Marc Benioff, co-founder and CEO of Salesforce, appears to walk back his comments calling for the National Guard to patrol San Francisco.
“After listening carefully to my fellow San Francisco residents and our local officials, and after the largest and most secure Dreamforce in our history, I do not believe the National Guard is necessary to ensure security in San Francisco,” Benioff said in an article on
Benioff sparked controversy last week after giving an interview to the New York Times in which he stated his support for President Donald Trump’s threats to deploy National Guard troops to San Francisco and other cities led by Democratic politicians.
While Benioff’s comments were apparently prompted by his concerns about public safety costs at the major Dreamforce conference the company hosted in San Francisco last week, the liberal-leaning former billionaire also used the interview to embrace Trump, at one point saying, “I fully support the president” and adding that Trump is “doing a great job.” (At the end of the interview, he reportedly asked his shocked PR manager, “Too spicy?”)
And although Benioff’s pro-Trump stance seemingly aligns with a more rightward shift among tech executives, his call for the National Guard to come to San Francisco quickly led to backlash from his longtime allies and Democratic politicians. Renowned VC Ron Conway has resigned from the Salesforce Foundation board. Conway reportedly told Benioff in an email: “I barely recognize now the person I have admired for so long. »
A planned event featuring Benioff and San Francisco Mayor Dan Lurie was also canceled, with organizers citing rain.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, who represents San Francisco, told Politico: “I’m grateful that Marc backed away from his call to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco. Marc has done so many good things for our city – and supported so many civic needs – and I’m happy to see this change.”
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Trump has already deployed the National Guard to other cities, including Washington, D.C. and Chicago, while a judge has so far blocked his attempts to do the same in Portland. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, has repeatedly described this as an “invasion” of his state.
