San Francisco is currently in a dramatic showdown with the Trump administration, with Mayor Daniel Lurie leading the charge. Facing the prospect of losing hundreds of millions in federal reimbursements and subsidies, Lurie is sending a crack team of negotiators to D.C., hoping to charm, if that’s even possible, the very people who seem hell-bent on slashing critical funding for our beloved city.

What do we know about Lurie? The man is a pro at cutting deals on the down-low. His M.O. has already included clandestine negotiations that snuffed out the Marriott strike before he even took office, not to mention keeping the Databricks AI conference from fleeing San Francisco like the rats on a sinking ship. He seems to have a good rapport with the billionaires of the world. But does that same finesse extend to the notoriously anti-San Francisco Trump administration?

Spoiler alert: we’re not holding our breath. Despite Lurie’s bold declarations about San Francisco’s role as an innovation hub, a notion that probably sounds like dystopian gibberish to the MAGA crowd, his delegation won’t even be trying to twist Trump’s arm directly. Instead, they’ll be having tea with a cozy group of Democratic representatives and senators from the Bay Area, because nothing says power move like a polite chat over cucumber sandwiches.

The mission? First and foremost, they’re aiming to secure those FEMA funds that might as well be rolling away to some undisclosed off-shore account. They’re also angling for federal financing aimed at sprucing up the municipal transit system and saving the Presidio Trust, yet another bargaining chip Trump has taken aim at, bless his heart.

And let’s not discount the far-fetched wish-list: raising the waterfront to combat climate change. That’ll be fun, considering many of those Republicans wouldn’t know climate change from their morning coffee. Yet, with a new Congress potentially on the horizon, anything is possible as long as someone’s whipping up the right kind of magic potion.

As Lurie sets off sans his golden touch, we can only watch and see if his team of local leaders, and the slight chance of a sympathetic Democrat or two, will turn the tides. Maybe San Francisco’s resilient spirit will shine bright enough to convince the gatekeepers of the federal funds that cutting us off isn’t just a wrong move; it’s a terrible investment in America’s future.