Marc Benioff has long been known as San Francisco’s liberal-leaning billionaire. He is the tech executive who funded homeless services, donated to the city’s public schools, and hosted fundraisers for Hillary Clinton. But in a new, wide-ranging phone interview with the New York Times from his private plane, Benioff revealed a political transformation that seemed to surprise even his own communications team. This is despite the fact that Salesforce holds hundreds of contracts with the federal government.
The Salesforce founder declared that he “fully supported” President Trump and thought National Guard troops should patrol the streets of San Francisco. He described sitting across from Trump at a Windsor Castle state dinner, telling the president “how grateful I am for everything he’s doing.” He also praised Elon Musk’s government efficiency efforts and said he had not closely followed news about immigration raids or Trump’s attacks on the media.
The fifty-minute conversation reportedly ended after Benioff turned to his public relations executive, apparently noticing her expression. “What about the political questions?” he could be heard asking. “Too spicy?”
While Benioff’s shift mirrors a broader accommodation of Trump within Silicon Valley, the exchange offered a rare glimpse of just how far that repositioning can go. The question now is whether other Bay Area tech CEOs will follow Benioff’s lead and call for federal troops in their own backyard.