When Palantir chief executive Alex Karp sat down with Politico this week, he reportedly used the word “progressive” eight times to describe both his political philosophy and his company .
“I’ve been a Democrat my whole life,” Karp told Politico, which noted that he called the Democratic Party “ totally irresponsible ” in the distant time of October 2025. “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.”
This isn’t the first time Karp has called himself a progressive. In 2018, The New York Times reported that Karp described himself as such. In the same article, he claimed to have voted for Hillary Clinton.
Karp has also donated money to Democratic candidates. In 2023, for instance, he donated $360,000 to a joint fundraising committee for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The next year, he donated $1 million to MAGA, Inc.
Palantir has a share of supporters from the Democratic party. However, it’s not necessarily clear how the products of Palantir—a company that built the technology that underpins much of the Trump administration's brutal arrest and deportation campaign, sold tools to the US military that can use generative AI to help plan and execute drone strikes, and partnered with the Israeli military to assist in its devastating war on the Gaza strip, among other things—could reasonably be seen as progressive.
It’s instructive, then, to look at what else Karp has said in recent weeks, and how it lines up with his idea of what’s “progressive.”
In his most recent quarterly letter to Palantir shareholders, Karp actually doubled down on his basic premise. In it, he argued that Palantir employees are “the pioneers of a genuine and viable antiwar movement.”
“We are all, in no uncertain terms, living through what John Lewis Gaddis, the professor of naval and military history at Yale, presciently described decades ago as the long peace ,” Karp wrote, despite the fact that the US and Iran are currently engaged in direct warfare.
During Palantir’s corresponding earnings call on November 2, Karp was asked to clarify the statements in his letter.
“Our products are built to avoid war, meaning the adversary knows that they will have such pain inflicted upon them that in fact it's not worth going to war,” Karp said. He did not, however, address the relevant possibility that the US is the party that initiates war.
“I grew up as a lefty,” Karp continued. “I don't actually like war. I want to avoid war. I don't support wars.” But he said, “Sometimes they are necessary, and when they are necessary, America and its allies need the very, very, very best tools.”
Karp went on to say that Palantir has both a “moral imperative” and a “mission reason” for having the “somewhat crazy aspiration” of dominating its market. That mission, Karp said, is supporting the war fighter. Conveniently, it’s also very profitable.
“We are delighted that we can support the war fighter even more because we're making so much money,” Karp said.
Karp’s recent comments in Politico could also be seen through the lens of convenience. Democrats will have a majority in both chambers of Congress next year, and since about half of Palantir’s revenue comes from government work, it’s pragmatic to sow goodwill. Palantir has seen continued success, after all, across Democratic and Republican administrations.
However, Karp doesn’t care about cultivating favor with everybody. He pointedly excludes anyone who has criticized Palantir in what he calls “ridiculously stupid and malicious, incredibly hard to understand attacks.” (Karp didn’t name examples, although many critiques of Palantir have come from the American left.)
“What motivates me is helping to make sure we are fighting for you,” Karp said, addressing Palantir investors, “and quite frankly, making sure that the people that made fun of you and made fun of us are suffering.”
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