California's a Test Case Again: Fire Chief, Trump, Tabloid Journalism

We discuss Trump's proposal to take over reconstruction of SoCal's wildfire- damaged areas. We ponder the arrival  of the tabloid Caliornia Post.

Transcript

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 0:01

Welcome to another episode of Inside Golden State Politics. I'm Bill Bosky, former city editor and columnist for the Los Angeles Times, and with me is our executive producer director, Nancy Bosky.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 0:17

And I am Sherry Beba, Jeffy political analyst and self-styled medium Maven. Coming to you from, actually from being almost speechless. Okay. I can hear the cheers out there. Stop it. Here's why. I don't have to tell you why do I, numb, I'm anxious. I'm getting really scared. rips me up that it took two heinous killings to wake up the media with the invaluable help of citizens', cell phones make Republicans begin to wake up make so many Americans wake up. There's shred of optimism in the blowback against ice, against Trump, and against the direction in which our country appears to be moving. And that makes me wanna keep on talking over to you, bill.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 1:27

We can't talk our way out of this. Well, we can.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 1:31

Helps.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 1:31

have we have as podcast hosts, we have the ability to talk our way around it, out of it, and all of that. I've been most interested in president Trump's desire to be California's new fire chief.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 1:48

Yeah.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 1:49

proposed that the state take over issuing permits for reconstruction of burned properties damaged damaged and burned down in the fire. And victims will be able to go to the state. Permits,

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 2:10

No, it's the Feds. The Feds. He wants the feds to

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 2:15

what you're right,

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 2:17

away from the state and away from Los

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 2:20

right? Yes. So you'll have to be able to go to your federal government for permits. This is this is something that is not going to work. And I have I can say this from my long experience in journalism bootcamp covering LA City Hall. And one of the first things I had to cover and got stuck with through all of my tenure there was. The whole subject of permitting remodeling of a house,

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 2:56

Snore.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 2:57

which is, which puts people to, like sherry, puts you to sleep, which is a tremendously intricate time consuming a failure. And it's something that I'll tell you. Various mayors, city officials for years have tried to figure out a way of speeding up, getting a permit to build a addition to your house, and they haven't been able to. They've tried something I thought was their great solution was a one stop permit office where you'd just go to your. City hall or city hall branch and get a permit for everything. And then you'd give that to the contractor and you'd be done with it. But that didn't work. Yes,

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 3:46

to what Trump is proposing. Not quite the same, but

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 3:50

right.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 3:51

Bit of that.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 3:53

It seems to me that it's watching it. It's just so damn hard to break through the mid-level. Bureaucracy that surrounds these boring, but necessary projects, the permitting process. And I don't see any way around it. And I don't think that Trump will do anything about it. I think it was it was a headline grabber for one day.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 4:28

Yeah, that's a part of it. As I do that, it doesn't matter to Trump if he's not supposed to do it. And indeed, that is not. At this point in time, the feds cannot take over the permitting process. I'm figuring if there's something else here. First of all, part of the reason redevelopment has been so slow is that Trump is holding up something like$34 billion federal disaster aid. If you don't have the money do what you need to do, you can't do Need to do. He has called both Governor Newso and mayor La Mayor Karen Bass quote, incompetent in quote. Again you've gotta look at the other side of the situation also. And this is what started raising red flags for me. Let me quote you about. Somebody asking him, why do you think we ought to do this quote? I want to see if we can take over the city and state give the people their permits, they want to build. I want to see if we can take over the city and state kind of move. Is unprecedented. It's an unprecedented incursion of the federal government disaster recovery. And even more than that, there's a pattern words. The first sentence that I read, it's his way of taking power other levels of government placing them under the authority. The federal government, meaning Donald J. Trump.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 6:26

The reason this won't work is that there are not enough workers officials people be people behind the desk giving out these permits to build. Secondly, one of the things about local government that makes covering it so difficult is the NIMBY factor. People, homeowners and property owners want ironclad control over. How they build or rebuild, and they're not gonna sit still and or go down to the FEMA office and wait in line, which will be longer because FEMA's workload will be higher and wait for a permit. Not only that worst case, an enterprising citizen property owner can get hold of their member of the council or some local official, just a phone call away, but under the Trump plan of centralized control, that won't be that won't be possible. It's just a pipe dream. And and, something that holds out false hope.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 7:40

