Rick Caruso, Grant Cardone Blast Democrats for LA Fires

Flames from the Palisades Fire were still licking the real estate around Rick Caruso’s shopping center when the developer called into his local Fox station to lay blame on Mayor Karen Bass.

“There’s no water coming out of the fire hydrants,” said Caruso, whose Palisades Village mall was damaged but spared the worst of the blaze. “This is an absolute mismanagement by the city.”

“Why isn’t there water in the fire hydrants?” a Fox anchor asked.

“Why don’t you call the mayor who is out of the country and ask her,” Caruso responded, needling Bass for being in Ghana when the fires broke out Tuesday.

Caruso is a Republican-turned-Democrat who lost to Bass in L.A.’s 2022 mayoral election. But in the days that followed, his criticism of party leadership was echoed by real estate’s right-aligned Grant Cardone and self-declared “little-bit Republican” Robert Rivani. Department of Government Efficiency-pick Elon Musk backed Caruso’s claims on X as President-Elect Donald Trump laid into Gov. Gavin Newsom on Truth Social.

As rapidly as the fires spread, they had become a political flashpoint for the industry — evidence, for detractors, of the broken system the incoming party aims to dismantle when Inauguration Day dawns this month.

The common complaint among the industry heavyweights was corruption.

After Caruso’s appearance, Cardone popped up on a Fox Business segment Thursday morning to condemn “screwed up” priorities by “corrupted government” on the state and local level.

The investor and head of Cardone Capital claimed the Palisades Fire had caused “severe damage” to his Malibu home, which was one of the “last ones standing” on Carbon Beach.

He condemned the state’s $12 billion investment in “high-speed rails to Vegas or basically nowhere,” money he said should have gone to pressurizing fire hydrants.

Rivani, president of development firm Black Lion, posted a video of his burning Malibu mansion on Instagram Wednesday, then a carousel of the wreckage Thursday morning.

“I’m at a loss for words on how pathetic this state is run, no water for fire hydrants, no planning to prevent these fires every year, no funding for firefighters instead budget cuts?” he wrote.

“Wtfffff is wrong with you people, where does all the tax money go? Oh that’s right corrupt politicians !!!!! F#ck you California and Los Angeles,” he added.

Musk, meanwhile, offered direct support for Caruso’s Fox appearance, retweeting the video on X and tacking on claims that “Obama made sure that Rick Caruso, who is extremely competent, lost to utterly incompetent Mayor Karen (her real name).”

Former President Barack Obama endorsed Bass ahead of the election.

Trump, for his part, took aim at Newsom, claiming on Truth Social that the governor’s environmental policies had prioritized an endangered fish over an infusion of water to Southern California.

The governor’s office denied that he had refused to sign what Trump called a “water restoration declaration,” Newsweek reported.

Trump went on to call for Newsom’s resignation, a demand later parroted by Cardone.

Taken together, the comments carry the tenor of the voters who carried Trump to re-election and propelled Musk’s government reduction initiative DOGE — an aggravation to the status quo and a call for new management.

“My message to California — revolt and protest,” Cardone said.