The fallout continues from Marc Benioff’s New York Times interview last week, in which the full-time Hawaii resident seemingly approved of Donald Trump’s authoritarian use of the National Guard in liberal cities he doesn’t like.
Salesforce Foundation board member and longtime SF political donor and influencer of city of politics Ron Conway has publicly cut ties with friend Marc Benioff, calling him out for his comments last week about welcoming the National Guard in SF — and for his seeming indifference to Donald Trump’s uce of ICE to harass and deport immigrants.
The New York Times’ Heather Knight was given a glimpse of a “fiery” email that Conway sent to Benioff this week, excoriating the Salesforce CEO and longtime Democratic donor for being yet another checked-out, greed-motivated rich person who’s letting Donald Trump run roughshod over the democracy and wave his dictator’s fist at liberal San Francisco.
The email appears to have come after Conway had private conversations with Benioff which must have left him unsatisfied with any explanation for Benioff’s recent political transformation — and unsatisfied with Benioff’s tepid attempt to walk back his comments on Monday.
“I have expressed candidly to you, repeatedly, in recent days, that I am shocked and disappointed by your comments calling for an unwanted invasion of San Francisco by federal troops, and by your willful ignorance and detachment from the impacts of the ICE immigration raids of families with NO criminal record,” Conway reportedly wrote, per the Times.
The “willful ignorance and detachment” he’s referring to is in response to Benioff telling Knight last week that he hadn’t been closely following news of Trump’s ICE raids, or his general attacks on the media — given that Benioff is now the owner of Time magazine. Benioff also said, of Trump, “I think he’s doing a great job.”
As Knight notes, nine years ago, Benioff hosted a major fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, Trump’s sworn enemy, which makes his recent rightward turn all the more shocking. But, Knight also notes, Salesforce has “hundreds” of software contracts with the federal government that Benioff would not want to lose if he got on Trump’s bad side. Thus, like Mark Zuckerberg over the past year, Benioff has seen where the winds were blowing and seemingly decided that his moral compass is less important than his company’s fortunes, especially with an authoritarian at the helm.
In other words, if Kamala had won, Benioff would be singing a different tune, and may not have invited Trump-loving David Sacks to appear at Dreamforce.
Conway blasted Benioff for comments he’s made in previous years about potentially moving Dreamforce out of its established home in SF — and how Benioff has tended the last few years to use Dreamforce week as an excuse to go to the media and make some sort of remarks denigrating the city.
“Your obsession with and constant annual threats to move Dreamforce to Las Vegas is ironic, since it is a fact that Las Vegas has a higher rate of violent crime than San Francisco,” Conway reportedly wrote. “San Francisco does not need a federal invasion because you don’t like paying for extra security for Dreamforce.”
Conway also rebuked Benioff for pretending that he even has personal ties to the city anymore, given his relocation to Hawaii — noting that SF, “where you don’t even live or vote,” has made great strides to improve street conditions since the pandemic, something Benioff may not even be aware of!
Conway, a longtime venture capitalist whose net worth is estimated around $1 billion, has served on the board of the Salesforce Foundation for a decade, the Times reports, and he has been friends with Benioff for about 25 years.
“It saddens me immensely to say that with your recent comments, and failure to understand their impact, I now barely recognize the person I have so long admired,” Conway reportedly said in his email.
Conway’s email leak comes on Day 3 of Dreamforce, following Wednesday night’s big benefit concert at the Chase Center featuring Metallica and Benson Boone.
Dubbed the “Concert for Kids,” the annual event during Dreamforce week benefits UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals.
As the Times notes, the Salesforce Foundation has regular grantees that would likely not pass muster with the Bay Area-hating Trump administration, like the San Francisco and Oakland Unified School Districts.
Previously: Benioff Walks Back National Guard Comment as Salesforce Pledges $15B Investment In San Francisco
Top image: SV Angel Co-Founder and Managing Partner Ron Conway speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2017 at Pier 48 on September 20, 2017 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch)