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Donald Trump and Bill O\u2019Reilly at Yankee Stadium in 2012. | Source: Getty Images<\/p>\nPresident Donald Trump has San Francisco in his sights again, and maybe Bill O\u2019Reilly had something to do with it.<\/p>\n
In a meeting with his Cabinet on Thursday, Trump suggested that a federal intervention in San Francisco was again on the table, pointing to what he said are the city\u2019s ongoing struggles with crime and drug abuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSan Francisco \u2014 a great city, was a great city \u2014 could quickly become a great city again,\u201d Trump said in a rambling comment. \u201cBut, you know, they\u2019re going very slowly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have tremendous, tremendous potential. It was one of the greatest cities in the world. Now it\u2019s got a lot of crime. And the mayor\u2019s really trying. Again, a Democrat trying. And I spoke to him. He just wants to have a chance. And I said, \u2018We\u2019ll give you a chance, but we can solve it very quickly.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s comments came hours before Bill O\u2019Reilly, the former Fox News host, released a NewsNation prime-time special titled \u201cThe Decline and Fall of San Francisco,\u201d dredging up a milieu of drugs, homelessness, and neglect. \u201cOne of the worst places in America,\u201d O\u2019Reilly said as he toured a Tenderloin street. \u201cA legion of drug addicts, mentally ill, miscreants, thieves roaming the city. Nobody does anything about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donald Trump and Bill O\u2019Reilly at Yankee Stadium in 2012. | Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
O\u2019Reilly\u2019s special was heavily promoted in the days before broadcast, suggesting that the show might have reminded Trump that no city rattles conservative brains as much as the home of Gov. Gavin Newsom and Rep. Nancy Pelosi.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Indeed, Fox News and its ilk have found San Francisco an irresistible target since 2023, when they gleefully showcased the city\u2019s descent into a \u201cdoom loop\u201d of homelessness, drug addiction, and street crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite visible recent progress in addressing these problems \u2014 street tents and structures decreased to 155 in February from nearly 400 in February 2024 \u2014 the insinuations of the city\u2019s decline continue. In February, conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley came to town, hoping to root out fraud or corruption. He also visited the Tenderloin.<\/p>\n
Political experts say there are reasons the anti-SF messaging won\u2019t go away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is part of a campaign to undermine Gavin Newsom,\u201d said Democratic consultant Jim Ross. \u201cLook what they did on the fraud stuff with [Gov. Tim Walz] in Minnesota. They think that formula worked.\u201d In the outrage after Shirley\u2019s videos in Minnesota, Walz dropped out of his race for reelection.<\/p>\n
Matt Shupe, a Sacramento consultant for Republicans, said the timing is again right for putting SF in the spotlight with midterm elections coming up in November. \u201cSan Francisco is essentially the capital of the Democratic Party,\u201d said Shupe. \u201cIt is a beautiful city. A magical place. It\u2019s very special. But it also demonstrates the criminal mismanagement that pure Democratic Party rule has on one city.\u201d<\/p>\n
The negative reports may seem repetitive, Shupe said, but that\u2019s because they are effective. \u201cIt\u2019s a good way to contrast [Democratic] talking points and anchor it in reality,\u201d he said, noting that he was speaking as a consultant, not as a representative of the state Republican Party, which is one of his clients.<\/p>\n
Ross, however, isn\u2019t sure the punches are landing on Newsom or other Democrats. \u201cThey\u2019re still looking for the issue. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s popped up,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re still scrambling for their Somalian child-care story in California.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, Lurie underscored the progress made on his watch. \u201cIn San Francisco, crime is down 30%, encampments are at record lows, and our city is on the rise. Public safety is my No. 1 priority, and we are going to stay laser focused on keeping our streets safe and clean.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump has San Francisco in his sights again, and maybe Bill O\u2019Reilly had something to do…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[44335,13,101,103,102,104,106,105,36094],"class_list":["post-239933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-doom-loop","tag-politics","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-trump-vs-california"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}