

[Chris Moritz]

Well, that number is nominal GDP reflection instead of real GDP reflection, which takes into account inflation. So a lot of that is inflation and really a lot of that. So Gavin Newson has been touting this, this like new designation as evidence of the success of the state. But it is, you know, it's, it's a, it's sophistry, it's an illusion because that growth, that GDP growth is really coming from a very small number of technology giants. Okay, right, sure. Oh, mega corporations, of course. Why don't they like Nvidia for instance?

[Jillian Michaels]

Of course.

[Chris Moritz]

So that is really the contributing factor. What, what he's, what it doesn't take into account for his quality of life. So know almost 40% of the state's population is on some form of social welfare. The gap in wealth between the top 1%, which you have to make one half million dollars to be in the top 1% in California, and the bottom, I think 20%, which is that at $17,000 a year. It's 67 times. And we have also seen over the last 10 years six and a half million Californians have left the state. That is, and these are primarily middle class people. They've left because big corporations have left 252 Fortune 500 companies have left the state in recent years. This includes Charles Schwab, Oracle, Tesla and others.

[Jillian Michaels]

And taking the jobs with them.

[Chris Moritz]

Right. And this is not just a recent like development. This has been going on for a lot, for many, many years, starting with aerospace and defense, which is a very significant factor in how we are the political economy that we are.

[Jillian Michaels]

You know, I want to read this. I intended to open with it and it's, it's on the, the press sheet for the book and it really encapsulates the things we're going to touch upon. In Failed State, Moritz dissects the unraveling of the Golden State with the precision of a lawyer, the depth of historian and the heartbreak of a California native son who has witnessed its collapse firsthand. That spoke to me as a California native daughter. Through disturbing, relentless detail drawn from whistleblowers, law enforcement insiders and classified reports, he exposes the corrosive and deadly impact of progressive policies that have Prioritized criminals over victims, cartels over citizens. An ideological dogma over law and order. Of course it goes on from there, but I wanted to start there in particular because if you don't care about California, like you just said, ah, people in New York don't get it. They don't care. It's the policies. And the policies I would argue are contagious.

[Chris Moritz]

Yes.

[Jillian Michaels]

We're seeing them crop up in blue cities across the country. People are pushing, oh, this is Portland. And it's like, yes, homeless people flopped out with, you know, it's a cancer own excrement. And you know, this is, this is Seattle. And you had the chop zone of.

[Chris Moritz]

A takeover of downtown Seattle might actually be worse.

[Jillian Michaels]

It. I have heard.

[Chris Moritz]

I've heard it's worse.

[Jillian Michaels]

I have heard the same. You know, now you're seeing Denver. I have friends in Colorado that are now leaving Colorado to go to Wyoming. You know, and you're just seeing this mass exit is. And you already referenced jobs, of course. But then it becomes worldwide. The company's leaving and all of that. And there's so much to cover here. But I want the listener to understand this is not just about California. If you don't live in California.

[Chris Moritz]

Of the fentanyl that comes into the United States enters through ports of Los Angeles. Okay. Or. Or I should say California ports of entry. Let me rephrase that. 90% of the fentanyl in the United States enters through ports of entry in California.

[Jillian Michaels]

My God, I thought it was actually the northern border.

[Chris Moritz]

It's. It's both borders, but. But most is coming from, from the South. Although I've heard that's actually shifting towards like biker gangs in Canada, like producing fentanyl because it's very cheap to produce.

[Jillian Michaels]

Okay. But nothing in comparison to what's coming across.

[Chris Moritz]

I mean we can get into a lot of aspects of, of the. This is a book about crime. I should specify like it's a. There are so many angles to what is wrong with Cal. But my, my story is about crime and I believe that it's very. Well, it. It began with a personal experience. So in 2023, my family house in Santa Monica was burglarized. Sort of home innovation style. Two nights in a row on one weekend by an Ms. 13 gangster, illegal alien, a dreamer who had served seven years in California state prison for gun crimes and then immediately upon release from State Prison in 2018 was deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador. He came back into the country during the Biden invasion and then began a crime Spree in the fall of 2023, hitting dozens of houses all over LA county and in the north, in Ventura County. He was ultimately only prosecuted and charged with two counts of these. My, what he did to me was never, actually, there were no charges ever brought against him for that, for, for, for my, for me. He even robbed a judge's house in, in la, a judge who had presided over the Michael Jackson wrongful death case. But in Los Angeles county under George Gascon, we have a, we had a situation of decriminalization of hosts of crime. Property crime in particular was considered basically a non offense and certainly nothing that the DA's office was going to take seriously. So he got sentenced in Ventura because LA wouldn't take it to two years, which I'm sure he'll serve less and a $300 fine. So you think about that. If any one of us committed, you know, tax evasion, we're going to go away for a lot longer than two years. Or if you were involved in like, you know, at the Capitol on January six, like you were in solitary confinement for like five years. This guy had every indication that he was a murderer, not just and an MS.13 gangster. He had his face tattoos removed before he snuck back into the country when he was in El Salvador. So I realized that after this happened and, and I, and I. The aftermath of it and I learned these details from the officers that this was just so profoundly awful and shocking to me and, and shattered my perception of safety in, in a place like Santa Monica.

[Jillian Michaels]

Can I. I'm sorry, I'm dying to jump in here, please. Here's why. Same thing happened, except one night, not two in a row. Not a gang member, a criminal who, or maybe a gang member, but not illegal as far as I ever came to understand it breaks into my house. We were home, long story short, steals my bag, takes my car.

[Chris Moritz]

Did you encounter him?

[Jillian Michaels]

No. And he was freaking right behind me. So my dogs, we were actually waiting for the night nurse, which is why the door had been unlocked. And he went into the garage and down the side of our house and into the, like through the balcony and into the kitchen. And the dogs were like. And I thought maybe they were growling at the night nurse coming in and I didn't want them to wake up the kids because the kids were young, this was 10 years ago. And I'm like, guys, shut up. He's. I was like, they're going to wake the baby. I just got him to sleep. And long story short, I wake up the next morning, my Car's gone. Can't find my bag, can't find my computer. Put it all together.

[Chris Moritz]

They stole your car, too?

[Jillian Michaels]

Stole my. So they took my keys and they stole the car.

[Chris Moritz]

So when was this?

[Jillian Michaels]

Well, he. So this was 10, probably 10 years ago. You can read about it in TMZ still to this day. But the part that's so bananas is he commits a series of robberies in my car and then ends up in a high speed chase with the police where they catch him with all this stolen stuff in my car. And he proceeds to tell them that he's my lover. Mind you, he just gotten out of jail a few days prior to. Okay, I'm also gay and openly gay, living with my wife and my newborn son and my newly adopted daughter in the house that I asked him to bring me cocaine so we could go. Chris, you're laughing. But here's where it gets crazy. So we could go party at the Chateau. But what ended up happening was I had framed him because I had robbed all of these people and then had him get in my car and framed him for these robberies. And. And the cops believed him.

[Chris Moritz]

What?

[Jillian Michaels]

I swear to God. And they questioned me. My lawyer had to get involved. And then he stood trial, defended himself, and got a hung jury.

[Chris Moritz]

No way.

[Jillian Michaels]

This is how crazy California is. So people were like, she has a real issue with cops. It's like I used to, but not because they're racist. Quite the opposite issue that I had with the police in California, actually. They literally questioned me. They're like, you could tell us. You could tell us the truth. I could not believe it. I'm like, number one, I'm. I'm famous for health and wellness. I'm openly two new babies. Like he. Were you insane? He just got out of jail three days ago.

