San Francisco is leading the nation?

You're kidding, right?

It had to be a surprise.

San Francisco: leading the country.

It came from everywhere. There was a complimentary video report on the CBS Evening News. Constant kudos on the TV news gaggle-fests. There was even a glowing feature in the Atlantic, praising the city’s response to the Coronavirus and particularly crediting Mayor London Breed.

Really? Here? Sidewalk tent town USA? Where every alley delivers a whiff of eau de pee? President Donald Trump’s municipal punching bag?

Can it really be that we are leading the country?

It can. As Erin Allday’s story in the Chronicle says, SF looks very good when compared to urban centers, and not just virus-impacted New York.

Which leads us to say it is going to be hard to escape the fact that — assuming virus numbers stay low here (crosses fingers) — both Breed and Gov. Gavin Newsom are going to be on the right side of history on this. And what’s more, they were among the first.

When Newsom closed California’s schools in mid-March, it was — as I am sure Newsom has said — audacious.

And the Atlantic piece has a particularly embarrassing pair of emails for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, comparing his Tweets to Breed’s.

The San Francisco mayor is Tweeting “prepare for possible disruption from an outbreak.” On the same day de Blasio is blithely telling New Yorkers “to go on with your lives + get out on the town despite Coronavirus.”

You only get one chance to be right the first time and Breed and Newsom nailed it.

You know this newsletter comes out once a week? Right to your inbox? And it is free? Unfortunately, those are about all the pluses I can think of right now. But hey . . .

However, a point should be made. San Franciscans (and Bay Area residents) bought in. When Newsom announced to the state’s parents that they were about to become full time caregivers to their children three months sooner than they expected, there could have been backlash.

I’m sure there were some gasps. But aside from some wild swings from the likes of Trump pumper Devin Nunes, ending school was generally accepted.

Compare that to when Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer directed residents to “Stay home, Stay Safe.” Infuriated conservatives organized a protest at the state capitol this week.

“While pushing her progressive agenda, our radical governor has announced no plan of any kind to restart the economy,” one of the organizers said.

So politicians like Breed and Newsom benefit from an electorate that not only thinks the pandemic is serious, but is willing to take steps to mitigate it.

Do you know who would like to read this newsletter? No. I’m serious? Do you? Cause if you do, and you wanted to send it to them, there’s a button to click right here . . .

One more thing about the Atlantic piece. The point it is making is that the Bay Area announced a shelter in place order in March, way earlier than many other population centers. That’s true, and we assume that action led to lower numbers and fewer infections.

However, redoubtable Mission Local columnist Joe Eskenazi says in his column that the reason Breed is getting so much attention is that she busted the deadline to announce the stay home order. Eskenazi says, and has papers that appear to show, that a press conference was called for several Bay Area medical leaders, but Breed’s office jumped in with the announcement first.

If that is true I am shocked, shocked that a politician would elbow his/her way into the spotlight. However, I would also say that, if true, it is the kind of thing that can get you branded as a grandstander. Just sayin’.

But for now people are adding up the score and San Francisco and California look pretty good.

And they’re still pushing the agenda. Breed just announced that 4/20 — the annual bong-along pot fest in Golden Gate Park — will not take place.

Now that may be an unpopular call.

OK, MLB’s plan to jump-start the baseball season has some problems. But at least it would be something

There are a lot of reasons why this plan to salvage the season has problems. And Job One is to keep the players and staff safe. I wrote about the idea in last week’s column in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

My point is, as unwieldy as this will be, there should be a way to do it safely. That would not only help to save a multi-billion dollar industry, it would be a welcome slice of normalcy.

You’ve probably heard the plan. The latest version basically has teams return to their Spring Training sites in either Arizona or Florida. Then, once settled in, they would play games at the various minor league sites, as well as at the three Big League parks (Phoenix, Tampa and Miami).

All three of the MLB ballparks have a roof to protect from the summer heat, so doubleheaders are possible.

The minor league fields couldn’t hold the crowd for a Major League game, but it doesn’t matter. No way we are going to cram thousands of people together in a pandemic. Spectators will be banned and games will only be seen on TV.

Testing, obviously, would be the key. A quick, available test that could clear everyone before every game would be essential.

What the heck? If they can solve the problems, I say give it a try.

Anything is better than NBA H.O.R.S.E.

About Trump’s press briefing, but not what you think

Like a lot of people, I find it hard to watch President Trump’s Coronavirus “briefing.” He triggers me so much he can reliably get me to yell at the TV.

I think part of it is having often been in that press gaggle situation over the years. I’ve never been to a White House briefing, but lots and lots of formal press conferences. I had some thoughts.

(To be clear, this isn’t about Trump’s lies and mis-statements and poor performance as a president. You can read that in 100 places. And I agree with all of them.)

When you do a formal press conference, it starts with a question. You need to think of something that doesn’t have a yes/no answer. Hopefully, it will have some nuance, so the answer will be revealing.

Then you sit there, going over the question in your mind, hoping to get called upon. That’s when you most notice the power structure of the room. The subject — Trump in this case — is almost always up on a stage, standing behind the podium and the reporters are down below at floor level, folded into chairs.

There’s more than a little pressure. First, from your peers, silently judging you, and then from the knowledge that that big lens is going to swing over and point you at millions of people on national TV.

If you get called upon, you want to start out with your voice up and loud. Reporters don’t get microphones at these, which allows Trump to power right over them with volume. Something is going to have to be done for the debates because the blustery “EXCUSE ME! EXCUSE ME!” interruption is his go-to move. Debate organizers may have to look at cutting off the mics when it isn’t the candidate’s turn to speak.

From there he uses the old talk radio host trick. Guy calls into the show and tears into the host, fact-checks him and challenges him. And the host jumps in to respond. But at the same moment he looks at the guy in the control room and draws his hand across his throat.

Hang up on this guy. Trump does that with the quick comment and then, over the objection of someone trying to follow up, points to the next person. Who frankly, is delighted to be called upon and contributes to changing the subject and ignoring the question.

And this goes on for almost two hours.

I’ve never seen anything like it.

I hope I never do again.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Compliments and suggestions eagerly accepted. Complaints, not so much. Twitter: @cwnevius