Alex Karp calls Palantir’s products “essentially progressive”

Palantir CEO Alex Karp wants Washington to know he has always been on the left. A week after Democrats swept the House and the Senate in the US midterms, the billionaire told Politico’s Playbook that he has “been a Democrat my whole life. ” He also said his company’s software, the same technology Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) relies on for Donald Trump’s deportation drive, is “essentially progressive.” “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 said in the interview at Palantir’s Manhattan office. Politico counted him using the word “progressive” eight times. He said Democrats had “absolutely” corrected course in 2026, enough to win back his support for the 2028 presidential race. The timing has raised eyebrows. Karp put roughly $2 million into largely Republican causes during the first two years of Trump’s second term. That includes $1 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. and another $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. Palantir is also among the donors paying for Trump’s new White House ballroom.

Alex Karp says his political donations were always balanced

Karp rejects the idea that he picked a side. “My giving is equal Democrat, Republican,” he told Politico. “I’m very balanced, and everyone in the political arena knows it.” There is a Democratic paper trail. Federal Election Commission records show Karp gave $360,000 to the joint fundraising committee for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2023, and he endorsed Harris in 2024. In 2018, the Wall Street Journal referred to him as a “self-described socialist.” His recent record reads differently. Karp has called the Democratic Party “totally irresponsible,” described wokeness as a pagan religion and called Palantir the first company “to be completely anti-woke.” Meanwhile, Palantir became one of the Trump administration’s favourite contractors, with its tools helping ICE target people for removal. The company first started working with ICE under Barack Obama.

Why Palantir’s CEO is warming up to Democrats after the midterms

Karp also welcomed Trump’s recent admission on 60 Minutes that the immigration crackdown may have gone too far. “I’m glad he’s saying in public now what I’ve been saying in private,” he said.

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He called the Republican losses a “referendum” on “economic justice.” He would back a Democrat in 2028, he said, as long as the candidate is not a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, the group that backed New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani. The new Congress is the real backdrop. Democrats take control of both chambers on January 3, which gives their committees the power to call hearings and subpoena executives. Senator Ed Markey has warned tech bosses they will need to “plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing.” Palantir, with deep ties to the Pentagon and ICE, is widely expected to draw scrutiny. Palantir has a lot riding on this. It reported $2.3 billion in revenue in its latest quarter, up 96% from a year ago, and government contracts make up a big part of the business. Karp insists his message is not about the company. “I’m really not pitching Palantir. I’m actually pitching, ‘What are you gonna do about economic justice in this country?’” he said.

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