Axe-wielding squatters, pepper spray while I walk the dog... but the scariest part of my beloved LA's descent into squalor is the celeb I'm hearing could replace Newsom

Standing in the burning rubble the day after wildfires had razed one of the most affluent areas in Los Angeles, I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness. 

Stepping through the smoking embers and past the burned-out shells of the schools and businesses of Pacific Palisades, my sense of grief for those who lost their homes and livelihoods overtook all other emotions. 

But today, two months after the fires displaced 80,000 people and caused an estimated $250 billion in losses, my sadness - like so many in LA - has turned to rage at those whose mismanagement and woke politics have destroyed a once-great city.

The fact that brave firemen ran out of water because city officials had allowed reservoirs to run dry is just the start.

It is still hard to grasp how America's second-biggest metropolis, the beating heart of California's $3.9 trillion economy - the fifth largest in the world - has been brought to its knees.

For years I have watched in despair as LA descends into mayhem, thanks to the DEI politics of Democrats which have left us with some of the highest taxes in the country, along with some of the worst rates of homelessness and crime. 

You can't drive anywhere in LA without confronting sprawling 'tent cities' packed with homeless people, even in affluent areas like the Sunset Strip, where I live. 

The streets are filthy, littered with syringes and, quite often, human feces. 

Today I live in the Hollywood Hills, still considered one of the safest places in the city. 

I'm too scared to walk down the hill from of my house because a squatter has taken over an empty property nearby and his 'squatter's rights' trump my right to walk in safety. 

The squatter - who brandished an axe at someone who tried to confront him - holds all-night drug-fueled parties which disturb my once-quiet neighborhood, yet police say there is nothing they can do. 

Now, when I walk my friend's dog, I carry pepper spray. 

Sunset Boulevard, at the end of the street, is a filthy trash-filled mess littered with the tents of homeless junkies. Last Sunday I went to Starbucks and saw a man defecating in the car park outside my local Bank of America. 

A few nights ago, a man was arrested for stabbing another vagrant at the gas station. I wouldn't dream of taking the dog, solo, into the mountains now. Last summer, a woman on one of my favorite trails was dragged into the bushes and raped. 

Another disastrous liberal policy - refusing to charge criminals who steal property worth $950 or less - has affected almost everyone I know. 

Storefronts are boarded up right across the city thanks to 'smash and grab' raids by gangs of thieves emboldened by the knowledge they won't face any jail time or even a fine if they are caught (which they rarely are). 

When my purse was pickpocketed by two women who immediately bought Gucci bags on my credit card, the store refused to hand over the surveillance footage, citing the thieves' 'privacy rights'. 

So many of my friends, from both ends of the political and economic spectrum, have left town for states like Texas, Tennessee, Utah and Nevada where taxes are lower, schools better and convicted criminals actually face jail. 

For many, though, it is the blatant mismanagement – before and after the city burned – that has been the turning point.

LA Mayor Karen Bass, who is accused by her critics of benefiting personally from years of DEI policies as she clawed her way up the political ladder, was on a taxpayer-funded trip to Ghana when the worst wildfires in the state's history broke out. 

This was despite days of warnings from meteorologists that approaching high winds could spark 'the big one'. 

Her leadership since has been half-hearted at best, pathetic at worse. When she named Steve Soboroff as her 'disaster recovery czar', it took less than 24 hours for it to emerge that he was getting paid a staggering $500,000 for a three-month contract. 

After a public outcry Soboroff, a multi-millionaire businessman and former LA Police Commissioner, agreed to work for free. But it took a visit from President Trump, days after his inauguration on January 20, to get the abundant water supplies in the mountains to the north of LA flowing back into the city's empty reservoirs. 

While Bass has been chairing endless meetings of the bloated City Council, it has taken a local businessman - billionaire Rick Caruso - to spearhead a rebuilding effort called 'Steadfast LA' which vows to cut through the bureaucracy and red tape by raising money from the private sector. 

