Once a Democratic advocate, Marc Benioff is now described as ‘unrecognizable’ after publicly endorsing Trump’s policies and social media praise.
California tech billionaire and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has drawn sharp criticism for his recent alignment with President Donald Trump, The Washington Post reported Sunday. Once a staunch Democrat, Benioff publicly endorsed Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco and congratulated the president on social media, leaving colleagues and political allies shocked.
“Marc Benioff stood out as someone who showed us that San Francisco values and the tech industry could coexist with and amplify each other,” said Democratic state Rep. Matt Haney. “[That persona is now] unrecognizable.”
Rafael Mandelman, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, called the shift a “gut punch.” Internal messages at Salesforce reportedly received hundreds of negative reactions, with employees criticizing the move as conflicting with company values.
Although Benioff walked back his support for the National Guard deployment, he continued praising Trump publicly and joined him for dinner in Tokyo, where Trump asked Benioff for advice on replacing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.