Salesforce Chief Government Marc Benioff publicly apologized Friday for suggesting President Trump ought to ship Nationwide Guard troops to San Francisco, saying his earlier remarks “got here from an abundance of warning” and that he not believes federal intervention is required to make sure public security.
“Having listened carefully to my fellow San Franciscans and our native officers, and after the most important and most secure Dreamforce in our historical past, I don’t consider the Nationwide Guard is required to handle security in San Francisco,” Benioff wrote on X.
“My earlier remark got here from an abundance of warning across the occasion, and I sincerely apologize for the priority it precipitated.”
The billionaire philanthropist and longtime Democratic mega-donor, 61, added that San Francisco “makes probably the most progress once we all work collectively in a spirit of partnership.”
Benioff thanked Mayor Daniel Lurie, the San Francisco Police Division and metropolis officers for serving to make sure the success of Dreamforce, Salesforce’s annual know-how convention that drew roughly 50,000 guests this week.
Benioff’s remarks mark an effort to calm tensions which have mounted since his interview with the New York Occasions final week, wherein he stated he supported Trump’s thought of deploying the Nationwide Guard to San Francisco to assist struggle crime.
“We don’t have sufficient cops, so if they are often cops, I’m all for it,” he advised the paper.
The feedback had been met with sturdy criticism from metropolis leaders and longtime allies within the tech and philanthropic communities. Lurie and District Legal professional Brooke Jenkins rejected the concept, noting that crime in San Francisco has fallen to a 70-year low.
“To see tear gasoline and all of the issues which can be taking place — we don’t need that chaos right here,” Jenkins stated earlier within the week.
The fallout continued by way of the Dreamforce convention.
Outstanding enterprise capitalist Ron Conway, a serious Democratic donor and early backer of firms together with Google and Airbnb, resigned from the board of the Salesforce Basis, writing in an e mail that he “barely acknowledge[s] the individual I’ve so lengthy admired.”
Two scheduled Dreamforce performers, comedians Kumail Nanjiani and Ilana Glazer, additionally dropped out of the occasion. Whereas Salesforce attributed the cancellations to sickness, each entertainers have beforehand criticized Trump’s insurance policies and rhetoric.
Benioff later introduced in comic David Spade to shut the convention.
The controversy prompted broader reflection amongst San Francisco’s enterprise and philanthropic circles.
Laurene Powell Jobs, founding father of the Emerson Collective and widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, criticized Benioff’s current feedback in an essay printed Friday within the Wall Road Journal, writing that “giving that expects management is something however beneficiant.”
Powell Jobs cited feedback by Benioff touting his charitable donations to the town, wherein he stated: “If there’s anybody who’s doing extra for the area people, I would like their identify, as a result of I’m very aggressive.”
“The message beneath that remark was unmistakable: In his eyes, generosity is an public sale — and coverage is the prize awarded to the best bidder,” Powell Jobs wrote within the Journal.
The Publish has sought remark from Benioff.
Regardless of the criticism, Salesforce introduced this week that it plans to take a position $15 billion in San Francisco over 5 years to advance synthetic intelligence initiatives.
Benioff, who has alternated between describing himself as an impartial and a reasonable Republican, has lengthy been one of many metropolis’s most distinguished enterprise figures and donors, serving to fund hospitals, faculties and homeless providers.
Benioff stated in his Friday publish that he stays “totally dedicated to a safer, stronger San Francisco.”
