The Daily Signal - Trump Overrides Bureaucracy to Rescue the Pacific Palisades | Elaine Culotti

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to “cut through bureaucratic red tape and speed up reconstruction in the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon areas one year after devastating wildfires destroyed nearly 40,000 acres of homes and businesses.” Daily Signal California contributor Elaine Culotti explains why his plan to fast-track permits and mobilize builders is critical for families displaced for more than a year in today’s special video commentary.  “You have to have a plan. And the plan has to get through the process quickly, because that is called momentum. You have to have mobilization. That’s when you start mobilization. And you have to have a schedule of values. That’s the beginning, the middle and the end. “Donald Trump, thank you so much for doing this. … We need to be able to build. If we want to pay to play, we should be able to do that. If we want to use federal dollars to get it expedited, we should be able to do that. I thank you so much for coming to California. We are so appreciative.” 👉For more videos like this, subscribe to The Daily Signal’s YouTube channel and enable notifications to be alerted the second a new video drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Amex Platinum, $400 in annual credits for travel and dining means you not only satisfy your travel bug, but your taste buds too. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Thank you, Donald Trump. He is going to write this executive order that is going to allow the Trump administration and federal dollars to flow into the Pacific Palisades, expedite permits, and start the building process. And to anybody who's not supporting this, please listen to me. This is the most important thing that could happen in California because what it's going to do is it's going to show people how builders build. Hi, Daily Signal. It's Elaine Kalati and I just had to jump on and say, thank you, Donald Trump.

Today's Daily Signal is about Donald Trump announcing that he is going to write this executive order that is going to allow the Trump administration and federal dollars to flow into the Pacific Palisades and help Palestinians. and Altadena and I think he left off Malibu, but he must have meant Malibu. Expedite permits and start the building process. This is fundamentally so important. And I just want to give a shout out to the Trump administration for actually thinking about what we're going through here and how challenging this is a year after the fires. Number one. Number two, I would like to be in charge and part of what he's doing because I have so many ideas.

And I just want to say to anybody who's supporting this, great. And to anybody who's not supporting this, please listen to me. This is the most important thing that could happen in California because what it's going to do is it's going to show people how builders build. You have to have a plan. And the plan has to get through the process quickly because that is called momentum. You have to have mobilization. That's when you start mobilization. And you have to have a schedule of values.

That's the beginning in the middle of the end. For example, how much money is it going to cost and how long is it going to take and what percentage is complete? That's building homes. You should not be lost or have any difficulty understanding that if you don't have a permit, you cannot start the process. And this is massively devastating to people who are in rentals and people whose forbearance has run out. For people that have run out of money, they cannot rebuild. How are they going to do it? Insurance is not forever.

So if you leave people a year with absolutely no way to start their project, they go bankrupt. I mean, you're talking about 100,000 people displaced in the palisades, and now you're going to bankrupt them. I mean, this is the problem, and I really salute Donald Trump for seeing the emergency of these people cannot sustain this, which brings me to my next point of this whole podcast. Donald Trump also has passed a bill that says corporations cannot buy single family residential. I think that should be top of mind in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Altadena, when it comes. to SB 79, which seeks to put high rises and apartment buildings in single-family residential neighborhoods and removing single-family residential houses. But not all of them, only the ones of the people that actually sell or cannot rebuild or ran out of money. This should be completely

suspended, kicked to the curb in these areas. Malibu, and Pacific Palisades and Altadena Eaton should not be having to fight against SB 79 and Sacramento putting random transit districts in all other projects just so that they can land grab. And that's what it is. And without support federally, it's very difficult to make the case for these important decisions

because it takes so long to get through the quagmire of the bureaucracy which creates the red tape, which makes you go through this process. And I also want to note that again today, city council did not make a decision on whether or not mansion tax could be abated, gotten rid of in burn areas. So in other words, I say it again, if you sell your lot and it is worth over $5 million, you will pay mansion tax on those burned out ashes. Again, what are you doing to people that cannot afford to build back? you're going to charge them another 5%, 6%, whatever it is. Insane.

Donald Trump, thank you so much for doing this. We need building departments in our towns right there on Main Street. We need to be able to talk to people that are real people. We need to have independent planning and planners, independent architects, engineers, and soils people. We need to be able to build. If we want to pay to play, we should be able to do that. If we want to use federal dollars to get it expedited, we should be able to do that. I thank you so much for coming to California.

We are so appreciative. My name is Elaine Kalati, and I am reporting for the Daily Signal, and I thank you all. Please like and subscribe. And if you have any questions about construction or when this is happening, please ask me in the comments, and I'll do my best to answer.