Caruso has vowed to provide hundreds of low-cost prefab homes for those affected by the fires with the first being available 'within days'. 

According to former LA Sheriff Alex Villanueva, the degree of mismanagement in LA is 'epic'. He said: 'It's incompetence married with poisonous ideology.'

He pointed out how, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 - following the death of George Floyd, who was killed when a white policeman knelt on his neck - LA's woke city officials responded to calls to 'defund the police' by slashing the jobs of 3,000 officers. 

Mr Villanueva added: 'All of this is deliberate. It's all about 'care first, jail last' when it comes to criminals.'

The decline is summed up by the town's most iconic business of all, the film industry, which has all but upped and gone - to Atlanta, Georgia, to the UK and New Zealand, all of which offer generous tax incentives to companies like Netflix. 

One stuntman friend of mine is selling up and moving back to the UK because he hasn't worked in LA for years. 

Another friend who works at a studio says even if there is work - often on reality shows like America's Got Talent or game shows - crew members share recreational vehicles or sleep in their cars because they can't afford sky-rocketing city rents. 

And since the fires, a housing shortage means LA's already high rental costs are through the roof. A one-bedroom apartment costs upwards of $1,800 a month. 

California's Democrat Governor, Gavin Newsom, once a favorite to run for president when Trump's second term ends, is facing calls to be removed from office. 

Even though California's budget is $30 billion in the red, he has doubled-down against President Trump's vow to kick out illegal immigrants and has promised to provide free legal aid and 'safe sanctuary' for undocumented workers. 

On February 19, the president signed an executive order ending federal benefits for those in the US illegally, with a White House spokesperson saying he did so because taxpayer money should not be used to 'incentivize or support illegal immigrants'.

Trump is also aiming to outlaw states offering sanctuary to illegals - something Gov. Newsom has vowed to fight. 

California Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher said: 'California is $30 billion in the red but instead of tightening its belt.they are doubling down on reckless spending. 

'The state is shelling out $9.5 billion on healthcare for illegal immigrants while emergency rooms overflow, hospitals teeter on the brink and working Californians struggle to see a doctor. This isn't just a budget crisis - it's a complete failure of leadership.' 

Steve Hilton, founder of Golden Together and a Fox News contributor, called it 'yet another example of California Democrats' totally wrong priorities'. 

'We have the highest poverty rate in America. We pay the highest taxes and get the worst results,' he said.

'People are asking: 'Where did all our money go?' And here's the answer: ideological obsessions like this — free healthcare for people who are here illegally. People have had enough of all this. There's going to be change in California sooner than people think.' 

Newsom, who is a friend of Meghan Markle and is said to support the former actress's rumored political ambitions, says he will fight any attempt by law enforcement to round up illegal immigrants. 

There are estimated to be 1.8 million undocumented people in California. Even Democrats are getting fed up. 

'California has been mismanaged for decades and the penny is finally starting to drop,' one major Democratic fundraiser said.

'President Trump made massive gains among women, black and Mexican voters during the last election and vast swathes of the state have now turned red (the color associated with Republicans). 

'This has been a one-party state, the Democrats, for decades now, but even the most strident supporters of the party are finding it hard to defend some of the policies which have led to such a steep decline. 

'The Democrats have to get their act together or they face losing power in California in the next election, something that has been unthinkable in the past.' 

The source laughed when asked if Meghan - who has spoken out against Trump's policies - might make a good replacement for Governor Newsom should he be ousted.

'Someone like Meghan serves to highlight the problems. She's a typical limousine liberal who says "do as I say, not as I do". She sits in her Montecito mansion and takes private jets like the rest of us take Ubers. 

'And that's the problem. Democrats have spent years introducing failed policies under leaders who have assumed positions of power thank to DEI politics rather than skill sets or experience. They have lost touch with real people. 

'California is at rock bottom and if the Democrats don't wake up and change this fast they deserve to be kicked out.' 

I, for one, could not agree more.