Jon Stewart Asks San Francisco Mayor Why Progressive City Has Become ‘Avatar for Chaotic Rule’

Jon Stewart asked San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) why the city has become an “avatar for chaotic rule” in a lengthy discussion on the city dealing with spikes in crime and homelessness.

San Francisco’s struggles with crime often get plenty of play across the media and among activists, including recently when a CNN reporter revealed her crew was robbed as they were reporting on street crime in the city. The crew had also hired security to avoid such matters. This was also not the first time.

Speaking with Breed for his The Problem with Jon Stewart podcast, Stewart asked Breed if she’s found a “model that has some efficacy” that is an alternative to prison to help the city’s mentally ill and to rehabilitate criminals.

“Not necessarily,” Breed said, getting a laugh from Stewart.

Breed argued truly addressing the homelessness issue in the city is to act with more “force” and actually getting people into treatment.

“When we’re trying to change the policies and we start talking about force, to force someone into treatment, then all of a sudden, people are like, well, wait a minute, conservatorship. Look at what happened with Brittney Spears. We don’t want to take away someone’s rights,” she said.

The mayor cite an example of a homeless naked woman in the city who carries a blanket who is part of an endless cycle with police.

“The only thing we have to do is detain her, 72 hour hold, she goes through the process, [says] ‘I’m okay. I can take care of myself,’ and that’s it. That is not a solution,” Breed said.

Stewart noted San Francisco’s crime rate is similar to other big cities, but the liberal area gets far more attention from politicians and activists on social media. Stewart referred to it as the “avatar for chaotic rule, noting the city’s typically liberal sensibilities mixing with its constant struggles with crime and homelessness.

“It all sort of goes in the same bucket, which is San Francisco is the avatar for chaotic rule, some of it in identity that they wear with pride to some extent and some of it looked at by others with a sneer of, can’t they get together, these progressives who just allow people to live and let live? And look at the chaos they’ve unleashed,” Stewart said.

Breed claimed her city has become an “avatar” target for critics because of former President Donald Trump’s criticism of the city’s officials.

“The former president put a target on our back at one point and used it as an example for a lot of things that were allegedly going wrong in the country and that was very unfortunate,” the mayor said.

Watch above via Apple TV+ and listen to the full discussion between Stewart and Breed here.