For a while, some major tech companies seemed to be moving closer to the political right. They eased back on content moderation, donated to President Trump’s White House ballroom project and resisted efforts to remove users from their platforms. Now Palantir appears to be shifting in the other direction after the midterm elections.
In a recent interview, Palantir CEO and co-founder Alex Karp spoke about his progressive background and described the company as progressive, too.
“I’ve been a Democrat my whole life,” Karp said. “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.”
He also criticized President Trump’s approach to mass deportations, which the administration says are intended to address illegal immigration.
Karp argued that Democrats have an advantage when discussing economic fairness. “For many Republicans there’s an orthodoxy that capitalism solves all problems,” he said. “Maybe that was once true. I never thought it was true. It’s definitely not true now.” He added that people in the political center and center-left understand this.
Those comments may surprise people who have watched Karp work with the Trump administration. During Trump’s first term, Palantir partnered with federal health agencies to analyze COVID-19 data. Before Trump began his second term, Karp donated $1 million to MAGA Inc. Palantir later provided services to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including developing a system intended to help track immigration enforcement and self-deportations. The company also donated $300 million to Trump’s ballroom project.
So what changed? It’s possible Karp’s support for Trump was the exception rather than the rule. Before Trump’s re-election, he reportedly supported Joe Biden and Kamala Harris during the 2024 campaign. Earlier, he described himself as a “self-described socialist,” a label that seems consistent with his criticism of capitalism in the recent interview.
Karp also criticized Trump during his 2015 presidential campaign. In a video from that period, he called the wealth behind Trump’s real estate empire “fictitious” and condemned Trump’s position on deportations. “I respect nothing about the dude,” he said.
At first glance, Karp may have been cooperating with the Trump administration because it was in power. Or perhaps tech companies are responding to the changing political climate, hoping to avoid regulation, lawsuits and other consequences by adjusting their public positions.
Democrats have pledged tougher rules for artificial intelligence, including possible bans on some models. Major tech companies are also facing an investigation led by Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut into donations to Trump’s ballroom project.
When Trump began his second term, several prominent tech leaders—including then-Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg—attended his inauguration. Around that time, some also criticized online censorship and acknowledged that platforms had suppressed stories, including coverage of the Hunter Biden laptop.
Now that Democrats have won the midterms, some in the tech industry may be shifting their approach again. The companies, in other words, often seem to adapt to whoever holds power.
Karp’s apparent return to his Democratic roots may not win him much support from either side. Conservatives could turn against him for criticizing Trump, while liberals may remain wary because of Palantir’s work with the administration. It’s not clear that the shift will leave him with many new allies.
