In a surprising turn, President Donald Trump called off his planned “surge” of federal troops to San Francisco after receiving personal appeals from prominent tech leaders. In a post on Truth Social, Trump credited Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff for persuading him to hold back the operation, saying they convinced him “the future of San Francisco is great.” The decision highlights the growing influence of Silicon Valley executives over national policy and raises questions about the balance between private power and public governance.
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Tech Executives Step In
According to Trump, several of his “friends who live in the area” reached out late Wednesday, urging him to reconsider the deployment. “Great people like Jensen Huang, Marc Benioff, and others have called, saying that the future of San Francisco is great. They want to give it a ‘shot,’” Trump wrote. He added that while federal authorities had prepared to send agents on Saturday, “we will not surge San Francisco.”
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Cozy Ties Between Trump and Tech
The reversal underscores the close and lucrative relationship between the Trump administration and major tech firms. Executives from companies such as Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Google, and Palantir have been regular guests at the White House, some even contributing funds to Trump’s new $300m ballroom project. Tech leaders have secured major government contracts and played a visible role in shaping policy decisions that extend far beyond technology.
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Growing Influence Over Policy
Experts warn that the power of tech executives under Trump’s leadership surpasses that of any prior administration. “President Trump’s back-and-forth over sending troops to San Francisco shows just how much power a handful of tech executives have to influence decisions that affect millions of Americans,” said Alix Fraser of Issue One, a nonprofit advocating for campaign finance reform. “No one elected these CEOs, but their money and access have given them an outsized voice in Washington.”
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Benioff’s Controversial Support
The troop plan gained momentum last week after Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff publicly endorsed Trump’s proposal. “We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it,” he told The New York Times. The comment sparked a wave of backlash from city officials and activists who viewed the statement as a betrayal of Benioff’s progressive reputation. The billionaire, known for championing LGBTQ+ causes and funding local charities, faced internal revolt within his own company.
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Fallout Within Salesforce
Following the controversy, prominent tech investor Ron Conway resigned from the board of Salesforce’s philanthropic arm. Meanwhile, dozens of Salesforce employees signed a petition demanding Benioff retract his comments. Under mounting pressure, Benioff apologized and rescinded his endorsement of the troop deployment. However, by that time, other high-profile figures, including Elon Musk and Trump’s AI czar David Sacks, had already voiced their support for federal intervention in the city.
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Musk and Others Amplify Tensions
Elon Musk intensified the debate by calling downtown San Francisco a “drug zombie apocalypse,” declaring that “federal intervention is the only solution at this point.” His remarks echoed Trump’s tough rhetoric and fueled the public narrative that San Francisco’s local leadership had failed to control crime and immigration issues. The administration soon announced a plan to deploy over 100 federal agents to the Bay Area, further escalating the tension.
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Trump’s Sudden Reversal
As San Francisco braced for the arrival of federal troops, Trump abruptly called off the operation. Speaking at a press conference, he said: “We were gonna do a big surge in San Francisco, but I got a great call from some incredible people, some friends of mine, very successful people. They said, ‘We’re working really, really hard with the mayor and making progress, would it be possible for you to hold off the surge?’” He praised the tech leaders’ “incredible competence” and “great efforts” to restore order locally.
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Democracy and Corporate Power
Fraser of Issue One warned that such private interventions threaten democratic accountability. “When political leaders take cues from wealthy executives and special interests rather than the public, it deepens the sense that government works for the powerful, not for the people,” he said. Neither Nvidia nor Salesforce responded to requests for comment.