Key points:
- President Donald Trump threatens to send National Guard into San Francisco.
- Trump claims Democrats have “destroyed” San Francisco, sparking pushback from city leaders.
- San Francisco’s political shift to moderate politics may have triggered Trump’s ire.
SAN FRANCISCO – President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to send the National Guard into San Francisco, escalating his campaign against Democratic-led cities and sparking pushback from Governor Gavin Newsom, city leaders, and residents.
“You look at what the Democrats have done to San Francisco — they’ve destroyed it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We can clean that up, too — we’ll clean that one up, too,” The New York Times reported.
Trump has repeatedly portrayed Democratic strongholds as violent and chaotic. Earlier this year he ordered Guard troops into Washington, D.C., and in June sent them into Los Angeles over Newsom’s objections, saying they were needed to quell protests over mass deportations. He has also floated deployments to Chicago, New York, Baltimore, and Oakland.
Until now, San Francisco had largely escaped his direct ire. Local leaders speculated that the city’s shift toward more moderate politics and the election of a centrist mayor had kept it off the president’s target list. But on Friday, Trump made clear that San Francisco was once again in his sights.
Governor Newsom responded by releasing crime statistics that painted a different picture. “San Francisco has hit its lowest murder rate in 60 years — 35 murders last year vs Houston’s 322. Miami’s murder rate is 37% higher than San Francisco’s. Fox REFUSES to show you this stat, but we will: Louisiana’s murder rate is nearly 400% higher than California’s. Tampa’s murder rate is 20% higher than Los Angeles’. Per capita, Memphis has 243% more violent crime than Los Angeles’,” his press office said in a statement.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie also dismissed Trump’s remarks. “My administration has made safe and clean streets our top priority, and the results are clear: Crime is at its lowest point in decades, visitors are coming back, and San Francisco is on the rise,” Lurie said KTVU.
Nancy Tung, chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, rejected Trump’s threat as political theater. “It’s a lot of bluster and insanity,” she told the New York Times. “If he wants to try to roll a tank down Lombard Street, go ahead. We’re ready.”
City Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the Tenderloin, was blunt in his assessment. “Donald Trump is a coward,” he said. “San Francisco is actually on the upswing, and he’s afraid of Democratic cities doing better.”
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, whose city was also singled out by Trump, tied his comments to racial politics. “I know dog whistles when I hear them,” Lee said. “It’s just downright fear-mongering, and it’s wrong.”
Civil rights attorney Adanté Pointer pointed to a pattern in Trump’s approach. “This is par for the course for Trump,” he told KTVU. “He continues to target and distort the facts as it relates to crime in American cities, particularly those in blue states run by Black mayors. His administration consistently tries to undermine these Black mayors and indulge followers’ belief that Black leadership is incompetent and unworthy.”
Even the San Francisco Police Officers Association pushed back on the idea of Guard deployment. “The last thing San Francisco needs is the National Guard and these distractions by the President are unwanted and not helpful,” said Officer Louis Wong of the SFPOA.
Residents voiced similar frustrations, rejecting what they saw as a mischaracterization of their city. “Any kind of military enforcement or outside force — we need none of that,” said Megan Doherty-Baker, a third-generation San Franciscan. “That would be absolutely opposite of the spirit of the city, what this place is about, where we need to be heading. And the narrative that’s been built that this is an unsafe place or that this is a place that needs any kind of intervention is just absolutely false.”
“I think this is one of the safest places. I don’t feel unsafe at all when I walk around and definitely don’t think we need the National Guard here,” said Edwin Williams. “I feel like that would be a ton of waste of resources.”
Andrea Selba, an East Bay resident who has worked in San Francisco for decades, said the improvements were visible. “Right now I feel safe. I’ve worked in the city for 25 years. I feel as safe today as I always have. Coming back after COVID, I have noticed cleaner streets.”
According to the San Francisco Police Department, violent and property crimes are down nearly 30 percent so far in 2025 compared with the same period in 2024.
Legal experts stressed that Trump may not have the authority to carry out his threat. “It’s harder to see a legal path in these other places,” said David Levine, a professor at UC Law San Francisco. “If he wanted to declare an emergency in, let’s say, Illinois, he would need the governor to go along. I think he would get much pushback if he were to try this in Oakland.”
Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, defended the president’s approach. “There are no theories, just the truth: President Trump wants every innocent, law-abiding American across the country to be safe — no matter what city they live in or who is in charge,” Rogers told the New York Times.
Critics noted that Trump has often spared Republican-led cities with higher crime rates. Memphis and St. Louis, both with violent crime levels well above San Francisco’s, were not mentioned.
San Francisco’s political shift may also explain its emergence in Trump’s rhetoric. In recent years, voters ousted three school board members, recalled a progressive prosecutor, and passed a ballot measure expanding police powers. Last year they replaced Mayor London Breed with Lurie, a nonprofit leader and Levi Strauss heir who ran on a platform of reducing homelessness and crime.
Lurie has focused on local issues and avoided direct clashes with the president. Even Friday, after Trump’s threat, he chose not to mention Trump’s name. Instead, he repeated his message that San Francisco is becoming safer and cleaner, adding to polls showing a plurality of residents believe life in the city is improving.
Still, San Francisco continues to struggle with lingering challenges, including a slow downtown recovery, high overdose deaths, and empty retail spaces.
Trump’s history of clashing with San Francisco stretches back years. He has previously claimed, without evidence, that used needles from the city were flowing into the Pacific Ocean. Earlier this year, his administration stripped Harvey Milk’s name from a naval ship and threatened to defund the Presidio. He has also suggested turning Alcatraz Island back into a prison.
Some Democrats have argued that Trump’s choice of targets reflects more than crime rates. Lee and other Black mayors have said race plays a role, pointing out that the cities he has targeted most often have large Black populations and Black leadership.
Meanwhile, progressive figures like Aaron Peskin, a former city supervisor, argued that Trump’s silence until now may have been influenced by wealthy tech executives aligned with his administration. “At some point, San Franciscans are going to wake up and say, ‘We demand, Mr. Mayor, that you stand up to Donald Trump,’” Peskin told the New York Times.
Whether Trump follows through on his threat remains uncertain. When asked if he had taken “concrete steps” to deploy troops to Chicago, another city he named, Trump said he had not. But with San Francisco now added to his list, California officials are preparing for another fight with the White House over the limits of presidential power.
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David, has Trump put you in a Gulag yet? LOL
David M. Greenwald says:
April 19, 2025 at 11:40 am
At the very least, he no longer gets the benefit the doubt. As I told someone yesterday, I’m fully expecting to end up in a Gulag somewhere.
It took the Nazis ten years to arrest Bonhoeffer, so I’m not sure why you are being so flippant when even you can see an escalation in what the Trump administration is doing.
Methinks you are being overly dramatic.
But go ahead, I know you tend to treat everything as a crisis or the end days of democracy.
Putting military on the streets in defiance of local wishes, in absense of civil disturbance and in violation of Posse Comitatus seems to be a rather extreme step that you are continuing to downplay even as the tactics of the admin are escalating.
“defiance of local wishes,”
You mean in defiance of local liberals who hate everything Trump.
There are many examples where the people are happy they’re there and they’re happy with the results so far.
https://foxbaltimore.com/newsletter-daily/national-guards-presence-slashes-dc-crime-rates-with-seven-days-homicide-free
My bellwhether in SF is Nancy Tung.
Does she think Trump is going to put her in a Gulag too? ;-)
Obviously you don’t want to have an honest discussion here, so I’ll leave you to your words.
Is it an honest discussion where you think Trump is going to put you in a Gulag or is it just hyperbole?
It was made in partial jest – AND not made in this article
DG say, “It took the Nazis . . . ”
Wow. I do believe that’s a “Trump is Hitler” comparison. Congratulations?
” . . . to arrest Bonhoeffer”
Hopefully Trump won’t take away the right to one phone call, so you can call KO in 2035 and say, “I told you so!”.
It’s not necessarily a Trump is Hitler comparison, it puts into perspective the timeline of several months versus several years in arguably one of the worst case scenarios.
“Hopefully Trump won’t take away the right to one phone call, so you can call KO in 2035 and say, “I told you so!”.”
And I promise to admit that I was wrong.
Will Trump still be President in 2035? Heck, will he even be alive? But I’m sure he will still get the blame…
KO say, “Will Trump still be President in 2035?”
