Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, once a Hillary Clinton donor, was met with fierce backlash after he expressed support for President Donald Trump’s threats to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco in an interview last week. “We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it,” Benioff said in a Friday New York Times story during which he also said he “fully support[ed] the president.”Benioff elaborated on his stance in a social media post he shared on Sunday, noting that Salesforce worked with authorities to surge law enforcement for its upcoming annual Dreamforce conference taking place in San Francisco. He added that he saw the responsibility for addressing public safety as “first and foremost, the responsibility of our city and state leaders.”“When I was recently asked about federal resources, my point was this: Each year, to make Dreamforce as safe as possible for 50,000 attendees, we add 200 additional law-enforcement professionals — coordinated across city, state, and other partners,” Benioff wrote. “It’s proof that collaboration works and a reminder that the city needs more resources to keep San Franciscans safe year-round.”Benioff’s comments to the Times offered a stark contrast with more liberal positions he’s taken in the past and are in line with broader efforts by tech leaders to maintain favorable ties with Trump given the role his administration plays in regulating the industry. Benioff also told the publication he wasn’t sure how much time he spent in San Francisco each year after primarily living in Hawaii after the pandemic. Previously, Benioff hosted a fundraiser for Clinton in 2016, but has stressed that he’s an independent who has donated to candidates from both parties. He’s also backed a city-wide ballot measure that required companies to contribute taxes to provide services for unhoused people in San Francisco. His remarks about the National Guard came as he’s donated millions in funds to support local children’s hospitals. Local leaders slammed Benioff’s backing for the National Guard deployment, noting that the city’s crime rates have declined significantly in recent years, and emphasizing that federal troops aren’t the solution to challenges that San Francisco continues to face with substance abuse. “San Franciscans right now sit scared that we are next in line for what Trump is delivering to other cities across this nation,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told the Times in a statement. “I’m disappointed that anyone would want to invite that chaos into our city.” “This is a slap in the face to San Francisco. 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,” added San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey in a post on X.A Salesforce spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie didn’t comment directly on Benioff’s National Guard remarks in a statement to KTVU, though he did say that crime rates were down 30% in the city. Lurie also plans to hire 500 more police officers, the publication notes. As KQED reported, San Francisco’s police budget has increased despite claims Benioff made that the city needs to “re-fund” the police. Yet, San Francisco has seen a significant decline in its violent crime rate this year. And while the city continues to grapple with addressing drug addiction among residents, local leaders have said that National Guard troops aren’t equipped to deal with these issues.Benioff’s position garnered support from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a former Trump adviser. In a Sunday post on X, Musk argued that federal action was “the only solution at this point” for addressing the fentanyl crisis in the city. Benioff’s friendlier posture toward Trump coincides with similar shifts made by other tech executives including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Tech companies and executives previously donated to Trump’s Inaugural fund and expressed gratitude toward him for his policies during a September meeting at the White House.Benioff had also previously urged people to keep an open mind in the early days about Trump’s election in 2016.As the Times noted, Salesforce has “hundreds of software contracts with the federal government.”“I think he’s doing a great job,” Benioff said of Trump. Close