[Chris Moritz]

Did he have a gang background?

[Jillian Michaels]

Chris? I don't know. He said that he knew me. And I go, great. How does he know me? What's my phone number? Are you serious? I could not believe it. And it was this. That's when I. I realized. And then knew some let them all out of jail during COVID Yeah. And I got the letter. Like, hey, we let all these guys out of jail. Which is ridiculous, because it had been proven that the jails were safer because it was a quarantined environment and let them all out of jail. I get the letter. And that's when I started to see, like, when we were robbed. Oh. And when they pulled him over, he had duct tape, a video camera, a knife, the whole Thing in the back of the car.

[Chris Moritz]

Wow.

[Jillian Michaels]

Sir, I can't help.

[Chris Moritz]

I had the same experience and he.

[Jillian Michaels]

Got a hungry jury. I had to go back and put him back in jail a second time.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah, that's what makes that like, like it.

[Jillian Michaels]

I mean, California in a nutshell.

[Chris Moritz]

Okay, was that LA county or.

[Jillian Michaels]

It was Malibu, but they tried him at like, I think it was Van Nuys courthouse. So it just goes to show you the, how the police were functioning, how the citizens of the state gave him a Hong jury.

[Chris Moritz]

Exactly.

[Jillian Michaels]

Defending himself.

[Chris Moritz]

Okay, so there's a couple things we can, we can talk about. Like firstly, it. You precisely hit on the issue of why I wrote the book, which is Californians can no longer expect to, to get justice.

[Jillian Michaels]

Right.

[Chris Moritz]

It might happen, but it might not. And it probably won't, at least under the, under the DA's like George Gascon. And when there is decriminalization and defunding police and elimination of bail and so on and so forth, gang enhancements eliminated, it's very clear where our leaders put their priorities, which is on criminals. And the question is why?

[Jillian Michaels]

I was just gonna say what? Why? Yeah, I actually wonder this and let me throw out what I've uncovered thus far. This is the extent of it. The path to hell is paved with good intentions. And I kinda, you know, sorta right up until not at all understands, can't make the connection. You know, I talked Dave Smith, as you know, it's like, well, you know, the bail piece wasn't fair and this part, you know, we were trying to fix. But he also agrees, he's like, nobody is for lawlessness decriminalizing crime. How did we get there?

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah. So, okay.

[Jillian Michaels]

Because it's coming.

[Chris Moritz]

There's a couple of different ways to answer this.

[Jillian Michaels]

You know, in four more years, everybody feels so happy Trump's in office. It's like, right. The reason I get pissed when he does something stupid is because it's going to go the other way.

[Chris Moritz]

Right, right.

[Jillian Michaels]

And you know, you think it's just California until it's a countrywide problem.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

Gavin Newsom wants to be president.

[Chris Moritz]

I know, I'm sorry. No, no, no, no.

[Jillian Michaels]

This is your show. Go.

[Chris Moritz]

No, no, no, no, it's yours. And I would say that, look, the, the crime situation in California is directly of policies. And these are policies that began, I say, in around 2010 with a bill called AB109. And AB109 was a response that California had to make to the Supreme Court based on a decision relatively shortly before that called Brown V. Plata and Brown v. Plata found that California's state prisons were cruel and unusual punishment by virtue of their over capacity. They were, they were like 200% over capacity.

[Jillian Michaels]

Okay.

[Chris Moritz]

So the, the court ruled that the, the prison population had to be brought down to this very arbitrary number. I think it was like 137.9. So California had to find ways to, to reconcile with that decision. So they began this theoretically on that basis, a process of de. Incarceration or addressing the crisis of mass incarceration. And AB109 was the first salvo in, in this, in this journey, in this war, I would call it. And AB109 basically said that if you were a non violent, non serious offender, you would be removed from state prison and sent to local jails. The problem with this law is that it is a manipulation of language and it would firstly only consider the crime, the last crime for which you had been convicted, not your criminal history. So Studies found that 50% of those released under this program had violent histories. 60% of those released were rearrested within three years and 44% were convicted. Also the definition of nonviolence was based on technicalities. It was based on certain like aspects of the penal code and whether it fell in that category or not. And, and it ultimately incorporated crimes, even some assault, rape by intoxication, like all sorts of crazy stuff. Trafficking like minors like went on and on and on. Kamala Harris was the Attorney general at the time of this law and it was her job to basically implement it as the top law enforcement officer in, in the state. Now the, the local jails did not, did not have the resources to take this influx of criminals. So. Or prisoners I should say. And ultimately, as we will see again and again, the local jails get. Have to simply release the, the prisoners.

[Jillian Michaels]

Why can't we build more jails?

[Chris Moritz]

Right. Exactly. Right. Right. I don't, I mean it's a, that's another good question. So then we go to Prop 47, which I'm sure you know.

[Jillian Michaels]

Oh yes.

[Chris Moritz]

Is that. Which. But what I don't know if you know.

[Jillian Michaels]

Will you tell everyone though who doesn't know? I of course know this. So let's give them A.

[Chris Moritz]

Prop 47 is the most infamous.

[Jillian Michaels]

Yeah.

[Chris Moritz]

Of these criminal justice reform laws and it was passed in 2014 by 60% of Californians and it found that a theft under $950 would be reclassified as a misdemeanor instead of as a felony. The prior to that the threshold was $400 and this was again to try and like reduce the prison population. But the results was that over the 10 years after Prop 47 came into effect, there's 114% increase in property or retail theft. And property crime like likewise shocked up, shot up. And California thought has a double the rate of the rest of the country in terms of property crime. Like it's like we're for beyond anyone else. You're more likely to get robbed, beaten, your car stolen, assaulted and. And burglarized and in any other state in the country. So Prop 47 passes with 60% of Californians approving it.

[Jillian Michaels]

And Newsom supported it. He. When he worked as lieutenant governor under Jerry Brown.

[Chris Moritz]

Right. Yes. And as did Kamala Harris. So here's the other little nasty thing about it.

[Jillian Michaels]

The stroke of a pen.

[Chris Moritz]

You know what it. Do you know what it was actually what it was branded as the. The actual name of the. Of Prop 47. I don't safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.

[Jillian Michaels]

Get out.

[Chris Moritz]

Shut Kamala Harris wrote the. The language that appeared on the ballot.

[Jillian Michaels]

Get out.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah. As attorney General, part of your job is you write all the.

[Jillian Michaels]

Under what pretense though? How is she drawing that comparison that allowing people to steal a thousand dollars makes the neighborhood safe?

[Chris Moritz]

Well now. Now the. I. I don't believe she coined that title. That title most likely came from political consulting groups. One in particular don't say Gay Bill.

[Jillian Michaels]

That was called the parental.

[Chris Moritz]

And this is part of the branding. Right. These bills are supported and funded by massive interest groups and what in billionaires and they take on their marketed.

[Jillian Michaels]

They really are.

[Chris Moritz]

Right.

[Jillian Michaels]

Like they're never forget that when the. When the. I tried to go off piece to bit. But I remember when I found out that the don't say Gay bill had nothing to do with saying gay. It was about sex education for kids in like kindergarten through third grade.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

And it was called the Parental Rights and Education act. And they called it the don't say Gay Bill. And the marketing effort.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah, it's marketing crazy. Right? But now here's something Kamala Harris directly did in terms of the language of the. As it appeared on the ballot for 47, she omitted the fact that under 47, those who were arrested under these reclassified misdemeanors would no longer be subject to DNA testing that was otherwise mandatory and procedurally just rudimentary. This is extremely important because as like every study shows, a small number of offenders commit most of the crime.

