JD Vance says attending an event in Los Angeles reminded him of visiting US embassy in 3rd world country

Fox News ^ | July 16, 2026 | Alexander Hall

[MinorityRepublican]

Vice President JD Vance spoke to podcaster Joe Rogan on Wednesday about how California has declined under Gov. Gavin Newsom to the point that it gave him flashbacks to visiting a "third-world country."

Vance recalled driving through a rough neighborhood in Los Angeles on his way to an elite Christmas party and was struck by the contrast between the two settings.

"And I realized when I was there, you know what this reminds me of? This reminds me of going to the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti," he said, as Rogan chuckled. "Like super security, crazy wealth and privilege and status on the inside, and squalor and misery on the outside."

"It's the first time I'd ever thought America, like this part of America, is actually more like a third-world country than anything that I thought we'd ever become," he added.

Vance noted that his wife, Usha, is from southern California, and they have spent a great deal of time in the state to the point that he felt "heartbreak" over the condition of Los Angeles.

"Because every time I'm in LA, you can see why this was like the quintessentially American city," he said. "The architecture is beautiful. It's got its own vibe going. Like you said, the weather is amazing. And then you drive through skid row, and you're like, how could any state or any city let this happen?"

Rogan, who is a former Californian himself, has spoken about his reasons for leaving the state, and told Vance that he knows people who want to leave but are struggling to sell their houses.

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[Sarah Barracuda]

He’s right and what is a real shame is that a lot of people here ENJOY living in misery. I was shocked that Karen Bass got ONE VOTE HERE considering what she did to this city but she did, and Raman, well she got the hobo vote for sure, things will never change here, its one party rule and thats it. You have morons here who would rather take cyanide than vote for a Republican who might fix things here

[Equine1952]

Better class of people in third world countries.

[escapefromboston]

Importing the third world will do that to a city

[Ditto]

I felt the same way years ago going to New Orleans. Great wealth + 3rd world squaller blocks away.

[Sequoyah101]

I stopped traveling the world in 1996. In the time before that I had landed and worked in 32 countries, many of them third world, some drug centers ans so forth, State Department considered some of them not safe to go to.

In all of those travels I felt most uncomfortable landing in LA. I hit there one night in the wee hours when all the airport facilities were closed. I could see places to eat off the airport that were open and thought I’d hail a cab to go there. I did, told the cabbie where I wanted to go and he said, “NO”. I never traveled through LA again.

[AZJeep]

California is know from all statistics as the state with the greatest income disparity and the largest percentage of people living in poverty.
After years of Democrats “addressing” this problem!

I think, they try to keep people poor so they keep voting for them!

[CedarDave]

"And then you drive through skid row, and you're like, how could any state or any city let this happen?"

Skid row? Hell, it's most everywhere downtown and in other areas. Multiple skid rows then.

[Red6]

He’s lying.

California is far left and socialist, they do not have extreme rich and extreme poor.

Just like they have no gun crime because their laws surely keep those evil instruments of war out of the hands of criminals.

Sarc-

[Veto!]

took my daughter to NOLA in January and didn’t see any 3rd world squaller. we stayed in the garden district and took streetcar downtown for wonderful shopping and food I remember from my childhood when my grandmother lived there. at the advice of locals, we had dinner one night in a black neighborhood about a mile from our hotel. Perfectly safe and the best and cheapest Oysters rockefeller in town. the voodoo tavern in the french quarter had good oysters too.