What really makes me nervous is the fact that rather than go through all of the bureaucracy and all of the guidelines and the permit. Sanctions. You can self-certify, ah is okay. It follows all of the guidelines, all of the mandated actions. And off you go to build a house. And this obviously this occurs when you have federal funding to invest in the rebuilding. Doesn't that make you feel a little nervous that all of the guidelines and all of the rules and regulations that we have built up, particularly in this area, in Southern California, in Los Angeles, if you will, where you know there needs to be great considerations, fire considerations. It seems to me that raises the possibility of. Having a very risky situation when there may be, if there may be an earthquake or a forest fire or a fire in the urban community, it's scary.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 9:01

We can rail about the bureaucracy and how long it takes to how many permits you need to build something. But as you point out, a lot of those hoops that you have to go through were put there for a reason. For earthquake protection, without some regulation, builders would build little flimsy old things that would go down in a minute. Without regulation people would be building houses right up against the nearby forests with shingle roofs and they would go up. All of these things that make building difficult some are necessary. Now, I gotta say having watched government in action. I gotta say, that the various departments slow walk these things. They really take their time and they just make going to the DMVA luxury compared to having to go to the building and safety department.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 10:10

Bill. me put it this way, we're, I'm ringing my hands. Trump is yelling and going after what he sees as this bureaucratic horror show. this really is, I am convinced, is another example of his just hating California, going after the state, going after Governor Newsom, going after la, california like Donald Trump using us again, I think maybe as a test case to see if he really can begin to corral all of this authority into his house.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 10:59

The a clearer example of that is his occupation of Minneapolis, Minnesota. There clearly he is trying to carry out what Mayor Best warned about in January is this all began. A takeover of local government. And and she was going to resist it. Let's not forget, it was really, I illustrated by the armed Forces' invasion of MacArthur Park. In central Los Angeles where children were playing and all that as is their habit and sending in the cavalry and and foot troops into MacArthur Park

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 11:46

On horseback.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 11:47

On horseback. And there's where she resisted it and that resistance. Was a big mistake on her part. There's no satisfying

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 11:57

What do you mean? What do you mean? Wait. What do you mean it was a big mistake? Resistance was a big mistake.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 12:02

If you wanna get along with Trump you have to surrender, surrender, surrender.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 12:10

Now, Dorothy.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 12:11

Sherry, one of the little sidelights in of interest to US media types was the way that Trump announced his proposed takeover of local government. It was in an interview with something called the California Post. Which is our new local newspaper. It's patterned after the New York Post. It,

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 12:40

a part of the family.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 12:41

It's owned by the right wing Murdoch family. And it promises to offer Los Angeles a new voice and a and a choice. I tried to find the first edition I Googled it and it's hard to find but it will be I don't know. What do you think? Do we need another newspaper?

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 13:04

It isn't yet a newspaper, quite frankly. It's just digital right now. And the, the argument is it ain't the New York Times, the Washington Post. It isn't even in the LA Times. It's a tabloid. a tabloid has a very different taste, a very different style. It is not the newspaper of record. For any locality. I have to tell you, way back when I would read the New York Post by my candlelight, my friends and I love to read it because it's snarky, right? You knew that it was totally biased. But you knew, and we were just kids and we all made a beeline to page six, which is a gossip bucket, if you will. And some people, some celebrities, if you will, just every morning wanted to see them. If they made page six and others every morning would look to see, oh my God, I don't wanna make. Page six. not? It's gonna be online. They say they're going to have a hard copy, but I'm wondering if that will ever come to be. They are touting themselves as the paper of every day working Americans, Californians, and it may be the case. This country reads tabloids.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 14:52

Sherry in addition, I was talking a little bit about my boring exploration of planning. Getting permits and all of that. But my my career hasn't been that boring. And during the OJ Simpson trial I wrote a column examining the media's coverage of what was then the trial of Century. And my editor, Shelby Coffey was interested in the tabloids and so he suggested, why don't you call up all the editors of the tabloids. There were about five or six supermarket tabloids that you. They're less now, they were on top of the OJ trial. They bannered it every day. And and they had these scoops, or not scoops, he said, find out about'em. What do the editors say? So I, was intrigued by that. Also when your boss suggests something, it's not really not any, not a suggestion. But anyway, but I was intrigued and so I called up all of the editors of the examiner of the globe. Of the Inquirer called them all up. They were very nice. They were great guys. They tended to be these old Brits, old British guys, from the London tabloids. The first thing they told me was that, and they were right that most of their stories were correct, were right. They broke a lot of ground in the OJ trial. They were not wrong all the time. They were right a lot of the time, if that's the standard. And then they, and he told me how the reporters get their stories how they mani manipulate their sources and where they go for news and, they had it well thought out and I learned a lot about how to put out a tabloid. I also think that the tabloid. It is a good thing for journalism.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 17:00