[Jillian Michaels]

Wow.

[Chris Moritz]

So. So she omitted this. The Sacramento Bee called her out on it. And you know this. This resulted in as you can imagine, like a spike in all sorts of crimes that we're just simply not getting caught there. I mean, 90% of property crimes in it's either LA county or California. I think it's LA County. Are not. Do not result in an arrest. 90%.

[Jillian Michaels]

You could call the cops. I'm sorry, I don't want to bash police. I actually, I'm grateful every day for them and want them to be funded more and better supported. But the reality is that in California, I think they're so persecuted. I had a car stolen when I was visiting my mom here and because we were going to take it to auction and long story short, the car gun sold. And you called the cops. They're like, oh, yeah, no, we're not, we're not coming. Yeah, if you need to file a report, you can come down to the station.

[Chris Moritz]

I experienced, I experienced the same thing with my robbery.

[Jillian Michaels]

Like, are you serious? This was recent, Chris. Yeah, I had to go to the frigging police station and I had to file the report for the insurance company. And the insurance company's like, well, did the cops come? I'm like, do you know where I am actually at the moment?

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

No, the cops did not come.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah, look, after my, after my double burglary, hot prowl burglary, Santa Monica Police, the detective assigned to it never even once called me as part of his investigation.

[Jillian Michaels]

Why do you think?

[Chris Moritz]

Because they, they get, they just don't care. I think they don't care because they.

[Jillian Michaels]

Don'T have the support.

[Chris Moritz]

Because they, they're, they're, they're. Well, let me put it this way.

[Jillian Michaels]

Because I know they might just imagine. They feel like when I woke up, they're not supportive.

[Chris Moritz]

When I woke up that morning and discovered that my house had been completely turned upside down and every single valuable I ever owned and, and like heirlooms for my grandparents, it was all gone. I called SMPD and they took 15 hours to show up. And when they got there, I asked them, why did it take so long? And they said, well, we've been just dealing with too many homeless overdoses in Santa Monica right now.

[Jillian Michaels]

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[Chris Moritz]

I mean, I've seen a lot of homeless and I'm I'm glad I've not seen moms and kids.

[Jillian Michaels]

But that's the marketing spin. And you know, I came to learn.

[Chris Moritz]

You may get to that point that.

[Jillian Michaels]

The way what they call home homeless now is an individual who's classified as not having a stable address. So that could be mom, single moms and kids. But it's like there's a name for the people on the street. It's like the unroofed or something of that nature. I can't remember exactly.

[Chris Moritz]

Les Miserables very much so.

[Jillian Michaels]

Yes, but that's like, that's the other branding that you want. It's crazy.

[Chris Moritz]

Let me tell you an anecdote that I was told by a, a very decorated former LA county sheriff who's now in the private security sector for big companies like Google. Google has a, has a huge office complex in Venice by the beach. And a couple years ago the, the, the homeless or transient camps around that area were beyond belief. I mean, third world level.

[Jillian Michaels]

It's getting there again actually.

[Chris Moritz]

So this, this gentleman who contributed significantly to my book told me that he, as part of his survey and of. And security rounds for Google, would sort of drive up and down the street and he would see with these homeless camps, gangsters basically shaking down every single homeless tent in the area for 25 to $50 a day. So they pay an extortion fee to local gangs. And according to, you know, this, this decorated sheriff who would know this is rampant across the entire city. So it's a lot worse than people realize. Gavin Newsom also allowed for homeless tents to be protected and require a, a warrant to enter. So these tents have become dens of murder, drug use, obviously prostitution, every kind of like savage crime you can think of. Rape, it just goes on and on and on. And look, I mean, San Francisco had an 800% increase in fentanyl overdose fatalities over the course of like five years. Last five years. I mean it's, it's, it is a failed state. Like it, I'm not exaggerating with that.

[Jillian Michaels]

You, you get into some stuff in here that I can't even wrap my head around. Can you talk a little bit about like the, the child soldiers piece?

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

This is too hard to even comprehend. I've never heard of this. Like, you and I could go toe to toe.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

On the Palisades fire and trust me, you know, homeless and losing $24 billion in corrupt NGOS and Newsom's connection to the CCP, all this stuff, I hate this guy. And as a same thing as a Native California tragedy.

[Chris Moritz]

I think. I couldn't because.

[Jillian Michaels]

Couldn't agree with you.

[Chris Moritz]

He had to be great.

[Jillian Michaels]

Oh God, I never saw that. Explain that. He's a sociopath. He's.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah, but if it weren't for that. Right. Really, he's extremely charismatic. He's intelligent.

[Jillian Michaels]

Sociopath.

[Chris Moritz]

I know, that's, that's, that's what makes him evil. But if it, he could have been a great moderate governor of this state. But he is captured by higher powers for sure.

[Jillian Michaels]

And, and he wants to be.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

I mean the association with the Gettys and then marrying into.

[Chris Moritz]

Exactly. Nancy Pelosi's can own him. They own him. They own the state, actually.

[Jillian Michaels]

You want to go there for a second?

[Chris Moritz]

That's child soldiers. Okay, well which one?

[Jillian Michaels]

Newsom first. Okay, then child soldiers.

[Chris Moritz]

Sure.

[Jillian Michaels]

Tell me about that.

[Chris Moritz]

So California has effectively been run by four or five families for almost 100 years. And the Gettys have sponsored Gavin and Gavin's father going back to the 1940s. They all live in an area of San Francisco called Pacific Heights. They all are intermarried. Nancy Pelosi is part of this milieu. And they sponsored Gavin's rise initially with his business in Napa and then introduction to this kind of socio political scene in San Francisco and then positions. I don't remember if he went directly to mayor or if he was on the council, but at some point his sponsor to mayor and then so on and so forth. Ultimately they're trying to buy a president.

[Jillian Michaels]

Right?

[Chris Moritz]

That's exactly.

[Jillian Michaels]

And they've sponsored him all the way up the chain from I think council to mayor to lieutenant governor to governor.

[Chris Moritz]

Yes. And look, even Kamala is involved in this. She's godmother to one of the Gettys. And they, you know, there's an alliance between sort of the old money in San Francisco and then the tech power. And unfortunately California is now run entirely by San Francisco. Power used to be more dispersed and we were a more moderate state, but when Aerospace and Defense left California along with it, I believe like 300,000 engineers who are moderates. Right. And typically vote Republican. LA county became blue and the power, the locus of power shifted to San Francisco. And it's remained that way for at least 27 years.

[Jillian Michaels]

He's like the Manchurian Candidate.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

And you see it. There's nothing this guy does that's real. I know everything is a lie or a facade or a bribe or a game. And I, I, I honestly can't think of a politician that I find more dangerous.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

I really can't when I am faced with future choices. And again, I. I stress the fact that when I am disappointed with things Trump does that, I think unnecessarily ruffle feathers. It's because the risk of him pushing this pendulum back in the other direction is going to go.

[Chris Moritz]

That's a good point.

[Jillian Michaels]

To the hands.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

Of Newsom and AOC and the. Bernie. It's like, it's scary. People don't know what that means. They haven't lived here.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jillian Michaels]

And if they have, then they're. They're at the ones that stayed. I mean, when you and I get to the fires, it's. It's insane. Well, you know, global warming.

