Trump Reverses Plan to Deploy Federal Agents to San Francisco After Discussions with Mayor and Tech Leaders

"...It’s great for the people of San Francisco that the president has capriciously decided to unsend the troops he capriciously decided to send...."

"...this is just a profoundly fucked-up way to lead a country...."

"...It’s like dealing with King George or a warlord out of the dark Ages...."

"...This city’s billionaires are very good at some things, and those things have made them a lot of money...."

"...Speaking of capricious, Benioff was for sending in the guard before he was against it...."

"...It figures: Salesforce veterans tell me they expect Benioff would do great schmoozing in a one-on-one with the president – because their personalities are so similar...."

"...For a guy who drinks so much coffee, Daniel Lurie is remarkably even-keeled...."

"...I’d like to think the mayor really did say “retail is back!” to the man presently tearing down the White House to install a ballroom fit for people who feel Versailles is too understated...."

"...But nobody is expecting peace in our time: “They want to give it a ‘shot’,” Trump wrote...."

"...All of the things Lurie told the president – and “everybody” – are true...."

"...We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: subjectively, you may not feel safe in San Francisco...."

"...Objectively, you’ve rarely been safer...."

"...San Francisco’s reported crime totals are low, and that’s something you could say before this mayor or this president...."

"...We are on pace for our lowest homicide total since 1954, but last year’s total was the lowest since 1961...."

"...Car break-ins, which were long part of the San Francisco Condition and gave us the municipal nickname “bip city” are way down...."

"...But the fact that it was true does not matter: what Huang or Benioff or other billionaire pals tell the president is what matters...."

"...The problem, however, is that parts of San Francisco still look gnarly – gnarlier, arguably, than they did in the 1970s when teams of serial killers roamed the streets...."

"...There are swaths of the city in which people are living in overt filth and misery and are overtly buying, selling and using drugs...."

"...There are still unhoused people, drug addicts and unhoused drug addicts shambling about...."

"...They may be disinclined to give you the Zodiac killer treatment, but their presence makes people uncomfortable...."

"...This makes people – including terminally online tech CEOs and venture capitalists – feel unsafe...."

"...This makes ostensibly intelligent tech barons ping the president on social media and ask him to send in the national guard...."

"...If Lurie did indeed stave off an intervention of armed soldiers or rampaging immigration agents by telling the truth, then more power to him...."

"...To paraphrase the familiar quote, honesty is one of the better policies...."

"...But the “shot” Lurie has apparently been granted was to clean up a problem he has explained – quantitatively – that we don’t have...."

"...Lurie will purportedly meet with the attorney general, Pam Bondi...."

"...But it remains to be seen whether any federal assistance from the FBI or DEA to combat drug trafficking doesn’t come with serious – and capricious – strings attached...."

"...Every bargain with Trump and his gang is a Faustian bargain...."

"...San Francisco’s crime stats have been headed the right way for a while...."

"...But our gnarliness vibes have not – so we recalled our district attorney and dumped our prior mayor...."

"...It’s not enough for Lurie to point to numbers...."

"...He has to deliver the right vibes – the kind of vibes that can appease our billionaire class and the president they call up and lobby...."

"...That’s a hard job...."

"...Get that man a cup of coffee...."

"...Retail, they say, is back...."

"...It remains to be seen whether and when federal immigration agents will be, too...."