Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has drawn sharp criticism from San Francisco’s Democratic leadership after expressing support for President Donald Trump and calling for National Guard troops to be deployed to the city. In a wide-ranging interview this week, Benioff said he “avidly supported President Trump” and endorsed the idea of sending federal troops to San Francisco—a proposal that city leaders consider unacceptable.
Trump’s ‘threats’ to deploy federal troops in San Francisco
During an Oval Office gathering in August, Trump mentioned that he was considering sending federal troops into San Francisco, listing it alongside other Democratic-led cities. Trump said Democrats had “destroyed” San Francisco and that he would “clean that one up, too.”Benioff said he supported that idea and believed Guard soldiers could help reduce crime in the city. “We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it,” The New York Times quoted Benioff as saying.Benioff’s comments came ahead of the company’s annual Dreamforce conference, which is set to begin Tuesday in downtown San Francisco. Speaking by telephone from his private plane en route to San Francisco, Benioff said he has to pay for hundreds of off-duty law enforcement officers to help patrol the convention area and argued that San Francisco needed to “re-fund” the police.Over the course of a 50-minute conversation, Benioff did not criticise Trump or his policies. “I fully support the president. I think he’s doing a great job,” he said.He even praised Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative to slash federal spending, texting a recent photo of himself with Musk and a Tesla robot. He also praised David Sacks, another San Francisco tech billionaire and chairman of Trump’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Benioff’s Trump support: City officials react with anger against
San Francisco Democratic officials reacted with strong opposition to Benioff’s comments.“You can’t support San Francisco and want to see us invaded. It’s one thing to wrongly support Trump’s misguided economic policies. It’s quite another to support a direct assault and occupation of our city,” said Democrat Assemblyman Matt Haney.San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said she was furious that Benioff wanted the National Guard in the city. She said she would seek to prosecute anyone, including federal agents, who becomes violent or harasses residents.Rafael Mandelman, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, said he agreed the city needs more police officers but saw no need to send federal troops.
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