[Chris Moritz]

All right, well, Gavin's now trying to. Course correct. Because he's rebranding. Right. So he, he vetoed this latest law that everyone was talking about recently related to, like, soliciting sex from a minor.

[Jillian Michaels]

I saw this.

[Chris Moritz]

Yes. It's kind of. There's more nuance to it. But anyway, Gavin is, you know, was against that, and he's. He's doing the POD to try and, like, learn about conservatives, to learn how to counter them, of course, and is trying to take us a harder stance on homelessness and bring accountability. It's. But it's just a rebrand, just brand name. He's corporate.

[Jillian Michaels]

Look, let's look at what he actually does. So when it came to rolling back Proposition 47, which was the decriminalization of the $950, he was against that. He was against.

[Chris Moritz]

I know.

[Jillian Michaels]

That was Prop 36. Right. That was meant to roll back 47, and he opposes.

[Chris Moritz]

I was surprised by that, actually, because.

[Jillian Michaels]

Who'S paying him to oppose it?

[Chris Moritz]

But, yeah, that's a theory.

[Jillian Michaels]

Whatever. You want to know why he's doing it, just look for the money.

[Chris Moritz]

Okay, so why is it that the money wants criminality to run wild? I have a theory, but I love to hear if you had an idea.

[Jillian Michaels]

Because, you know, I've. I've really tried to understand this, and it's the same thing as, like, the George Soros conversation. Why do you want lawlessness? Why do you want anarchy? Why do you want chaos? You know, I. I've had. I' heard all different answers from very intelligent people. You know, Tucker thinks it's demons. Anna Kasparian thinks it's you. Good intentions have paved the path to hell. I. I've heard differing answers. It's got to be financially profitable somewhere. It's got to be profitable. That's the bottom line.

[Chris Moritz]

But I think it's also hate, really. So here's why I, I actually was thinking about this on the way over here because it's such a, it's such a, it's the, it is the $64 million question. Right. And so in my book I discuss the idea of criminal justice reform and its history and how it applies to all these different laws, whatnot. But I, I came to a realization that ultimately, especially at the more extreme end of the criminal justice reform movement, you have an instinct to redistribute crime and suffering and invert justice as a form of reparations. Oh, I call this crime equity. And it has its roots historically, well, I should say philosophically in critical race theory and kind of Marxist Leninist theory.

[Jillian Michaels]

Actually makes perfect sense though.

[Chris Moritz]

But it also has historical, historical precedents of its reparative justice, retributive justice. This has happened in, of course, Rhodesia and South Africa and arguably it happened in the French Revolution. And that's what I wanted to get to, because the French Revolution, of course, was the bourgeoisie, the middle class, enacting their reparations through violence to restore justice against the nobility. Right here we have a situation where the nobility has turned against the bourgeoisie and the middle class. And I think that's quite unprecedented.

[Jillian Michaels]

Do you think? Okay, now I'm going to wrap myself in tinfoil and go down the rabbit hole.

[Chris Moritz]

And there's also the money aspect is real estate, by the way.

[Jillian Michaels]

That's what I was gonna say.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah, it is.

[Jillian Michaels]

That's what I was gonna say is that it's all a power, money, land grab. So of course you're going to turn on the middle class because they still own things. Yes, and you don't want that. We want a whole generation of renters. We want complete and total control. Yes, and I know it.

[Chris Moritz]

You will own nothing and you will be happy.

[Jillian Michaels]

Yes. I'm sorry, but you're watching it happen.

[Chris Moritz]

RFK said the other day, or in an interview I thought was really profound, that by like 2030, perhaps even BlackRock, State street and Vanguard may own like 60% of homes in the United States.

[Jillian Michaels]

I was avoiding saying it because God helped me with the friggin algorithm. But there's no question that's happening. I mean, there's just no. And unfortunately, at the end of the day, when you look at like, all right, who owns the defense companies? BlackRock, State Street, Vanguard?

[Chris Moritz]

Well, they own 89% of the S and P and they own each other. So they own.

[Jillian Michaels]

Chris. That's where I was gonna go I was gonna go. Have you ever looked at who owns blackrock, State street and Vanguard? Who owns Vanguard, State street and blackrock? Like it's this bizarre triad. That's really wonderful. Frigging company.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah, it's, it's really frightening. And I'll tell you something else. When I was in the Commerce Department in the Trump administration, the first time we were asked by the President, my team, to look into US Institutional investments in China. So Chinese equities either in Hong Kong, Shenzhen or Shanghai exchanges, the total value of those holdings by U.S. institutional investors at that time that this was 2020, was, I think one and a half trillion dollars. BlackRock was at the very top of that, followed by State street and Vanguard.

[Jillian Michaels]

Right.

[Chris Moritz]

BlackRock's holdings were over $300 billion in Chinese companies, many of which at that time at least were affiliated with advanced technologies, surveillance, military related, so on and so forth. So they are underwriting this, the rise of our enemy? Well, I say adversary and there's a lot of dark angles to it. But, but you know, in California, I do think if you, if you destabilize communities and especially like downtown areas, drop the value of those, you know, high rises or even single family homes, whatever, and buy them up at a discount. Especially in like where, you know, it.

[Jillian Michaels]

Is like where everything's burned down and you can't get a permit to rebuild.

[Chris Moritz]

Right, exactly. But who's able to get, who's able to get regulatory capture? Right? It's not individuals or small businesses. It's not, it's, it's big institutions. So, you know, I hate to think.

[Jillian Michaels]

Like that, but the problem is that you, you reach a point of inevitability where it somehow just doesn't make sen anymore. Why would you wage a war on the middle class? Who does own this stuff? Who is behind this?

[Chris Moritz]

Stanford was behind, okay, Stanford University was behind all of those laws that I mentioned. All of them. One guy in particular named Mike Romano, he's well known for spearheading the, the de Incarceration movement and has done an enormous amount of damage. So why is it that Stanford is the, is the, you know, progeny of, of this? Why?

[Jillian Michaels]

I think they were behind the Virality Project. Lori, will you fact check that for me?

[Chris Moritz]

Mama?

[Jillian Michaels]

So have you heard about the Virality Project? That's a study Bill Gates funded, I think it was through Stanford to suss out vaccine hesitancy online. It's the brief that landed on Biden's desk and it's what he used to systematically silence people on meta and X and TikTok. Nope. But to go on with the stick, because I almost sure it's.

[Chris Moritz]

Well, look, I mean, let me give you some, some numbers here. So the ford foundation donated $100 million in grants to decarceration and equity justice NGOs. Okay. In recent years, George Soros, you know, his, he's obviously a known quantity. I even am hesitant to bring him up because it's like the boogeyman, right? It seems, but, but it's real. Like he, he put $40 million into district attorney races since 2015. And he did so because he's, he's a brilliant, brilliant arbitrage.

[Jillian Michaels]

And Gascon's his guy as well, isn't he?

[Chris Moritz]

Or was Gascon.

[Jillian Michaels]

And when you say arbitrage, you're talking about sinking the currencies around the world.

[Chris Moritz]

Well, that's, that is how. Yes, that's what he did in his investment business. But I believe he applied a form of that to DA races. In fact, I, I attribute it kind of almost to Moneyball.

[Jillian Michaels]

Will you explain to me like I'm.

