Marc Benioff urges Trump to send National Guard to San Francisco: ‘I fully support the president’

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Billionaire Marc Benioff has called on President Donald Trump to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco during an interview with The New York Times on Friday, October 10.

Benioff, who owns Time magazine and is the CEO of megacorp Salesforce, suggested that he wants more federal law enforcement in the city before his annual Dreamforce conference.

Marc Benioff backs Trump, calls for stronger policing

“We don’t have enough cops, so if [the National Guard] can be cops, I’m all for it,” said the Silicon Valley power player while flying in his private plane.

The New York Times reported that Benioff has to pay for hundreds of off-duty law enforcement officers to patrol the convention area during the Dreamforce conference, further stating that the liberal bastion needed to “re-fund” the police.

Benioff suggested that the San Francisco Police Department, which has about 1,500 police officers, needs to be doubled.

“You’ll see. When you walk through San Francisco next week, there will be cops on every corner,” he said. “That’s how it used to be.” According to the outlet, over the course of a nearly hour-long conversation, the tech CEO repeatedly praised President Trump. “I fully support the president,” he said. “I think he’s doing a great job.”   

Marc Benioff donates $1 billion to San Francisco charities

Trump and Benioff have grown closer recently, with the president inviting him to the state dinner hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle last month. The two sat across from each other, with Benioff recounting how he repeatedly expressed to Trump “how grateful I am for everything he’s doing.”

“I don’t think anyone has hired more people or given more money or supported San Francisco more than I have,” Benioff said, boasting about donating more than $1 billion to Bay Area charities, colleges, and causes over the last quarter century. 

San Francisco officials slam Marc Benioff for National Guard remarks

Benioff’s remarks drew backlash from several politicians who opposed his call for the National Guard to be sent to the city.

San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar told The New York Times that Benioff’s request “threw me for a loop.” “But with Marc Benioff, it’s particularly disappointing. It’s definitely out of step and out of touch with what most San Franciscans would want,” Melgar told The Times.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins criticized the comments more sharply. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, “I can’t be silent any longer. @KristiNoem and @realDonaldTrump have turned so-called public safety and immigration enforcement into a form of government sponsored violence against US citizens, families, and ethnic groups.”

“Let me be clear. 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 concluded in the thread.