The ongoing debate over San Francisco’s public safety crisis escalated dramatically this week after two of the tech world's most powerful figures, Elon Musk and Marc Benioff, publicly clashed over the need for federal intervention—specifically, the deployment of federal troops.
The controversy began when Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, initially expressed support for the controversial proposal to bring federal forces into the city, a plan previously raised by President Donald Trump. In comments to The New York Times, Benioff suggested the move was necessary to compensate for a local police shortage. “We don't have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I'm all for it,” he was quoted as saying.
However, any attempt by Benioff to quietly walk back his comments was immediately overshadowed by Tesla and X owner Elon Musk, who not only doubled down on the idea but dramatically intensified the rhetoric.
Musk took to his X platform to endorse Benioff’s initial statement, declaring federal action to be the “only solution at this point. Nothing else has or will work.” Escalating his criticism of the city, Musk described downtown San Francisco as a “drug zombie apocalypse.”
The fiery exchange comes just days before Salesforce's annual Dreamforce conference, which draws tens of thousands of attendees to the city and places public safety concerns front and center.
Facing immediate political and corporate backlash, Benioff appeared to soften his stance over the weekend, seeking to clarify that his comments were primarily aimed at addressing the city’s staffing challenges rather than endorsing a military deployment. He subsequently announced that Salesforce would donate $1 million to the city to fund larger hiring bonuses for new police officers.
Local San Francisco officials, however, have strongly opposed the federal intervention plan. Mayor Daniel Lurie pushed back on the necessity of federal troops, highlighting the city's declining crime rates and increased local police hiring efforts. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins also criticized the proposal, arguing that external deployment would undermine local law enforcement control and represented government-sponsored violence.
The split among the city’s most influential business leaders reveals deeper tensions between Silicon Valley executives, many of whom have expressed frustration over urban decay, and the Democratic-led local government’s handling of homelessness, crime, and the opioid crisis.
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