With tech CEO roles, a certain level of shamelessness comes with the job description. Yet Alex Karp, head honcho of Palantir, seems set to raise the bar with a conspicuous display of political flexibility following the Democratic wave in the US midterms. In December 2024, Karp gave $1 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc.
But it does not take cutting-edge AI and data analytics – in which Palantir claims to have unique power – for Karp to understand on which side his bread is buttered. The man with the distinctive verbal diarrhea is now stressing his progressive credentials – and those of Palantir's products. The CEO told Politico that he is now open to voting for the Democrats come 2028.
"I've been a Democrat my whole life. I grew up in a far-left environment. I know more about being a progressive than almost anybody on the planet, and I absolutely believe Palantir – all of our products are essentially progressive," Karp reportedly said.
Karp's explanation for his political generosity was an apparent desire for balance. "My giving is equal, Democrat, Republican," Karp told the publication. "I can tell you, without going into things I'm not gonna disclose, I'm very balanced, and everyone in the political arena knows it.
And I'll tell you what, I'm also not the village idiot." All of which raises the question of whether, in avoiding idiocy, it is necessary to eschew any principled stance whatsoever. If only the Germans of the Weimar Republic had thought to fund both sides.
Apparently, all Europe needed was a more balanced political donations portfolio. Such is Karp's sensitivity towards the topic that he once claimed: "I love when I'm getting yelled at in cities in Europe... Keep yelling at me...
the only reason why someone's not goose-stepping between me and you is my product. Say thank you." They have not said thank you.
In fact, across Europe, governments are looking to reject Palantir, while the EU has instigated a sovereign tech and AI policy to escape the clutches of the US tech giants. Karp has a talent for holding two seemingly contradictory positions. He has talked about the need for democratic societies to exercise hard power, and, elsewhere, about founding a company that could "power the West to its obvious innate superiority."
At the same time, he has presented Palantir as a force for peace. "We see ourselves as the pioneers of a genuine and viable antiwar movement," he wrote in his shareholder letter. It is his company's association with a longstanding customer, the controversial US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), that has drawn the most criticism.
In Minnesota earlier this year, federal immigration officers shot and killed two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in incidents captured on video. It has detained US citizens, and critics argue it has shown scant regard for due process. Karp denied that Palantir's association with ICE should reflect badly on the company.
He told CNBC: "If you are critical of ICE, you should be out there protesting for more Palantir. Our product, actually, in its core, requires people to conform with Fourth Amendment data protection." In the Politico interview, Karp said he was "really happy to hear" President Trump, a driving force behind ICE's expansion, acknowledge after the midterm elections that ICE deportations have been too tough.
"And I'm glad he's saying in public now what I've been saying in private," Karp told the news outlet. Karp has no shortage of public opinions on goose-stepping or innate Western superiority. Why, then, reserve his concerns about deportations for private conversations?
A public intervention from a Trump donor and ICE supplier might have carried some weight. Maybe he doesn't care so long as people are still writing about Alex Karp. But anyone who cares about more than that might feel the need to take a hot shower and scrub off the associated trauma.
Originally published at theregister.com