[Chris Moritz]

Well, the idea that like Los Angeles county, the District Attorney of Los Angeles county presides over the largest jurisdiction in the United States. The DAAs have enormous amount of power because they have prosecutorial discretion. So when Gascon came into office, he issued a series of directives that did all sorts of terrible things like related to cash bail, eliminating enhancements, which are ways to like in strengthen a conviction or sentencing, especially like for gangs or guns. He of course, does not abide by anything related to three strikes death penalty and other, other initiatives and directives. But Soros spent I think $15 million on Gascon's race. But for $15 million, he got basically control, total control over the largest jurisdiction in the United States. And that's nothing for obviously that's a pittance. And actually I have heard that his DAs basically had jurisdiction over like two thirds of Americans. Like it was, it's wild, like how, how successful it was. Now it happened under the, in the shadow of George Floyd. And you know, a lot of terrible laws came into effect during that time and during COVID But, you know, Soros pulled that off and he realized that it's basically the idea that. Okay, so this is where it comes to arbitrage, right? So an arbitrage, you, you are buy. Let's say you're trying, you're trying to identify one commodity or one asset and that is priced differently in another market, but it's the same asset. So you. Right, so this is the basic idea. And with. With. With what I. What. How he sort of applied arbitrage here is he recognized that, look, you could put in tens and tens of millions of dollars into a Senate race. And by the way, these Senate races are getting to the point of like, $500 million.

[Jillian Michaels]

Kamala's like, almost a billion dollars.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah. The North Carolina race, John Thune was at a luncheon, said it's going to be 700 million. Oh, my God. It's out of control. So. So you put that money into a huge amount of money into those kind of races, and what do you get? Actually, not that much. Like, not that much. An individual senator doesn't have all that much authority, but DAs have a lot of power, you know, a lot of power over. Over. Over, like, the lives of civilians. So then the question is, why does he want this? Why does he want to control. Have so much authority to direct policies related to crime? And that's where I, again, come back to what's the motivation? And. And with Soros, I think he's a financial terrorist. I think that's very, very clear.

[Jillian Michaels]

So explain to me exactly how it would benefit him. So what you're saying basically, is he unleashes chaos and anarchy.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

People leave, and then he can scoop up the real estate at a distance.

[Chris Moritz]

I have heard. Well, I think that. That I. I theorize that could be a possibility. There's no way of knowing what kinds of investments he's making, because it's a. It's a family office, and these kinds of transactions are happen through private placements and are very, very discreet, through multiple layers of LLCs and so forth. But I have heard from. Okay, so I heard from a senior guy in the security industry, a former federal head, head of federal security for LAX and one of the top, top traders on Wall street in the world, that Soros has been investing in private security for years, which is growing dramatically.

[Jillian Michaels]

Oh, my God. You know, I had a guy on. I don't know if you ever saw this documentary. It's called the Grab, and it has to do with different governments around the world grabbing up farmland. And it's happening here in California. And. And maybe you know, that Gavin Newsom just blocked a bill that was meant to block that from happening here so that China couldn't buy farmland in California. And it was put on his desk. He vetoed it.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

And this guy was saying the Chinese are also his.

[Chris Moritz]

His sponsors.

[Jillian Michaels]

I wanted to get into that with you as well. So we have so much to talk about. So so what they're having to do is hire these like private military corporations like Eric Prince, for example, to run security on these farms that are Chinese or Saudi in places like freaking Arizona, California and some countries in Africa. Like, it's, it's insane. It just, just, I wonder if there's any association because I remember it's a.

[Chris Moritz]

It'S, it's a growing industry. Many police officers are moving into it because that's where the money is. Of course.

[Jillian Michaels]

Of course.

[Chris Moritz]

California. The rate for a private security guard in California is three or four times what it is in New York. It's a big business and it's growing. And you can imagine a situation where if you create lawlessness and then decimate and vitiate public law enforcement, it will create a demand for a private solution.

[Jillian Michaels]

Let's talk about the China piece for a second.

[Chris Moritz]

By the way, I, I lived in China for two years.

[Jillian Michaels]

I know you have a unique knowledge. Your background is crazy. You have a unique understanding of this. Could you highlight a little bit of your background because you're, you're a journalist, but like in your spare time kind of a guy.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah, I, I, I'm a full time general counsel and I wrote this as a passion project because I just wanted to tell the story of the state. I love California. I really, I almost think of myself as a Californian before an American, like in some ways, like, like Texans do. And I, I am heartbroken by what's happened. Like this used to be such a great place and like when my parents were, you know, in their, in their prime, like it was even, even more spectacular. So like it's just tragic.

[Jillian Michaels]

It is.

[Chris Moritz]

And it's so, it was so preventable.

[Jillian Michaels]

But see, that's the thing. It happened to our state. Now I don't want it to happen to our country.

[Chris Moritz]

Yes, yes. And you know, I look, if Kamala had won. Oh my God, it 100. That's our fate.

[Jillian Michaels]

What's insane is everybody I, I know who was terrified of Trump, they somehow don't see what's actually behind her. She's not real. She's a puppet.

[Chris Moritz]

Exactly.

[Jillian Michaels]

How do you not see exactly what is behind her?

[Chris Moritz]

Exactly.

[Jillian Michaels]

She, it's a facade.

[Chris Moritz]

It's an illusion. Exactly.

[Jillian Michaels]

Just like Biden was non compass mentioned, whatever the hell.

[Chris Moritz]

Yes.

[Jillian Michaels]

Nobody was all.

[Chris Moritz]

So you know what, for four years, you know what the takeaway from that is? So I even say in my book, this, this is like progressive ideology gone to muck talk. I'm starting to think it's not progressive. I'M starting to think it's actually extreme reactionary. It's corporations.

[Jillian Michaels]

Okay. The woke capitalism thing, well, it doesn't.

[Chris Moritz]

Even necessarily have to be woke. Right. It's just major, almost oligopolies or monopolies and power and the money interest, billionaire class right behind these people. Kamala Harris is not a real person.

[Jillian Michaels]

No.

[Chris Moritz]

Gavin Newsom's not a real person.

[Jillian Michaels]

Nope.

[Chris Moritz]

They represent the interest of their sponsors.

[Jillian Michaels]

None of it's real. Exactly. You know, and the more you say it, you even have.

[Chris Moritz]

That's not progressive.

[Jillian Michaels]

Well then what? That's where Cenk Uygur, as much as you may disagree with him, I may disagree with him about things. He's been saying that on the left. So I try to get my left.

[Chris Moritz]

And right don't mean anything anymore.

[Jillian Michaels]

No, no.

[Chris Moritz]

I don't know. I don't. I don't know where I am, frankly.

[Jillian Michaels]

Fair point.

[Chris Moritz]

Okay, so China. I worked in China for two years as a senior investment banker at a Chinese state bank. So it was an investment bank that was attached to one of China's largest sovereign wealth funds called the SDIC, State Development Investment Corporation. And I was one of two Westerners at this 10,000 person bank. Only my team, I think, which was the. I worked in cross border M and A. So this was2016 to 18, kind of obviously before the relationship with China and the United States became much colder and more taught. But so I did this and.

[Jillian Michaels]

You.

