SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Donald Trump keeps threatening to send National Guard troops to San Francisco next, blasting the California city as crime-ridden and saying its residents are clamoring for federal help.
But local and state leaders say that couldn’t be farther from the truth, noting overall crime is down and the city has started to turn around its downtrodden pandemic image. Residents and workers out downtown this week said they’re puzzled and concerned by Trump’s threat.
“This is a safe American city,” Mayor Daniel Lurie told The Associated Press last week. “We got this in San Francisco.”
The Republican president has referenced crime as his justification for possibly sending troops to the city of roughly 830,000. He’s deployed the Guard over crime concerns to Washington, D