Governor Newsom vows to sue Trump if federal troops are deployed to San Francisco.

The backdrop to this showdown is the Trump administration’s recent deployments of the National Guard to cities like Chicago and Portland, Oregon, which sparked protests and triggered multiple legal challenges. Over the weekend, Trump again voiced his intention to target San Francisco, telling Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that “the difference is I think they want us in San Francisco.” He characterized the city as “a mess” and suggested it was “on my target list,” adding, “San Francisco was truly one of the great cities in the world, and then 15 years ago, it went woke.”

Those claims have been met with sharp rebuttals from state and local officials. In fact, recent data suggest San Francisco is experiencing a resurgence. According to CNBC, overall crime in the city has dropped significantly—down around 30 % compared to 2024, murders are at their lowest level in 70 years, and car break-ins are rarer than at any point in the last 22 years. At the same time, the city is seeing renewed momentum in event bookings and tourism, pressure in the housing market, and the office sector showing signs of recovery.

As someone who served as San Francisco’s mayor from 2004 to 2011, Newsom has been particularly forceful in his opposition to any National Guard deployment. He called the notion of troops in the city “unnecessary” and declared in a public statement: “We don’t bow to kings, and we’re standing up to this wannabe tyrant.” He went on to assert, “The notion that the federal government can deploy troops into our cities with no justification grounded in reality, no oversight, no accountability, no respect for state sovereignty — it’s a direct assault on the rule of law.”

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