Deploy the National Guard, says Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff

Marc Benioff has certainly got people talking. 

The Salesforce CEO, known for generously spreading wealth around his native San Francisco and his previous support for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, has told the New York Times he “fully supported” President Donald Trump. 

In an interview published on 10 October, Benioff said he supports deploying the National Guard to San Francisco, arguing: “We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it.”

Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to several cities across the US has been widely contested, drawing legal challenges by state and local officials. 

San Francisco has so far avoided federal incursions, although Trump has previously discussed the possibility in an August 2025 Oval Office meeting. 

“Look at what Democrats have done to San Francisco. They’ve destroyed it,” he said. “We would clean that up too. We’ll clean that one up, too.”

Benioff on Trump: too spicy? 

Speaking with the New York Times from his private jet, Benioff explained that he pays for hundreds of off-duty police officers to patrol the city’s streets, arguing that San Francisco should “re-fund” its police force.

During the interview Benioff was reportedly watching a YouTube video on the Israeli hostage release deal, praising Trump for the resolution.  

He touched on his invite to a state dinner for Trump hosted by King Charles in September, telling the New York Times he was “incredibly honoured” to be seated across from the President, explaining to him “how grateful I am for everything he’s doing.”

Benioff also praised Elon Musk’s DOGE government efficiency efforts, reportedly texting an image of himself, Musk and a Tesla robot to the paper. 

As well as Musk, he talked positively about San Francisco tech billionaire and founding COO of PayPal, David Sacks who is the chairman of Trump’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. 

The call reportedly ended with Benioff turning to his PR exec, asking “what about the political questions? Too spicy?”

Who is Marc Benioff?

Benioff is the chair, CEO and co-founder of global cloud software firm Salesforce, which he launched in 1999 after 13 years at Oracle – where he became the firm’s youngest vice president. 

In 2018, he and his wife bought Time magazine for US$190m; both still serve as its co-chairs. 

Benioff told the New York Times during his interview that Time, which named Trump as its Person of the Year in 2024, “had faced no pressure from the White House”. 

Today, Salesforce remains one of the industry’s most influential enterprise platforms, with Benioff well known as its public face and long-time strategist. 

As well as for his leadership, Benioff is recognised for his philanthropy. He pioneered Salesforce’s 1-1-1 model, a commitment where the company donates 1% of its equity, 1% of its product and 1% of its employees’ time to charitable causes. 

To date, the approach has inspired over 18,000 other companies to join Pledge 1%, a global movement for corporate impact. It has also resulted in millions of dollars in grants, millions of volunteer hours and thousands of nonprofits using Salesforce technology. 

Banioff’s family and company have reportedly given more than US$1bn to Bay Area causes over the past 26 years, including homelessness and fighting against anti-LGBT discrimination. 

Most recently, he has committed US$100m to USCF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, US$39m for AI education in local schools and funded efforts to tackle plastic pollution and improve marine conservation.