Elon Musk calls for US troops to be sent to San Francisco for war on drugs: ‘It’s the only solution’

Elon Musk has backed the deployment of federal troops to San Francisco, claiming in a gung-ho post that it is “the only solution” to the city’s drug problem.

Musk, who spearheaded mass layoffs through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency before he exited the White House in May, said downtown San Francisco is “a drug zombie apocalypse.”

His remarks follow his departure from the Trump administration following a public feud with President Donald Trump and allegations that Musk himself was using drugs when he was funneling millions into the Republican’s 2024 presidential campaign. He denied the allegations and said they were “lies.”

As the president continues to target Democratic strongholds and is currently locked in a court battle over sending troops into Chicago and Portland, attention has turned to the bohemian California city following recent comments by Marc Benioff, the CEO of software giant Salesforce.

In an interview published Friday, the San Francisco-native told The New York Times that he supported sending in federal troops to help tackle crime.

“We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it,” he told the outlet from his private jet.

While San Francisco officials and some residents are vehemently against the idea, Musk is all for it.

“It’s the only solution at this point,” Musk said Sunday in a post on X. “Nothing else has or will work.”

Musk was responding to a social media post shared by Tom Wolf, a former homeless San Francisco resident and recovering heroin addict, who cited a survey that found 61 percent of voters in the city support federal intervention to deport undocumented fentanyl dealers. Including voters who “somewhat agree” with the sentiment, the number rose to 83 percent.

“That's how insane it's been here,” Wolf said.

“Look, nobody really wants troops on our streets,” Wolf added in another post. “But this evolution of Benioff is a direct result of San Francisco continuing to allow (yes, allow) an organized drug dealing network of 500-1k dealers operate unabated in broad daylight for the past decade,” Wolf claimed in another post.

Benioff has donated more than $1 billion to Bay Area causes in the last 25 years, including toward homelessness initiatives, schools, and hospitals.

While Musk appeared to agree with Benioff about deploying federal troops, he also criticized the fellow billionaire for supporting a 2018 tax measure that raised money for homelessness services in the city via large corporations.

“Benioff needs to repeal the catastrophic Prop C that he pushed,” Musk said, referring to the tax measure Proposition C.

In August, Trump said he was considering deploying federal troops to San Francisco, which he claimed had been “destroyed” by Democrats.

In a message directed at Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins warned she would retaliate should they target the city.

“If you come to San Francisco and illegally harass our residents, use excessive force or cross any other boundaries that the law proscribes, I will not hesitate to do my job and hold you accountable just like I do other violators of the law every single day,” Jenkins said Saturday in a post on Instagram.

Meanwhile, the Oregonian city of Portland is awaiting the ruling of an appeals court panel on whether the president can send in federalized troops after a judge ordered a temporary hold on deployment.