SCOOP: Marc Benioff's brief alignment with Trump contradicted by his time as CEO

Part of what made Marc Benioff’s brief flirtation with Trump’s law and order agenda was how out-of-step it was with how his company portrays itself.

For a moment, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff found himself the belle of the GOP ball when he sided with President Donald Trump on sending the National Guard to San Francisco.

“We don’t have enough cops, so if [the National Guard] can be cops, I’m all for it,” Benioff said. “I fully support the president. I think he’s doing a great job.”

Benioff, however, quickly walked back his praise of the president, and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D., Calif.) affirmed that Benioff is still welcome in the Democratic Party’s family, despite his brief apostasy.

Part of what made Benioff’s brief flirtation with Trump’s law and order agenda was how out-of-step it was with how his company portrays itself.

For years, Salesforce promoted DEI programming for its staff, hosting critical race theorists like Ibram K. Kendi for fireside chats with its staff. The company maintains a perfect rating from the Human Rights Campaign as well.

It also was one of the leading proponents of ESG policies. The company’s “Global Environmental Policy” stresses how it has “set high levels of environmental standards for our business,” “maintain[s] 100% renewable energy for our global operations,” and “influence[s] sustainability across our supply chain.”

It also gives reimbursements to its employees to cover sex change surgeries, as the company noted in a blog post titled “How To Empower Transgender Employees To Be Their Authentic Selves.”

The contrast between Benioff’s brief flirtation with Trump comes as Salesforce is making a push for government contracts, sources noted to the Reporter. Benioff found himself under a microscope in recent years. He recently admitted to over-hiring during the pandemic, which forced the company to lay off 10 percent of its workforce in 2023. The company has largely missed out on the rapid growth tech firms have experienced this year. In fact, Salesforce shares have lost 26 percent of their value this year thus far.

Salesforce did not respond to a request for comment.