Hello.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 17:01

I think that the New York post, I don't agree with its right wing politics, but I think the New York Post is a, it is a good thing. I think that the supermarket tabloids that I read religiously. I guess you can't read'em religiously. That I read intently during the OJ trial were a good thing because, often they would have things that the regular mainstream press had missed. They go around, they bribe people to talk to them. They find out.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 17:37

Are we sure

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 17:38

Yeah, they did all that stuff and they got people to talk, spill their guts.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 17:45

Like X to me.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 17:47

and it enlivened the journalistic world, I thought.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 17:52

That's one of the

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 17:53

And I enjoyed it.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 17:54

That's one of the arguments that the people running the California Post are making. You can have good news and, you could be light about it, but it could be good. I forgot to tell you that one of the things we would always look for is the front page. They'd have. Wild front page photographs and headlines. One of, one of the really funny ones that I found, and I think it's great of the New York Post, and I think it will tell you about where the California post is going. The front page. Headline this, and this is from 1983, quote, headless body in topless bar end quote. That's what we got to look forward to. What fun.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 18:45

you now? Wait, Sherry, don't you like that?

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 18:48

No,

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 18:49

Why not?

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 18:50

I think it's hysterical.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 18:52

not?

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 18:53

What the hell? way things are going now, bill, why not?

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 18:58

Alright. One thing, if the California post rises to the level of amounting to something rather than it, it is in its first few

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 19:09

Days.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 19:09

days out and out of the box it will kick the conventional press in the ass and get'em to do more, do you remember the, do you remember the Harold Examiner?

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 19:20

Oh yes, Really dates me. But yes, I do. Los Angeles Herald Examiner,

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 19:25

that was a,

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 19:26

anti to the LA Times

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 19:28

and that was a terrific paper.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 19:30

Bad.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 19:31

and it was a terrific paper because it would get a story. Like police corruption or a crime story and they wouldn't let go of it. They'd bang it out there and they'd put it on page one with a sharp headline and. Do that, for a few days. And that really drove the police department to do something about some of it. There were scandals, I'm thinking particularly the killing of a woman by a police officer in a, pointless incident. And if it hadn't been for the Herald hitting that story. Every day then I think nothing would've been done. And, when I got into a position of minor authority at the times when I was city editor and had some in minor influence in playing the news we started. Doing that especially with the police department. We started hitting stories. The times was, addicted to these very long, beautifully written pieces to really elegant writing difficult subjects and all of that. I always thought with those stories, you'd put it aside and say, God, that sounds real interesting. I'll read it. Nar tomorrow or tonight? No, you wanted something that people would grab and say, I gotta read it now. And we did that as much as possible. We'd hit a story day after day, and I think that had a lot to do with the police departments. Cleanup after the Rampart bribery scandal of policemen out in the Rampart division in central la. So I thought it was good. We copied him.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 21:28

Oh I that again lends itself to my theory that so much of where journalism is going, and I think it's on pretty wobbly legs right now, particularly newspapers. It's going away of social media. What you described to me was a comparison of social media, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, whatever with, let's say the LA Times or the New York Times. People aren't going to those newspapers anymore. To social media.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 22:06

I don't know if they can do anything about getting people to read newspapers again. Newspapers may be a thing of the past, but it certainly was when there was a police shooting, we not Facebook, we were not a social website. Those were not even heard of in those days. We sent out reporters to get the story, and then we got it in the paper as soon as possible. Now that's entirely different than sitting in a bar and yapping around

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 22:41

that's my point.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 22:42

TikTok. It's entirely different. Different,

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 22:45

my point.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 22:45

no, it's not your point.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 22:47

Yes, it's my point. It's that we don't take that in depth. Look, and that interpretations don't come only from the great gray ladies of the press. It comes from anybody. If you look quite frankly at the way the killing Alex Freddy evolving. It's evolving the way it is. It's catching misstatements and lies because people have social media and their cell phones and they're blessing for it. And

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 23:23

that isn't that's a great thing. That is.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 23:27

it

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 23:27

is a great,

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 23:28

I'm

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 23:28

that is. That is.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 23:30

different.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 23:31

It's different. Of course. It's different, but it's a great improvement in communications really.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 23:37

I how do we know

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 23:39

It's.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 23:39

true not true?

