When Alex Villanueva was Los Angeles County sheriff, he styled himself as a bulwark of commonsense conservatism against the leftward drift of L.A. politics. Now, he’s taking his brand of straight talk—or vitriol, if you prefer—to the airwaves.
“The Resistance with Sheriff Alex Villanueva” on CRN Digital Talk Radio, the Chatsworth-based distributor of talk radio and video programming, showcases the knack that Villanueva, 60, has demonstrated for stirring the pot on a range of topics from law enforcement to homelessness to what the controversial lawman deems the “hypocrisy” and “corruption” of elected officials. The show airs live Monday through Friday at 10 a.m. Pacific time.
Villanueva joins a lineup on CRN that that includes conservative commentator Dennis Prager, former NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch, and ex-Trump advisor Sebastian Gorka.
“We are thrilled to have Sheriff Villanueva join our lineup of hosts on CRN Digital Talk Radio,” said Michael Horn, CEO. “His experience and expertise in law enforcement and in public service make him a valuable addition in the talk media universe and we look forward to providing a platform for him to connect with the audience.”
Villanueva was pummeled in his re-election bid by Robert Luna, a former chief of the Long Beach police, who was embraced by the Los Angeles Times editorial board and a who’s who of elected officials who comprise what the ex-sheriff reflexively slams as the “corporate media” and “political establishment.”
The sheriff’s foray into radio may well portend a future campaign, say sources close to Villanueva, who believe the sheriff is mulling a run for a seat on the Board of Supervisors currently held by supervisor Hilda Solis, whom Villanueva previously attacked as a race traitor to Latinos.
The sheriff kicked off the program’s debut this week with a discussion of the mass casualty events that occurred over the weekend in Texas—a mass shooting in Allen and mass vehicular homicide in Brownsville. But Villanueva spent much of the show bashing political enemies of his closer to home—the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, L.A. District Attorney George Gascón, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
As sheriff, Villanueva, whom Los Angeles deemed “the Donald Trump of L.A. law enforcement” took the department on a rightward jag. In June 2021, he famously donned a cowboy hat and deployed his deputies to the Venice boardwalk to sweep up the homeless encampments that had been proliferating. He bet his political career that a hard line on the unhoused would be a winning message when he ran for re-election in 2022; instead, it cost him the endorsement of his own party and, eventually, his public office.
“I am very excited to connect with the public on this new platform,” Villanueva said in a statement. “Even though I am out of office, the fight continues. We are at a crossroads at which many of our elected officials are no longer serving the public. They are serving themselves and their individual interests. I want to stand with the people to fight the corruption. We are the resistance that will save our state and the country.”
