Marc Benioff, the billionaire CEO of Salesforce and owner of Time magazine, apologized on Friday for saying he supported Donald Trump sending national guard troops to San Francisco.
Benioff, who has been facing intensifying backlash in California, said in a post that after he “listened closely to my fellow San Franciscans and our local officials … I do not believe the National Guard is needed to address safety in San Francisco”.
He said his earlier comments “came from an abundance of caution” around his company’s major annual conference called Dreamforce, which took place this week. “I sincerely apologize for the concern it caused. It’s my firm belief that our city makes the most progress when we all work together in a spirit of partnership.”
The executive of the cloud-based software firm had expressed support for the federal deployment in an interview with the New York Times last week, saying: “We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it.” The newspaper said he had made clear he “avidly supported President Trump”.
The comments sparked an uproar, with critics noting longstanding federal law widely bans the domestic deployment of troops for criminal law enforcement duties.
Benioff’s pro-Trump remarks also suggested a sharp turn from his previous support of liberal policies. During Trump’s first administration, he was outspoken about wealth inequality, backing a 2018 local ballot measure to tax large corporations in San Francisco to increase funding for homeless services. He called out other billionaires for “hoarding” their wealth in a Guardian interview at the time and criticized opponents of the measure, saying: “You’re either for the homeless or you’re for yourself.”
The CEO mostly lives in Hawaii now, according to the New York Times.
He walked back his comments days after Trump suggested San Francisco could be the next target for federal troops’ deployment. California and city leaders have said the intervention was not welcome or necessary, and immigrants’ rights groups said they were bracing for a possible increase in raids, arrests and detentions.
Benioff said in last week’s interview that he believed San Francisco needed 1,000 more officers added to its 1,500-size force. During his conference, he said, there would be “cops on every corner … how it used to be”.
Trump has repeatedly used false and exaggerated claims about out-of-control crime to justify federal crackdowns in liberal cities, which have attracted mass protests met with aggressive law enforcement responses.
Speaking to the FBI director on Wednesday, the president said: “I’m going to be strongly recommending, at the request of government officials … that you start looking at San Francisco … one of our great cities 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and now it’s a mess … Every American deserves to live in a community where they’re not afraid of being mugged, murdered, robbed, raped, assaulted or shot.”
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, responded by noting he was San Francisco’s mayor 15 years ago when Trump said the city was “great”, and saying the city had seen a 45% drop in homicides and 40% in robberies this year, compared with 2019.
The city’s mayor and law enforcement leaders also touted declining crime and increasing police recruitment earlier this week, with the district attorney saying local leaders “have this issue under control”.
