Seattle was once a jewel of the Pacific Northwest.
Now it's a cautionary tale about what happens when radical leftists take control.
And Duck Dynasty stars watched Seattle become unlivable and they're blaming one group for the destruction.
Al Robertson Watched Seattle Transform From Beautiful City To Drug-Infested Disaster
Al Robertson from Duck Dynasty visited Seattle multiple times over several years for Alaska cruise departures.
The transformation he witnessed left him stunned.
"I went to Seattle for the first time to go on a cruise out of Alaska," Robertson explained on the January 8 episode of the family's "Unashamed with the Robertson Family" podcast.
"I happened to go every year for the next several years, doing cruises, most of them for work."
During that first trip, Robertson and his wife Lisa enjoyed walking through downtown Seattle.
"It's a beautiful city," Robertson said.
"I was right on the water with great restaurants, and we're like, 'Man, what a beautiful city these people have created here.' They created this little jewel, right up in our Northwest, in Seattle."
But each subsequent visit revealed a city in accelerating decline.
"The next year we went, it had lost a little luster," Robertson continued.
"There were a few more things going on in the streets that weren't great. By the end of the fifth year, we were afraid to walk the streets of Seattle."
The Robertsons stopped leaving their hotel during visits because the streets had become too dangerous.
Mayor Katie Wilson's LEAD Program Controversy Has Seattle Police Union Fuming
Robertson's comments came as Seattle's new socialist mayor Katie Wilson faced backlash over her approach to open drug use.
Wilson became mayor in January 2026 after campaigning on progressive policies.
Within days of taking office, Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes sent an internal email stating that all drug possession and public use cases would be diverted to treatment programs rather than prosecuted.
The Seattle Police Officers Guild slammed the policy as "suicidal empathy."
Guild President Mike Solan warned the approach would "create more death and societal decay."
Wilson insisted there had been no policy change despite the police chief's email explicitly stating a new directive.
"You'll know when I announce a policy change, because I'll announce a policy change," Wilson told reporters.
But the damage was already done.
Critics pointed out that Seattle tried this exact approach from 2021 to 2023 after a court decision struck down drug possession laws.
The results were catastrophic.
King County saw overdose deaths spike from 507 in 2020 to 1,274 by the end of 2023.
The homeless population exploded by 23% between 2022 and 2024 despite billions in spending.
Robertson Brothers Blame Woke Leadership For Seattle And San Francisco Becoming Unlivable
During their podcast discussion, Al and his brother Jase Robertson analyzed what they see as the root cause of Seattle's collapse.
They contrasted two biblical concepts: "dominion," where people steward society under God's authority, versus "idolatry," where human ideologies replace God.
Al said Seattle perfectly illustrates what happens when a city abandons biblical dominion for secular idolatry.
"You continue to watch this progression and see that there is no order," Robertson explained.
"We've turned it over to creation itself, and it's just becoming untenable, unlivable and unvisitable."
Jase Robertson noted that every city embracing this ideology follows the same trajectory.
"You see that in every city and area that tries this," Jase said.
"When you worship and serve the creation rather than seeing creation as something we cultivate, something we steward, something we exercise dominion over, and you flip that script, the end result is always a death word."
He specifically called out San Francisco alongside Seattle as examples of this pattern.
"It's always a city like Seattle or San Francisco," Jase continued.
"There are so many cities across America that have embraced this ideology, and you see the decline."
San Francisco overdose deaths hit an all-time high of 810 in 2023 before dropping 23% in 2024.
The city's homeless population remains higher than before the pandemic despite hundreds of millions in spending.
The Robertson brothers aren't alone in their assessment.
Conservative figures have been warning for years that progressive policies enabling open drug use and refusing to enforce basic laws would lead to exactly this outcome.
Seattle tried decriminalization and harm reduction.
The city got record overdoses, exploding homelessness, and streets too dangerous for tourists to walk.
Now a new progressive mayor is bringing those failed policies back while insisting nothing has changed.
The Robertsons watched Seattle transform from a beautiful city into what Jase called "a trash dump that is shrinking."
Their warning is clear: when cities worship creation instead of stewarding it under God's authority, the result looks like hell on earth.
Sources:
- Ashley Hume, "'Duck Dynasty' stars call Seattle, San Francisco 'unlivable' under 'woke' leadership," Fox News, January 12, 2026.
- Luke Duecy, "Seattle mayor responds to backlash over apparent policy to not arrest drug users," KIRO Newsradio, January 5, 2026.
- "HUD Homelessness report completely ignores drug addiction," MyNorthwest, December 29, 2024.
- "Despite big budgets, homeless agency is clueless in Seattle," Pacific Research Institute, February 8, 2024.