On X Sunday, Los Angeles businessman and former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso wrote regarding the protests in L.A. over the weekend that there was “absolutely no danger that justifies deployment of the National Guard, military, or other federal force to the streets.”
Caruso told L.A.’s Morning News on Monday he stood by his statement.
“What I said in that post, it may incite, because what you do have in Los Angeles, unfortunately, you've got agitators, you've got professional protesters that just want a reason to get out there and riot and cause a problem,” he said. “And we've had a culture in this city, unfortunately, of not holding people accountable, and people were not arrested, and those that were, were released. “
He added that bringing in the National Guard was a mistake.
“What are we gonna do? We're gonna default to National Guard because we can't patrol ourselves and take care of ourselves? That makes no sense,” he said. “We have to have a strong LAPD with the right protocols, but also the right enforcement protocols to hold people accountable.”
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Caruso also said he believed both state and federal officials are guilty of stirring things up.
“The mayor of any major city should be able to get the president on the phone and convince him to just stand down,” he said. “A lot of the chest pumping that's going on on all sides, to me, is ridiculous and it's immature, and I think people need to settle down, act like grown-ups, and lead this city and lead this nation. And the language going back and forth, that helps incite people.”
Caruso argued the LAPD needs to be bigger and better funded to prevent more protests and riots.
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