[Chris Moritz]

Know, I'm probably one of the only Americans like ever to have had that kind of a role. Like they're just. And this and that. Those kinds of. That kind of opportunity just does not exist anymore. Right after Covid. Right. The. The in the integration of like expats into. Into places like Shanghai where I lived. It's just. They left. Yeah, Xi like Xi. And this is kind of a, I think an argument for like the power of individuals in history. Right. Versus trends. Xi changed the directory of China. Fundamentally. China was moving in a direction that was much more amenable to our system because the power in China used to be centered around Shanghai. And Shanghai is a commercial hub. It always has been. As a result, it is more moderate, it is less Maoist. But Xi comes from. Xi is like a. One of the original families from the revolution, but he is a Beijing guy. So as Beijing and Xi pushed the Shanghai division out and then consolidated power, we have a very different, much scarier China. That's when I left.

[Jillian Michaels]

I don't know. See, as you're sitting there talking, I was like, I Gotta learn all about the history of this. All I know is like, Communist China in the 70s somewhere. Thought it was getting better. Now it's super, super scary again. Okay, I'm not gonna go off piste. So the Newsom connection, though, no one ever talks about. So if. If I want to throw out what I.

[Chris Moritz]

The head of. Of the CalPERS, the pension fund, a former head, was a. A Chinese government official. Like he was. He worked on like, in fund management in China for like a state entity.

[Jillian Michaels]

Here's what I know and tell me. Tell me what I'm missing or what I'm wrong on. He's mayor of San Francisco and he ends up starting this partnership from when he had some sort of business relationship with the Chinese and the billionaire investors, this guy Vincent Lowe, and it's called China sf. So China SF is this partnership between California, or, I'm sorry, San Francisco and China under the pretense of bringing, you know, opening up, up these industries to. To one another. But the long story short is the guys that are involved in this, like this guy Vincent Lowe, are Chinese billionaires that are directly connected to the ccp. And what he ends up doing is basically clearing the path for them to buy up real estate and land in California. And he even says, then he becomes governor. And the long and the short of it is, Ed, their. Their mission is to clear out any red tape and any bureaucracy for them to come and invest in California, buy land in California. And enough years later, when the bill ends up on his desk to veto foreign companies or foreign countries in particular. Foreign countries, obviously, from buying land in California, he's like, no, vetoes it, and they can continue buying up land here.

[Chris Moritz]

Can you imagine if. So our biggest exports to China are like soybeans. Right. Can you imagine if, like, they control our ag. They owned like, our agriculture in addition to be to selling us all of our industrial inputs.

[Jillian Michaels]

Pharmaceuticals. Yes.

[Chris Moritz]

I know. It's crazy, Chris. It's beyond.

[Jillian Michaels]

No one's talking about it. I heard about it.

[Chris Moritz]

I think Scott Besson is really. I think this administration gets it.

[Jillian Michaels]

Okay.

[Chris Moritz]

I think they do.

[Jillian Michaels]

I'm circling back off of my newsome tirade.

[Chris Moritz]

That's really interesting. I didn't know that.

[Jillian Michaels]

Look into it. Look into it.

[Chris Moritz]

I mean, we all know we saw like the, The. The rollout when she came to San Francisco.

[Jillian Michaels]

Exactly. The writing is all on the wall.

[Chris Moritz]

All the homeless gone.

[Jillian Michaels]

Yep.

[Chris Moritz]

Gone.

[Jillian Michaels]

Yep. It's all there. I'm telling you, when you start to connect the dots.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

It's like, wait a second. And then there's like, there was corruption and. And these people from China. SF Are connected to the c. Some of the people that were in. Under his.

[Chris Moritz]

China has a. A very strong hold over California.

[Jillian Michaels]

Why is no one talking about.

[Chris Moritz]

And of course, they're supplying, like, the precursors for the fentanyl that are 90 of which are coming into California. So they're really never addresses. Yeah, I mean, they have us, like, you know, by every angle.

[Jillian Michaels]

Well, so talk to me now. I've got it. There's my. There's my bridge. Child soldiers. Because, like, you could see. It's because there's a tick tock connection. So it's like, I. I got this from you last week.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

And was able to scan through some of the notes, but I, I was like, okay, hold on.

[Chris Moritz]

So no.

[Jillian Michaels]

To talk about child soldiers and tick tock. Like, what.

[Chris Moritz]

So my. Let me explain the methodology of my. My book and my research. I conducted over 30 hours of interviews with prosecutors ranging from, excuse me, junior prosecutors up to former District Attorney Steve Cooley. And I talked to police officers and law enforcement ranging from beat cops all the way to Tom Homan. And one of the most interesting interviews that I. That I conducted was with the lead gang investigator for Englewood pd. This is African American gentleman, grew up in that neighborhood, is a former Special Forces, army, serious guy, did missions in Africa and has been working for Englewood PD on Gangsa for 25 years. He told me many frightening and scary and shocking things, but one of the most shocking was that he believes that the crime wave, especially relating to these sort of property crimes, it is coming in. It is. That is entirely fueled by kids. So the reason that is the case. Okay, is because. And, well, look, kids like my kids. Gangs are recruiting children as young as 10 years old for hijackings, assault, and even murder. Assassinations, actually.

[Jillian Michaels]

When you say gangs, are you talking about, like, Mexican cartels?

[Chris Moritz]

No, not necessarily.

[Jillian Michaels]

Phil said something about, like, oh, if you want to try. He told me.

[Chris Moritz]

I think this is probably more the. The. The black gangs. I'm. I'm not. I haven't looked at the.

[Jillian Michaels]

I mean, the cribs and the bloods kind of a thing.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah, look, black And Hispanics represent 80% of, like, juvenile prosecutions in California. So. But the reason this has happened is because, again, policy, we shut down juvenile prisons, juvenile detention centers several years ago. We also implemented certain laws like Proposition 57, which came after 47 by, I think, two years, where the decision to try a juvenile as an adult shifted from prosecutors to Judges. And the judge. There's a lot of bad judges in California. A lot of bad. Bad judges. Newsome judges.

[Jillian Michaels]

Okay.

[Chris Moritz]

Right.

[Jillian Michaels]

I was gonna say bad meaning.

[Chris Moritz]

Well, like a friend of mine, a WDA in Oakland, who has just the craziest stories. I mean, she said, like, California is filled with, like, liberal AF judges, right? Like, that is like the kind that.

[Jillian Michaels]

Lets the illegal gang member out the jury door to run from ice, kind of.

[Chris Moritz]

Look, we elect judges, for one thing. I mean, that's just weird. That's another issue. So in any case, gangs like Soros play arbitrage, and they recognize that because the enforcement of. Of. Of justice against juvenile offenders has basically stopped. They're the perfect recruits.

[Jillian Michaels]

So hold on. Wait, let me back up. So I really understand this. I apologize, okay? I'm a kid. I. I rape someone, I stab someone, but they don't die. I'm 14 years old. There's no juvenile hall anymore.

[Chris Moritz]

Juvenile hall's over.

[Jillian Michaels]

Well, what.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

So what happens?

[Chris Moritz]

Well, for a lot of these, go.

[Jillian Michaels]

Back into Jen Pop.

[Chris Moritz]

For a lot of these incidents, assaults, robberies, whatever, they are simply tried over and over and over again because they keep committing the crimes.

[Jillian Michaels]

But, But. But you're guilty. You stabbed so and so, right? There's no. There's no.

[Chris Moritz]

The juvenile. I. I was shocked to learn this.

[Jillian Michaels]

We. Hold on.

[Chris Moritz]

Juvenile.

[Jillian Michaels]

I'm not understanding. You're saying they go back on the street?

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

Chris, that's not even. Are you. I mean, of course you. Are you serious?