His regime will still be in power :-|
I am unclear why Trump is going into San Francisco, as the situation there is substantially better than it has been in years past. I attribute this largely to a stronger mayor and getting rid of progressive DA. I thought maybe it was temporary like when they cleaned up the city to impress China, but no it is staying that way. I was just there last night.
Oakland, however, still could use a good National Guard shampoo. We’ll know Oakland is good again when In & Out reopens there.
But I jest, as Trump is. He has the right to do this in DC. Good idea or not I’m not sure, don’t know DC well enough to opine. Trump says stuff to upset his political opponents to keep them freaked out and weak. Which they do on command.
I attribute it to the end of the pandemic and its aftermath.
Ahhh, the pandemic.
It couldn’t just be progressive policies could it?
It’s unlikely because the effect happened across the country and then receded across the country regardless of progressive policies. In fact, conservative areas saw a larger increase and slower recovery.
“I attribute it to the end of the pandemic and its aftermath.”
Removing tents, steam-cleaning parks and sidewalks, and stationing police officers where formerly there were open-air drug and stolen-item resale markets is ‘the end of the pandemic’ ?
I assume that Oakland still being a sh*thole city is also due to the end of the pandemic?
From article: “Nancy Tung, chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, rejected Trump’s threat as political theater. “It’s a lot of bluster and insanity,” she told the New York Times. “If he wants to try to roll a tank down Lombard Street, go ahead. We’re ready.”
Have to admit that I desperately want Trump to send the National Guard into San Francisco – for the sheer entertainment value alone. You can be sure that I’ll be tuning in to the news, if that occurs.
Actually, though – what if the tanks try to go down the “curvy” section of Lombard Street? (Even more entertaining, I say. It’s probably “about time” that they straightened that street out.)
Nice guy
I like infotainment on the news, just like everyone else. Especially when it involves absurdity – people getting worked up over nothing.
“We Like Dirty Laundry” (The Eagles)
(This is also why I like campus protests/mini-riots, when someone like Charlie Kirk shows up.)
I’d estimate that about half of the news consists of absurdity. And that’s exactly what would happen if Trump followed-through on any of this. Nuttin’ but infotainment.
But if you think I’m bad, you should see what George Carlin had to say about this subject.
You should watch the 80s movie, Trading Places.
Dirty Laundry was a solo song by Don Henley, not the Eagles, btw.
I did see that movie, but don’t remember it.
But even regarding serious issues (such as 9/11), I’m pretty sure that I (like most people) have for “some reason” seen/watched those planes crash into the towers, more than once.
Someone mentioned to me how “realistic” Hollywood movies actually are, when they saw that video.
It’s different when you actually see bodies (e.g., war casualties) on the news.
The point of the reference was your lack of empathy for real world consequences
Your point falls flat, for the reasons I already noted.
And if Trump actually did send in the National Guard, the only thing that would happen is a bunch of semi-rioting from people who aren’t otherwise impacted by it.
Much like the people showing up at a Charlie Kirk protest.
But perhaps your point is partially true, in that I don’t have much “empathy” for extremists who purposefully cause trouble (violence, property damage, etc.) for themselves and everyone else as a result of their political beliefs.
Not in this type of situation, at least.
As a side note, I do respect those who live in redwood trees, for example – to prevent them from being cut down. (That requires personal sacrifice and inconvenience.) But I have no respect for those who spike said trees, which will cause injury for loggers who do cut them down.
And no, I don’t think that every redwood tree needs to be protected.
That’s OK you proved my point
O.K. – again, you’re right.
Not much empathy for those causing property damage, violence, or even blocking freeways (which is actually a form of hostage-taking).
Now do I want to see THEM get hurt as a result of their ignorant, harmful actions? No. But I’d like to see them arrested and prosecuted.
But yeah, I’ll definitely be watching the news for the infotainment value if something like Trump’s threat materializes. So will you, so will most people. Of course, you’ll do so in order to fuel and reinforce your own anger at someone like Trump – just like the protestors do. All part of the show.
RO say, “We Like Dirty Laundry” (The Eagles)”
GONG!!! “Dirty Laundry” is a Don Henley solo song, not an Eagles song.