California is rotting. At least, that is the verdict from Vice President JD Vance, who sat down with podcaster Joe Rogan to dissect the Golden State’s fall from grace under Governor Gavin Newsom. It was a brutal post-mortem. Vance recounted a trip to Los Angeles that felt less like a Hollywood dream and more like a geopolitical warning sign.
The contrast was jarring. Vance recalled driving through a bleak, crumbling neighborhood on his way to a high-society Christmas bash. The transition shocked him. It triggered a memory. He told Rogan it felt exactly like visiting the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Fortified luxury on the inside. Pure misery on the streets. He realized then that parts of America had slipped into developing-world territory. Rogan laughed. It was a dark, knowing chuckle.
It hurts to watch. Vance’s wife, Usha, hails from Southern California, giving him a personal stake in the region’s decline. He still sees the bones of a great American metropolis. The architecture remains. The weather is still perfect. But then you hit Skid Row. The encampments stretch for blocks. Rogan claimed the notorious zone has expanded by five blocks, a sprawling monument to policy failure. How does a city let this happen? Nobody has a good answer.
Rogan knows the tragedy firsthand. He fled the state years ago. Now, he watches his former home with a mix of pity and disgust. He targeted Governor Gavin Newsom. Rogan accused the governor of relentless gaslighting, pointing out that Newsom loves to brag about California’s massive GDP. But that wealth existed long before Newsom took office. It is a hollow boast.
Vance offered a simple metric for state health. Check the price of a U-Haul. If it costs a fortune to leave and pennies to arrive, you have a problem. People want out. Rogan agreed, lamenting how toxic politics poisoned a paradise. Newsom’s office did not respond to requests for comment. They rarely do when the truth hurts.