[Chris Moritz]

That's what. That's what all of the police officers told me, and that's what the prosecutors told me too. And the. The. The data supports that. So that is why. And like, so the. The. This particular officer said to me, like. Like the, you know, snatching Rolexes off of, like, people's wrists in Beverly Hills. He said, that is all kids, all minors. But here's the. The. The dark part. Like, they're not. Again, like these retail thefts, like the. The. The storming of Nordstrom's. Whatever. It's not Les Miserables, okay? This is organized crime. It's organized crime in particular because the Mexican drug cartels have taken over the dope trade in California. And they did so sometime in the late 2000s. And the Mexicans said to the black legacy. Legacy black gangs that would fight corner to corner for the dope trade. They said, if you sell dope, we will cut your head off if you do so without our permission. And they meant it, and they did it. So the black gangs moved from narcotics to Residential burglary to retail theft to sex trafficking and other, you know, other criminal verticals. But the Mexican drug cartels control the entire criminal economy of California. Because amazingly, organized crime all passes through state prisons and the prisons, as I was told by numerous officers, prisons ruled the street. The prison's population is like I think 100,000 in California.

[Jillian Michaels]

It seems like nothing.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah, but I mean there's like 300,000 gang members in California.

[Jillian Michaels]

Okay, okay.

[Chris Moritz]

The Army National Guard is less than that. It's a lot. And over 50% are Hispanic. And in the prisons because of their numerical superiority, a gang called an American born gang, mind you, but a gang called the Mexican Mafia controls the pri. The state prisons. They just control them. The Mexican Mafia is a vassal of the drug cartels. Okay, so the syllogism is the cartels control these Latino street gangs. They all report to the Mexican Mafia.

[Jillian Michaels]

Yep.

[Chris Moritz]

And the Mexican Mafia reports to the drug cartels.

[Jillian Michaels]

But how, okay, forgive me, I'm complete idiot here, but how do they gain control of the prisons?

[Chris Moritz]

Exactly. Exactly. That is, that is the operative question. That is the operative question.

[Jillian Michaels]

It appears they're a California privatized or state run.

[Chris Moritz]

I actually they're state run.

[Jillian Michaels]

Okay, okay, okay, so, so then prison.

[Chris Moritz]

Guards are a very powerful union and it's a dangerous job. Like they get, they get murdered in jail. But, but the fact is that the smuggling of phones into the prisons is just so rampant that it allows them to facilitate hits from inside the jails.

[Jillian Michaels]

Okay, yeah, well, that I can completely understand.

[Chris Moritz]

And the other factor is, as an LA county sheriff told me is like the justice that these gangsters fear is not at LA Superior Court. It's the Mexican Mafia inside the jails, inside prison, because the prisons ruled the street.

[Jillian Michaels]

Chris, this is crazy. So they go out of their way to recruit kids because kids don't have real consequences.

[Chris Moritz]

Correct. There is a story of. I forget exactly when it was, I think within 10 years of. There was a, like a, like a low level rapper like who from Vegas, I think, who was like had his car parked in, I think like over by LAX. And a 14 year old comes up to the window of his car and assassinates him. He then gets in his getaway car which is driven by his dad.

[Jillian Michaels]

No.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah. It's savage like we are. It is a savage out there. It is, it is. Child soldiers. Like these are not. I mean, I like, I don't know what else to call it, frankly. I mean, that is what we're facing.

[Jillian Michaels]

Why are we not hearing about this? This Is news to me. I mean, I. Like I said, I thought I would go toe to toe with you on California. You.

[Chris Moritz]

I know, I know. It's not. It's just not being reported. People don't know. People do not know how bad it is yet. Do you? I don't know a single person. And you're now another person I know who has not been victimized by crime. Oh, God, everyone has. Everyone. My. My friend, my lawyer had his car stolen last week. Just a Toyota. Like Joaquin Phoenix had his car stolen a few days ago. Like, it is.

[Jillian Michaels]

It's.

[Chris Moritz]

Everyone. Everyone is touched by it. I've actually. A few. A few years ago, I was in a. My friend's place where there's like a, you know, five or six of us, and a masked man actually just entered the dining room and stole my friend's purse right in front of us and then took off like it was nothing. And, you know, it's everywhere. Like, it's like the statistical probability that I would experience that and then the robberies, like, is, you would think would be so high, but yet it's not, because the crime is so prevalent. In fact, as one LA county sheriff told me, he said, Look, 25 years ago, the gangsters were killing each other for control over street corners. Today, they're targeting all of us, all the time, everywhere. And to add to that, a director of the LAPD union told me, he tells everyone, don't come to la. We cannot protect you.

[Jillian Michaels]

Are you serious?

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah. He lives in Ventura.

[Jillian Michaels]

You know what's crazy is you're not even allowed to protect yourself in California.

[Chris Moritz]

Exactly. Exactly.

[Jillian Michaels]

DeSantis. I remember. You know, unfortunately, I can't. I can't fact check this exactly, but I remember during COVID that when businesses were being, you know, pillaged and plundered and so on and so forth, in Florida, they were like, go ahead, shoot him.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

And, you know, in California, I think.

[Chris Moritz]

There was a little bit of that during the fires, though. I felt that that was a look. I saw a different police force during the fires. They were like, the police. They were like the LAPD of the 90s. I was really impressed. In Santa Monica.

[Jillian Michaels]

Okay, the fires. Yeah, let's do that one.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

So. So that I was out here for New Year's. My mom lives in Brentwood. My kids was here visiting family, the whole thing. And I'm at the freaking gym right on Sunset and Pacifico's highway, which is exactly where the fire starts. And I'm thinking, we've known there's going to be winds for days. Like of course there's going to be a fire. They'll be on top of that. It. My wife is like, we gotta go, there's a fire. I was like, I go into the sauna. I'm like now? No, they'll get, they're, they're, they're gonna be. They know they're prepared. They'll put it long story short, they're supposed to be there in four minutes. They claim they were there in seven minutes. But there's video footage that no one shows up for 45 minutes. And having been in that spot, I did a complete workout and did the sauna for 20 minutes and the fire did nothing but grand grow.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

Now you know for a fact that the mayor knows this leaves the state, the governor knows this doesn't borrow firefighters from elsewhere, despite the fact that they also know they've taken like 20 something million. I can't.

[Chris Moritz]

15 million.

[Jillian Michaels]

15 million away from the fire department.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

Okay.

[Chris Moritz]

Which is actually a lot of money for firefighters because that directly relates to equipment.

[Jillian Michaels]

There's broken down fire engines, like nothing's working.

[Chris Moritz]

I was told there were firefighters who didn't even have axes.

[Jillian Michaels]

No. Yeah, it's like they can't do their job at all. The friggin reservoir, that's uphill Santa Nez. Right.

[Chris Moritz]

Seven months it had been dry for.

[Jillian Michaels]

A cover that has never even begun to be repaired.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah, a cover.

[Jillian Michaels]

I mean Chris.

[Chris Moritz]

And the, the head of the dwp, Janice Quinnis, I think her name is friend of Karen bass. She makes $750,000 a year. Okay. Her prior job to that was it, what is it? PG and E. The utility that burned out PG and E that literally incinerated and immolated. I think like 75 people in, in, in paradise.

[Jillian Michaels]

Yep. That was the fire that I lost.

[Chris Moritz]

So like she does have, I guess, experience.

[Jillian Michaels]

And the fact. What's even.

