Trump says government will send National Guard troops to San Francisco
On Sunday, President Donald Trump again threatened to send National Guard troops to San Francisco, and says he may invoke the Insurrection Act to do it. Trump even suggested residents want the troops, a comment that did not go well with many across the city. Meanwhile, any timeline for a potential deployment remains unclear.Â
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – On Sunday, President Donald Trump again threatened to send National Guard troops to San Francisco, and says he may invoke the Insurrection Act to do it.Â
Trump even suggested residents want the troops, a comment that did not go well with many across the city. Meanwhile, any timeline for a potential deployment remains unclear.Â
“We’re going to do San Francisco.”
In an interview on the FOX News show “Sunday Morning Futures”, Trump spoke about his deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago – and suggested again that San Francisco might be next.Â
Host Maria Bartiromo asked Trump a direct question: “Are you going to San Francisco next?”Â
Trump responded, “We’re going to go to San Francisco. The difference is I think they want us in San Francisco. San Francisco was truly one of the great cities of the world. And then 15 years ago it went wrong. It went woke.”
“San Franciscans don’t want him.”
But Democratic State Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco took issue Sunday with those claims.Â
“First of all, San Franciscans don’t want him to send his personal army to occupy and invade San Francisco. We don’t want that. So he needs to go away, back off. But we also know that he hates San Francisco, he hates what we represent because we support immigrants, we support LGBTQ people,” said Wiener.Â
Trump claims that he can use the Insurrection Act to deploy the National Guard.Â
The backstory:
All this comes after Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff suggested troops could help with San Francisco Police shortages.Â
Benioff later walked back those comments, with Mayor Daniel Lurie underscoring that SFPD has the situation handled.Â
“We have seen crime go down in Union Square 40 percent. Crime city-wide is down 30 percent. We are at 70-year lows when it comes to homicides,” said Lurie.
“The city’s putting their best effort in to make sure that it is safe around here. You see SFPD roaming around,” said Richard Soriano, who opposes the National Guard being deployed to San Francisco.Â
Despite those counterarguments, Trump is doubling down.Â
“We’re going to go to San Francisco, and we’re going to make it great. We’re going to make it great. It’ll be great again. San Francisco is a great city. It won’t be great if it keeps going like this,” Trump said in the FOX News interview.Â
How will this play out? Expert weighs in
“I think it’ll be the same as it was in Portland, the same as it was in Chicago: two different courts, and they both said that the facts on the ground do not add up to the facts necessary to invoke Section 10 of the US Code or the Insurrection Act,” said Steve Woolpert, professor emeritus of politics at St. Mary’s College of California.Â
“Nobody that lives here wants it.”
People we spoke to in Union Square say the National Guard can stay away from their city by the bay.Â
“I don’t think anybody in San Francisco actually wants it. Nobody that lives here wants it. It’s just a political stunt and makes him feel good,” said Ashley Brand, who opposes the National Guard in San Francisco.
“Our new mayor is great and he’s doing a great job, and San Franciscans are out and about. I’m sorry, it’s absurd. It’s just distraction,” said Jeanne Himy of San Francisco. “I don’t feel unsafe here. And I’m an old lady, you know.
Trump claims he has “unquestioned power” to deploy troops to San Francisco under the Insurrection Act.Â
Experts say any legal battle over all this would likely end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.Â
The Source: Interview with Pres. Trump on FOX News, interviews by KTVU reporter John Krinjak, and previous reporting