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 23:40

It's a real improvement. People are getting the news. No one would've heard about that. The the, those two victims of Minneapolis, if it hadn't been, if it hadn't been for citizens with their cell phones,

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 23:56

that's.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 23:56

and if it hadn't been for it

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 23:58

I still

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 23:58

hadn't been for them, CNN and and the others for putting those images out on the on, on the internet,

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 24:07

that's what I mean. It's a very different world and the one little bubble that may be of some concern is either in newspapers. Shall we say the New York Post or the California Post, or on social media or at maybe at some point, maybe now, in hard copy newspapers. We need be able to determine the facts and what is, what's right What is, what's wrong.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 24:42

Isn't that the responsibility of of the journalists particularly, and it's the responsibility of their editors

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 24:50

I ain't got no stinking editors. I can write whatever I want on social media California Post for that

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 24:58

You can do it. You can do it. Of course you can. You can write whatever you damn please. But Sherry,

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 25:04

I don't call it reporting

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 25:06

Sherry, I tell you what I do here. I don't call reporting. I don't what

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 25:12

nor do I.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 25:12

I do here for our podcast. I enjoy it. I think it's of value. It's not reporting. I don't go out on the street. I don't go interview people. I don't go out there looking for the person who the sheriff's deputies who shot a young. Black, Muslim where I spent days looking for these people. There's all kinds of things that I would call reporting that I don't do for this very good. Podcast I talk.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 25:46

Oh, you do? I think we've run out of debate topics on this particular issue. And I'd like to get back to where California is all of these attacks by Trump, and we're getting close midterm elections. Will that have an impact of California, particularly California Republicans? Are they nervous that, their leader not incredibly well loved, so close the midterm elections. California, in response to all the batting about of our state that the federal government is doing, has begun to look at ways to pull back the takeover. The power of states the takeover of who gets what money and who gets ice out in their streets. California I think is not as much as. An outlier with other states as it has been. I think right now Minnesota wins the next Nobel pre surprise, but California too is being looked at in a more mild, respectful way because we, we are not sitting back. taking it. There's legislation there now that would allow people to sue federal law enforcement agents. We can't do that now. There is a law that protects us. We can sue on the state or local level. There's legislation moving around through the legislature, which would forbid our lands, our state lands from being. Basically co-opted immigration operations. There is legislation that's been signed but is now in court, which would forbid ICE guys from wearing masks. Little things like that, which. What is going on in this country where it needs to be? And that's way out there among the people. And the people are getting angry and the debate continues.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 28:17

Don't you think governor Gavin Newsom has set, has something to do with that, with his rather unrelenting attack on Trump?

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 28:26

He started it. He is, and by the way, he is one of the major. Targets of the New York posts. He doesn't, they don't like him. And I would assume from having read the little bit that I have read so far, that the California Post will pick up the cudgel, but it's helping him. It's helping him politically, and it's helping him with regard to the public's perception of Gavin Newso.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 28:58

Yeah, I agree. I think that when he started in with Trump he did it hard, didn't hesitate, had a rather clever beginning with his own podcast when he had conservatives on. But but he cleared the way for him to then begin a full head on attack on on Trump when nobody else had the guts to do it. Now everybody's.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 29:25

the reason to do it too, remember he started first on us and Trump did, and he started jumping on us real hard. So that door was opened for Gavin.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 29:41

And he jumped through it. So now of all of the potential democratic, presidential candidates, he's managed to stand out slightly at least above the pack.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 29:57

Yeah. Again, where he wasn't, let's say a year ago. It all goes I think we've talked about this many times before. He is a good example of unru theory of the the street cart theory of politics. You gotta be on the right corner. The bus has to be going in the right direction. gotta be there at the right time. You've gotta have the right fare to get on. And if you do, you can win. And like it or not politically, that's what happened with regard to Newsom and the fight between Newsom and Trump. a terrible thing when you're lucky because horrors are coming forth your state and in your country and people are being killed. You don't. But there's the streetcar theory of politics.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 31:00

You mentioned luck. You have to be very lucky. Street. Cars are like light rail. They used to run down the middle of the street on tracks. That's how people used to get around. You gotta be not only lucky, but you gotta have the courage to get off the curb and get on the streetcar. Even if the streetcar is just starting to move. In politics it takes a certain skill. Courage, daredevil, wisdom, ambition.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 31:37

I

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 31:38

We ought to talk about that one day. I really,

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 31:40

Yeah. Or time is running out

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 31:43

yeah. Let's call it a day and.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 31:46

for today we'll call it a day. That makes some sense. Cheers everybody.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 31:51

Cheers.

squadcaster-4db3_2_01-28-2026_150501 31:52

Bye-Bye.

host-4ha0_2_01-28-2026_150503 31:53

Bye.