[Chris Moritz]

She was just a DEI hire. It's just.

[Jillian Michaels]

But Chris, it just goes to show the revolving door though.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

It's the same thing when you go to work for let's say Pfizer and end up at the fda.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

And then back over to Pfizer, it's the same story. You work for the State Department, you work for the military industrial complex.

[Chris Moritz]

You know, it's monopolies. It's just a concept of monopoly because we are in a one party state. It's a monopoly. So there is not accountability.

[Jillian Michaels]

None.

[Chris Moritz]

And when you're talking about military industrial complex, that's also a monopoly.

[Jillian Michaels]

Right, Right. Of the same.

[Chris Moritz]

The Defense Department and these companies, like, it's the same.

[Jillian Michaels]

It's the same three companies.

[Chris Moritz]

That's why I say, like, left, right doesn't mean anything anymore.

[Jillian Michaels]

No, it doesn't. I, I will. The only reason it means something is because we cannot unite on fighting back because we're so busy fighting each other.

[Chris Moritz]

On, like, trans stuff.

[Jillian Michaels]

I know. Or Kilmar or Brago Garcia. I literally went through a few days where I wasn't talking to, to family members about Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

[Chris Moritz]

Distraction.

[Jillian Michaels]

I cannot wrap my head around it. I, I, I. And it's like they don't see how all of this is being manipulated and how all of these policies are facilitating this chaos. Instead, it's like he's a Maryland. I've had this conversation 20 times because I can't have it enough because it's so freaking crazy to me. Oh, no, it's the 100 mile an hour winds. No, no, no. It's the $10 Hawk from the PG&E Fire that was a hundred years old that they wouldn't replace because they're one of the top contributors to Newsom's campaign and they don't have to, and they had no repercussions because of that. That started the fire in the first place. Or the meth addict that started the fire because you haven't dealt with the homelessness crisis.

[Chris Moritz]

And then, yes, almost all these fires, like the vast majority are human. Start. Right, right. A lot of them are homeless. But the fact is that we do not do brush control in this state. It takes like, four to seven years to get a permit to do brush control, forest management. Look, Montana is very dry and has a lot of trees. They do not have these fires. Now, yes, the Santa Ana winds are a, you know, a phenomenon. And, but we've always had them. Yes, you can. I, in my book, I go through like, like diaries of cavalry officers from, like, 1870. You talk about Santa Ana winds. Joan Didian as, as very eloquently talks about how the Indians would, like, jump into, would, would, would migrate east to, to the ocean. Right. To get away from these winds. We know about the winds. So you, if you know about a problem, you have to prepare for it.

[Jillian Michaels]

I know. Oh, my God. And yet. I know.

[Chris Moritz]

And yet. Mayor Bass is in Ghana.

[Jillian Michaels]

I know.

[Chris Moritz]

For an inauguration. To what? Spur Ghana Business Development in Los Angeles. She's beyond belief. She's a clown.

[Jillian Michaels]

I couldn't agree with you more. And the part that's even crazier to me is that the only area where red tape has been cut. And I don't think I can lay this squarely at Newsom's feet. But sure, they've gotten like some of the cleanup done because the US Army Corps of Engineers, I guess, is working on the cleanup and FEMA designated them to do it. But there's no soil testing required. And some people have independently done soil testing, so they're only taking off the top layer of soil and it's like a hundred times more toxic than any acceptable level of like lead, arsenic, all these environmental chemicals. Chris, I don't know. The only thing I can hope and pray is that we have these conversations and when these individuals, when she goes to run for governor, when he goes to run for president, people kind of vaguely remember or hopefully God read your book.

[Chris Moritz]

So, okay, so Newsom's like core issue, right, is global warming and the environment. The fires which could have been prevented produced so much toxicity. I know that the sun turned bright red. I live next to the Palisades. I was a block away from the evacuation zone. I watched was apocalyptic to say the least. The Palisades don't exist anymore. They were flattened as if like by an atomic bomb. And the air was acrid and toxic for days. I. I couldn't breathe. Well, a lot of people couldn't.

[Jillian Michaels]

It will be arguably for years.

[Chris Moritz]

So you want to like, smell it. Environmentalism.

[Jillian Michaels]

Yeah.

[Chris Moritz]

How is, how is the policies that led to this environmentalism? Because I consider myself environmentalist and I don't, you know, Newsom, like, put up or shut up.

[Jillian Michaels]

Like, I was told that the, the amount of CO2 that was released in the fires rolls back back like 20 years.

[Chris Moritz]

Of course, of course.

[Jillian Michaels]

I hate this guy so much. I can talk to you for hours about it and. But I, I want to get to something else and I have a couple.

[Chris Moritz]

Details though, on the farm you should know, though.

[Jillian Michaels]

Please. I was gonna say, like, literally I could keep you for a full day, but that's why you wrote a book and that's why people need to read it. And I got more I need to.

[Chris Moritz]

Cover, but tell me we'll get. I just want to say two anecdotes though. Firstly, 150 looters were chased out of Santa Monica in the couple days of the. The first few.

[Jillian Michaels]

I forgot this.

[Chris Moritz]

My brother is actually encountered a like some very scary gangsters, like just near our parents house in north Santa Monica. There were 44 arrests. These were hardened gangsters, like the type that we've been talking about who came into these evacuation zones to pillage. I heard a story of a family who had to evacuate Mandeville Canyon. Mandeville Canyon was considered like the last line of defense against the fire moving east and then caused the rest of the city. Now, Mandeville Canyon was not destroyed, but it was evacuated. And while they were in evacuation, they had their, you know, security cameras on their. And linked to their phone. They watched a crew of gangsters descend upon their house and for four hours, dismantle it. And the viciousness was so awful that they literally took pictures, family pictures, out of the frames and ripped them up.

[Jillian Michaels]

I would shoot them.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

Sorry.

[Chris Moritz]

Exactly. Exactly. Now, here's one other.

[Jillian Michaels]

And if somebody did, this would start to stop.

[Chris Moritz]

Here's one other thing. I learned from a classified report that during the fires, there was a. A attack on a army reserve base in Tustin. Three Humvees were stolen. Machine gun turrets, bayonets, night vision goggles, and they just made out off with it. Who? Now who.

[Jillian Michaels]

Who.

[Chris Moritz]

Who would do that? Who would have the ability to do that kind of a raid? To me, that sounds very cartel like.

[Jillian Michaels]

Are you kidding me?

[Chris Moritz]

No thrill. Not reported, but was inside classified.

[Jillian Michaels]

How is that allowed? Classified by who?

[Chris Moritz]

I'm just one of my sources showed me and Chris. Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

This is crazy. It's just.

[Chris Moritz]

It's way, way darker than people realize.

[Jillian Michaels]

Sure. It's like. It is so much darker and so much deeper.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

Than anybody can possibly comprehend.

[Chris Moritz]

Yeah.

[Jillian Michaels]

I want. Okay. Available everywhere.

[Chris Moritz]

Yes.

[Jillian Michaels]

We're not done, though.

[Chris Moritz]

I know, I know. Lining out up.

[Jillian Michaels]

We're not done. And this is so extensive. There's so much we didn't touch on. But that's why you have to get the book.

[Chris Moritz]

Thank you.

[Jillian Michaels]

And I personally cannot wait to dig in and pour over page by page. Thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed the podcast, please like. Like, comment, subscribe and share. And make sure to let me know what guests you want to see on in the future.