Marc Benioff is a longtime San Francisco liberal billionaire and tech executive who has funded homeless services, donated to the city’s public schools and hosted a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton.
But in a new wide-ranging phone interview with The New York Times from his private plane, Benioff revealed a political shift that surprised even his own communications team, even though Salesforce has hundreds of contracts with the federal government.
The Salesforce founder declared that he “fully supports” President Trump and believes the National Guard should patrol the streets of San Francisco. He sat across from President Trump at a state dinner at Windsor Castle and passionately told the president “how much I appreciate everything he’s doing.” He praised Elon Musk’s efforts to streamline the government and said he doesn’t follow news stories about immigration raids or Trump’s attacks on the media closely.
The 50-minute conversation reportedly ended after Benioff turned to the public relations executive and apparently noticed the look on her face. “What about political issues?” I heard him ask. “Is it too spicy?”
Mr. Benioff’s shift reflects Silicon Valley’s broader response to Mr. Trump, but this exchange provided a rare glimpse into the extent to which that repositioning is possible. The question is: Will other Bay Area tech CEOs follow Benioff’s lead and call in federal troops in their own backyards?
