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Tech billionaire and godfather to Gavin Newsom's daughter turns back on Dems and says 'Trump doing great job'
By SOPHIE GABLE, US REPORTER
Published: 14:28 EDT, 11 October 2025 | Updated: 17:11 EDT, 11 October 2025
Tech billionaire Marc Benioff seemingly shed his liberal ties and directly clashed with his longtime friend Gavin Newsom by praising the president in a recent bombshell interview.
The CEO of the San Francisco-based software company Salesforce recently confessed to the New York Times that he believed President Donald Trump was 'doing a great job' and that he'd support the National Guard's presence in his city.
'I fully support the president,' Benioff declared.
The CEO, who's also the godfather of the California governor's daughter and a previous donor to Hillary Clinton's campaign, supported Trump's controversial call to send the National Guard to US cities.
When speaking about San Francisco, he told the Times: 'We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it'.
Benioff is planning on giving the keynote address at the Dreamforce conference this week in San Francisco.
He said in the interview that he's hired hundreds of off-duty law enforcement officers to patrol the convention area, claiming that the city's police force is underfunded.
'You’ll see. When you walk through San Francisco next week, there will be cops on every corner. That’s how it used to be,' he told The Times.
Marc Benioff, the CEO of software giant Salesforce, recently said in an interview that he 'fully supports' Donald Trump
Benioff's interview comes as the president has made repeated calls to deploy the National Guard to American cities
At the end of his interview, the Times journalist noted that Benioff appeared to ask his publicist: 'What about the political questions? Too Spicy?'
Benioff founded the idea for Salesforce in Telegraph Hill, a residential neighborhood in San Francisco, in 1999.
The company has been headquartered there ever since. Benioff boasted in his interview that he doesn't believe anyone has hired more San Franciscans or given more money to the city than he has.
However, since the pandemic, he confessed that he primarily resides in Hawaii but still spends time in the California city.
Benioff has a long history with Newsom since the governor's tenure as the mayor of San Francisco.
Newsom has attended the Dreamforce conference multiple times and has frequently spoken with Benioff on stage.
The two discussed San Francisco's homelessness crisis at the conference in 2023, which Newsom described as 'deplorable' at the time, according to the San Francisco Standard.
'All I thought was, how damn demoralized everybody must be. There go all our tax dollars and who the hell is running this place?' Newsom questioned.
Benioff then pointed out that he hadn't noticed the conditions when he arrived for Dreamforce, to which Newsom responded: 'Because we’re sucking up to you. We can’t afford to lose you'.
Newsom and Benioff have a long history dating back to when the governor served as the mayor of San Francisco. Benioff is a godparent to one of Newsom's children
Newsom and Benioff have a long history dating back to when the governor served as the mayor of San Francisco. Benioff is a godparent to one of Newsom's children.
Newsom has been a fierce critic of Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard, but Benioff said he welcomed their presence in San Francisco
Benioff said that his political affiliation is independent and he's supported both Democratic and Republican candidates.
However, the billionaire CEO has also been a fierce advocate for the homeless and even launched the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative.
In 2018, he funded a city ballot measure campaign to tax businesses, including Salesforce, to fund services for the homeless, according to the Times.
He's also called on his fellow tech leaders to do more to combat poverty. Benioff's recent comments to the Times infuriated and confused California leaders.
Myrna Melgar, a supervisor in the city, told the Times that his remarks threw her. 'From the railroad barons until now, that’s nothing new,' she said.
'But with Marc Benioff, it’s particularly disappointing. It’s definitely out of step and out of touch with what most San Franciscans would want'.
Benioff said San Francisco didn't have enough cops and that the Guard could reduce crime in the city
The interview also generated fierce backlash on social media, with Matt Dorsey, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, calling it a 'slap in the face.'
'It’s insulting to our cops, and it’s honestly galling to those of us who’ve been fighting hard over the last few years to fully staff our @SFPD,' he added.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins called the deployment of the National Guard a 'form of government sponsored violence against U.S. citizens, families, and ethnic groups'.
'Let me be clear. If you come to San Francisco and illegally harass our residents, use excessive force or cross any other boundaries that the law proscribes, I will not hesitate to do my job and hold you accountable just like I do other violators of the law every single day,' she wrote in a thread on X.
'Salesforce is a great San Francisco company that does so much good for our city. Inviting Trump to send the National Guard here is not one of those good things,' California State Senator Scott Wiener said.
'Quite the opposite. We neither need nor want an illegal military occupation in San Francisco'.
Newsom hasn't publicly reacted to Benioff's remarks, but he's been vocal against National Guard deployments to California. Daily Mail has reached out to his office for comment.
Benioff added that Trump was 'doing a great job' and that he fully supported the president during his recent interview with the New York Times
Benioff added that Trump was 'doing a great job' and that he fully supported the president during his recent interview with the New York Times
Newsom called Trump's decision to send troops to Portland, Oregon, a 'breathtaking abuse of power' in a memo last week.
'The commander-in-chief is using the U.S. military as a political weapon against American citizens. We will take this fight to court, but the public cannot stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the President of the United States,' he added.
Trump's decision to send the Guard to American cities like Portland and Chicago was widely criticized. States with a Democratic governor or attorney general signed a court filing on Wednesday to support legal challenges against the deployment.
Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment on Benioff's remarks and whether the administration plans to send the National Guard to San Francisco.
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From Daily Mail
Link:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...alifornia.html
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