J.D. Vance: ‘L.A. Is Actually More Like a Third-World Country than Anything That I Thought We’d Ever Become’

EXCERPT:

VANCE: “So, we realized that the reason why they gave you these convoluted directions was so that you could avoid Skid Row at night. And so, you get to this party, you drive through Skid Row, if you follow Google Maps directions, you get there and it’s, like, this beautiful facility with, like, fancy food and fancy wine. And then there are armed guards outside of it and these gigantic walls. 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. Like, super security, crazy wealth and privilege and status on the inside, and squalor and misery on the outside. Like, 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.”