Marc Benioff "Fully Supports" Trump's National Guard Agenda

“For years, San Franciscans considered him their benevolent, big-hearted billionaire,” wrote NYT reporter Heather Knight. “Benioff was known for spreading large sums of money around San Francisco, his hometown.” But Marc Benioff was never San Francisco’s friend. In his recent New York Times interview, Benioff voiced “avid support” (Knight) for Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard here. As if permanently altering the skyline only to evacuate his employees and watch its economy implode weren’t enough. What prompted the billionaire who plumped his fortune here, then laid off some 12,000+ employees, to condemn San Francisco? 

“Mr. Benioff’s shift serves as another example of a prominent Bay Area tech executive acceding to the Republican president’s view of the world,” NYT reporter Heather Knight wrote. 

D-6 Representative Matt Dorsey called Benioff’s turnabout “a slap in the face to San Francisco.” Politico picked up the representative’s post on X, formerly Twitter, and headlined an article with the quote. As Politico writer Tyler Katzenberger rightly points out, “It also puts Benioff at direct odds with the state’s Democratic leaders like his close friend Gov. Gavin Newsom.” Benioff and Newsom are old friends, so it’s hard to imagine the governor being blindsided by the news. How might Newsom’s lawsuit against Trump over June’s National Guard deployment to LA strain his and Benioff’s relationship? Why does it seem like a billionaire’s opinion matters more to Trump than those of any lawmaker, congressmember, or constituent? 

If the world we all live in weren’t at the laughable mercy of billionaires, Benioff’s opinion wouldn’t concern us. But Marc Benioff is just the latest tech magnate to migrate to the Republican side of the aisle. His somewhat unexpected defection follows a trend of wealthy people disparaging the city on whose back they made their fortune. Elon Musk refuses to leave San Francisco alone, his sights set on accelerating its demise. Musk is reasonably the butt of many jokes. Though Trump and Elon’s stormy relationship is over, it proved that the wealthy can get disturbingly close to the president. 

Musk, who gutted Twitter in his $46-billion act of self-cannibalization, described downtown San Francisco as a “drug zombie apocalypse,” saying federal intervention is needed. (CBS) Benioff is merely echoing his peers. But who they are—and in what context—matters, especially at the voting booths. Who’s lobbying for whom? What new bill might allow further market and labor law manipulation? Chief Executive of Apple Tim Cook reportedly gifted Trump a 24-karat gold luxury item during a presidential visit in August. At a White House dinner last month, Executive Chief of OpenAI Sam Altman called Trump “a very refreshing change.” (NYT) 

Even San Francisco mayor and fellow billionaire Daniel Lurie is pumping the brakes on Benioff’s and Musk’s calls for duty. If Lurie is conspiring against the city, he’s doing so less conspicuously than his billionaire rivals. Regarding Trump’s itch to deploy the National Guard in San Francisco, Lurie feels SFPD is all the enforcement SF needs. 

“Crime is down 30% citywide,” Lurie told CBS reporter Da Lin. “SFPD, our sheriff's department, is doing an incredible job. We're going to keep people safe during Salesforce and Dreamforce this week. And we're going to keep people safe 365 days a year," Lurie said.

Benioff’s comments come just before his company’s largest corporate gathering, held annually in San Francisco (reluctantly, it would seem). The Dreamforce conference begins Tuesday, and is expected to draw several thousand attendees. Last year, downtown swelled with over 45,000 people for the three-day conference. Perhaps, like an aging country farmhouse, Benioff’s tower will fill with long-lost Salesforce family, once more glowing bright from within. Will nostalgia for watercooler camaraderie be intoxicating enough to obliviate the memory of the CEO’s betrayal? 

Marc Benioff was never San Francisco’s friend. Once the deluge of Salesforce emblems retreats and downtown resumes its quiet post-COVID character, he’ll still be a traitor to the city. But when has it ever been safe to trust a tycoon? How can the city prosper while still protecting itself from predatory corporations? The unforgiving phrase, “No risk, no reward” comes to mind. But I think many people here on the ground take great risks every day, the promise of reward yet unmet. Where then are their friends?