The crisis PR team over at Salesforce has been working overtime since CEO Marc Benioff went full Trumpy in a New York Times interview Friday, going so far as to say he'd welcome the National Guard being illegally deployed in San Francisco.

Benioff was talking to former Chronicle columnist turned Times SF correspondent Heather Knight last week when he made the controversial comment that he'd welcome having National Guard troops in San Francisco — after Trump has threatened to deploy them here, and followed through with deploying them in Los Angeles, DC, and Chicago so far. This is despite legal experts' very big questions about the legality of Trump's willy-nilly, retaliatory troop deployments to liberal cities for no reason besides political theater, pleasing his red-state base, and his own, dangerous, dictator's sense of gratification.

His exact words were: "We don’t have enough cops, so if [the National Guard] can be cops, I’m all for it."

The comments are in keeping with a swath of Silicon Valley types who have shown deference, and outright ass-kissery, to Trump in second term for their own, bottom-line-focused reasons — and as Knight points out, Salesforce has "hundreds of software contracts with the federal government" that could be jeopardized if Trump turned his ire toward the company.

Benioff spoke about the understaffing issue at the SFPD, which is a real thing, and offhandedly spoke of "re-funding" the police in the city, despite the fact that they were never actually de-funded in any real way here.

He also mentioned how he employs hundreds of off-duty cops to oversee security at the annual Dreamforce convention, saying, "You’ll see. When you walk through San Francisco next week, there will be cops on every corner. That’s how it used to be."

Benioff's comments, in particular the casual way he approved of a National Guard deployment here, were not treated lightly by local leaders, with several supervisors including Jackie Fielder and Matt Dorsey talking about boycotting Dreamforce this year in protest.

"Candidly, I am very disappointed in Salesforce and Marc Benioff with their statement," Dorsey said to NBC Bay Area. "I think this is something that’s a real disservice to our city, I thought it was insulting to the work that Mayor [Daniel] Lurie is trying to do, and those of us who are really fighting for public safety."

Assemblymember Matt Haney put it more bluntly, telling the Times, "You can’t support San Francisco and want to see us invaded."

Now, as NBC Bay Area reported Monday, Benioff appeared to want to walk back his statement, following the outcry — and after Elon Musk tried to jump on the bandwagon over the weekend, enjoying any chance he can get to shit on San Francisco despite continuing to open offices here.

Benioff's new, publicist-polished statement on the matter is as follows: "When I was recently asked about federal resources, my point was this: each year, to make Dreamforce as safe as possible for 50,000 attendees, we add 200 additional law-enforcement professionals — coordinated across city, state, and other partners. It's proof that collaboration works and a reminder that the city needs more resources to keep San Franciscans safe year-round."

As Dreamforce kicked off on this rainy Monday, Benioff and Salesforce announced a pledge of $15 billion in investments in San Francisco over the next five years — though the specifics about this were not provided. The company did say it would be spending money to establish an AI incubator hub in the city, and that it would be investing in workforce development and training, as the Chronicle notes.

In a statement, the company said this "reflects our deep commitment to our hometown — advancing AI innovation, creating jobs, and helping companies and our communities thrive in this incredible new era."

Meanwhile, on Xitter, Benioff was posting photos with Metallica's Lars Ullrich, and, as usual, touting the celebrities coming to Dreamforce this year, including Rob Lowe, America Ferrera, and Pete Buttigieg. Also, the annual benefit concert this year at the Chase Center is being headlined by Benson Boone.

Top image: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff speaks during Salesforce's Dreamforce on September 17, 2024 in San Francisco, California. Some 45,000 workers in the tech industry were expected to attend the annual Dreamforce event, which runs through September 19. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)