Days after saying he’d support the the Trump administration sending the National Guard to San Francisco ahead of Salesforce’s annual conference, Marc Benioff says that’s not what he really meant.
“San Francisco’s public safety challenges are real and complex, and we need to continue exploring every possible pathway to create a safer city for everyone,” he wrote on X. “When I was recently asked about federal resources, my point was this: each year, to make Dreamforce as safe as possible for 50,000 attendees, we add 200 additional law enforcement professionals — coordinated across city, state, and other partners. It’s proof that collaboration works and a reminder that the city needs more resources to keep San Franciscans safe year-round.”
The lengthy clarification (opens in new tab) came late Sunday afternoon, several hot takes and headlines after his widely reported remarks to a New York Times reporter a few days earlier.
In a phone call from his private jet on Thursday, Benioff told the Times reporter that he would welcome federal troops in San Francisco and said the city should have 1,000 more police officers than it currently does.
“If they can be cops, I’m all for it,” he reportedly said.
Local politicians were horrified.
“This is a slap in the face to San Francisco,” District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey posted on X, echoing sentiments of his colleagues in City Hall.
Major players in the tech world, on the other hand, stayed silent to avoid involving themselves in such a complicated and fraught political question.
Just kidding.
“It’s the only solution at this point,” Elon Musk wrote on X about Benioff’s National Guard statement. “Nothing else has or will work.”
For most of the past decade Benioff has supported and donated to liberal causes. But then, so have many other billionaires who grew fond of Trump before last year’s election — or on the morning of Nov. 6.
Some in the tech scene see Benioff’s fawning over Trump as a turning point in ongoing culture war over DEI, immigration laws, and more. Benioff reportedly said last week that Trump is “doing a great job.”
“Good game liberals, nice playing with you,” venture capitalist David Sacks posted on X (opens in new tab).
Others expressed more nuanced reactions to Benioff’s remarks.
“Benioff is boot licking, but he’s not completely wrong,” wrote Adam Nathan (opens in new tab), CEO of Blaze AI, an AI marketing company. “San Francisco allowed rampant drug dealing to go on for years. Thousands have died as a result, and our judges keep releasing them.”
National Guard troops have been sent, over the objection of state governors, to Portland, L.A., and Chicago, ostensibly to help with immigration enforcement and crack down on crime. But judges have been blocking the deployments, saying the Trump administration has failed to prove that crime is out of control or that protests have interfered with federal immigration enforcement.
While many San Franciscans see similar issues happening here, especially when it comes to the city’s open air drug markets, whether the military should get involved is another question.
“We don’t need the National Guard,” Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan wrote on X (opens in new tab). “We need new judges who are not hardcore Chesa Boudin-style activists who work to keep drug dealers out of jail even though the police, the district attorney and the people of SF want them locked up.
“It’s shockingly that simple.”
Benioff, after his about-face, agreed.
“Keeping San Francisco safe is, first and foremost, the responsibility of our city and state leaders,” his wrote in his updated statement Sunday.
That’s why Salesforce is putting $1 million toward hiring bonuses for new San Francisco cops, he said.
“As a fourth-generation San Franciscan — and ever since we started Salesforce here 26 years ago — I’ve always believed that we make progress for our city when we work together across every level of leadership and every part of our community,” he wrote, “especially when it comes to public safety.”
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