President pushes hyperbolic claims of out-of-control crime as city leaders say no need for ‘Trump’s personal army’
Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that San Francisco could be the next city he targets with federal troops, threatening a deployment that local and state officials have said is unnecessary and unwelcome.
Speaking at the White House to FBI director Kash Patel, the president said: “I’m going to be strongly recommending, at the request of government officials … that you start looking at San Francisco … one of our great cities 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and now it’s a mess … Every American deserves to live in a community where they’re not afraid of being mugged, murdered, robbed, raped, assaulted or shot.”
Just like the federal deployments in Portland, Chicago, Washington DC and Los Angeles earlier this year, the Democratic leaders of San Francisco and California have not requested the kind of crackdown Trump is pushing on the basis of false and hyperbolic claims of out-of-control crime.
San Francisco, the home town of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has for months anticipated that the Bay Area city could end up in the crosshairs of the president. Trump has long complained about the city, saying during his campaign last year that his opponent, Kamala Harris, had “destroyed” it and that it went from being “the best city” to “not even livable”.
