“You can’t go into San Francisco . It’s not livable. Fifteen years ago, it was the best city in the country, one of the best cities in the world, and now you can’t do anything.”
That was President Donald Trump speaking on the campaign trail in 2024, offering a grim portrait of a city he claimed had become a cautionary tale of liberal governance. The idea of a “no man’s land” city landed easily on social media and cable news, tapping into years of headlines about crime, homelessness and the tech exodus.
But on the ground in San Francisco, a very different picture is emerging—one of slow but measurable recovery, image repair and political recalibration…