President Trump had planned to “swoop” San Francisco by marching the National Guard into the city, but he has decided to change his mind, he said in a post on his social network Truth Social on Thursday. The post said Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff were among the biggest names in the technology industry who called him and tried to persuade him to change his mind.
In a statement, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie did not name the person who spoke with the president, but acknowledged that military operations had been planned and had been canceled.
Benioff’s involvement is particularly noteworthy. Earlier this month, just before Salesforce held a major technology conference in San Francisco, where the company is headquartered, Mr. Benioff (who was born and raised in San Francisco) said he supported Mr. Trump. He also said he believes the National Guard should be sent to patrol the streets. The comments prompted venture capital legend Ron Conway to step down from his 10-year seat on the board of the Salesforce Charitable Foundation, condemning both the comments and his friend Benioff.
Mr. Benioff quickly apologized and withdrew his desire for National Guard patrols. “…After the largest and most secure Dreamforce in our nation’s history, I don’t think the National Guard is necessary for San Francisco’s security efforts,” Benioff said in a post on X earlier this month. So the CEO apparently took the plunge and actually filed a lawsuit with the White House.
Mayor Lurie is scheduled to speak at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco next week. Perhaps we’ll hear more about how the city, home to the AI industry, has rallied to improve safety and de-escalate the situation.
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