Could San Francisco’s streets soon echo with the boots of the National Guard, all at the behest of a tech titan?
Tech billionaire Marc Benioff, the powerhouse behind Salesforce and owner of Time Magazine, has made waves by publicly urging President Trump to send the National Guard to San Francisco, citing a dire need for stronger law enforcement as his annual Dreamforce conference looms, while drawing sharp criticism from local leaders, as New York Post reports.
Benioff, a major player in the Bay Area with over $1 billion donated to local charities and causes over the past 25 years, dropped this bombshell during a recent interview with The New York Times on a Friday.
He pointed to what he sees as a glaring shortage of police presence in the city, noting that the San Francisco Police Department’s current roster of about 1,500 officers should be nearly doubled.
With Dreamforce—a massive tech conference—on the horizon, Benioff isn’t taking chances, personally funding hundreds of off-duty officers to patrol the event area.
He even floated the idea of “re-funding” the police, a not-so-subtle jab at progressive policies that have, in the eyes of many conservatives, left cities vulnerable to crime and disorder.
Adding fuel to the fire, Benioff has recently cozied up to President Trump, a relationship cemented by an invitation to a state dinner hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle last month.
Seated across from each other at the event, the two seem to have forged a bond, with Benioff openly praising Trump’s leadership and agenda.
“I fully support the president. I think he’s doing a great job,” Benioff told The New York Times, a statement that’s music to the ears of Trump supporters but a bitter pill for San Francisco’s left-leaning establishment.
Local politicians, predictably, aren’t rolling out the red carpet for Benioff’s National Guard proposal, with many voicing sharp disapproval.
San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar admitted the request “threw me for a loop,” calling it out of touch with the city’s values. Her disappointment stings, but let’s be honest—when has San Francisco’s leadership ever embraced a pragmatic approach to public safety over ideological posturing?
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins took to the social media platform X on the same Friday to blast the idea, accusing certain leaders of turning public safety into “government-sponsored violence.” Her fiery rhetoric might rally the progressive base, but it sidesteps the reality of understaffed police forces and rising concerns among business leaders like Benioff.
Trump, for his part, isn’t a stranger to deploying the National Guard, having previously sent troops to cities like Los Angeles, Memphis, and, most recently, Chicago to safeguard ICE officers during operations like “Operation Midway Blitz.”
If he heeds Benioff’s call, San Francisco could be next on the list, a move that would undoubtedly escalate tensions in a city already at odds with federal policies. But for those frustrated with the status quo, it might just be the wake-up call needed to prioritize law and order over endless debate.
