President Donald Trump is going after San Francisco — again.
In an address to top U.S. military officials Tuesday in Virginia, Trump listed major cities that he said are unsafe due to crime, the presence of immigrants, and Democratic Party leadership.
“San Francisco and Chicago, New York, Los Angeles. They’re very unsafe places,” Trump said. “We’re gonna straighten them out one by one.
“It’s a war from within,” he added.
Trump suggested that members of the National Guard could develop their skills in these cities.
“I told Pete, we should use some of these cities as training grounds for our military,” Trump said, referring to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Trump delivered the speech at an unusual and abruptly scheduled gathering of generals and admirals — some of whom had traveled internationally on short notice to attend — in Quantico, Virginia.
The address came a month after Trump said he would send federal troops to “clean up” San Francisco.
According to the president, San Francisco and other major cities have high rates of crime and dangerous streets. Mayor Daniel Lurie last month pointed out that crime in San Francisco has been falling for years.
“My administration has made safe and clean streets our top priority, and the results are clear: Crime is at its lowest point in decades, visitors are coming back, and San Francisco is on the rise,” he said at the time. The mayor did not mention Trump by name, as is his custom.
But then as now, San Francisco is not first on the president’s list.
“We’re going into Chicago very soon,” Trump said Tuesday of deploying National Guard troops.