Marc Benioff has become the latest Silicon Valley tech leader to signal his approval of President Trump, saying the president is doing a great job and should deploy the National Guard to tackle crime in San Francisco.
The Salesforce CEO's comments came as he headed to San Francisco to host his annual Dreamforce conference, an event for which he said he had to hire hundreds of off-duty police officers to provide security.
“We don't have enough police, so yeah [National Guard] They can be police, I'm totally for it,” he told the New York Times from his private plane.
The National Guard is generally not allowed to perform domestic law enforcement duties when federalized by the president.
Last month, a federal judge ruled that Trump's use of National Guard soldiers in Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of the military for domestic law enforcement, and ordered that the troops not be used in law enforcement operations within California.
Trump also ordered the deployment of the National Guard to cities including Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, citing the need to protect federal officers and assets in the face of ongoing immigration protests. Those efforts have been met with criticism from local leaders and are the subject of ongoing legal battles.
President Trump has not yet directed troops to Northern California, but suggested in September that San Francisco could be a deployment target. He has said that cities with Democratic political leadership such as San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles “are very unsafe places and we are going to right them.”
“I told him [Defense Secretary] Pete [Hegseth] “We should use some of these dangerous cities as training for our military, our national guard,” Trump said.
Benioff's call to send National Guard troops to San Francisco drew sharp rebukes from several of the region's elected Democratic leaders.
San Francisco District. Lawyer. Brooke Jenkins said she “can no longer remain silent” and threatened to prosecute any leaders or troops who harass residents in a fiery statement on X.
“I am responsible for holding criminals accountable, and that also includes holding government and law enforcement officials accountable when they cross the lines of the law,” he said. “If you come to San Francisco and unlawfully harass our residents, use excessive force, or cross any other line prescribed by law, I will not hesitate to do my job and hold you accountable just as I do other violators of the law every day.”
State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) also took to X to express outrage, saying, “we neither need nor want an illegal military occupation of San Francisco.”
“Salesforce is a great San Francisco company that does a lot of good for our city,” he said. “Inviting Trump to send the National Guard here is not one of those good things. Quite the opposite.”
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie's office offered a more muted response, touting the mayor's efforts to improve overall public safety but declining to directly address Benioff's comments.
Charles Lutvak, a spokesman for the mayor, said the city is seeing net gains in both police officers and sheriff's deputies for the first time in a decade. He also highlighted Lurie's efforts to increase police strength to 2,000 officers.
“Crime is down almost 30% citywide and is at its lowest point in decades,” Lutvak said. “We are moving in the right direction and will continue to prioritize safety and hiring as San Francisco officials work every day to keep our city safe.”
When contacted by The Times on Friday evening, the office of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has loudly opposed the deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles, did not issue any comment in response to Benioff.
Benioff and Newsom have long been considered friends, with a relationship dating back to when Newsom served as mayor of San Francisco. Newsom even named Benioff as godfather to one of his children, according to the San Francisco Standard.
Benioff has often referred to himself as an independent. He has donated to several liberal causes, including a $30 million donation to the University of California, San Francisco to study homelessness, and has contributed to previous political campaigns of former President Obama, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Hillary Clinton.
However, he has also donated to the campaigns of former House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain, both Republicans, and has supported tougher crime policies and reduced government spending.
Earlier this year, Benioff also praised the federal cost-cutting effort led by Elon Musk, known as the Department of Government Efficiency.
“I fully support the president,” Benioff told the New York Times this week. “I think he's doing a great job.”
