close video Palantir CEO Alex Karp: Campus protesters ‘make no sense’
Karp slams campus protesters saying they’re “praying to the altar of a new form of pagan religion” and says liberal progressives like him should see the superiority of Western values.
Billionaire Palantir CEO Alex Karp said this week that he is "not thrilled" with the direction the Democratic Party is taking, but he will still be "voting against Trump."
The remarks from Karp were featured in a Friday article by the Financial Times, which questioned whether Silicon Valley tech investors were shifting their support from President Biden to former President Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
"People who innovate are fleeing. It is an intellectual mistake that the progressive wing doesn’t engage," Karp said. "I personally am not thrilled by the direction [of the Democratic Party], but how far can they go before I reconsider? I am voting against Trump."
Highlighted by the outlet as a "major Biden donor," Karp appeared to share concerns that the Democratic Party's liberal agenda may be too much to bear for many Americans and Democrats in Silicon Valley.
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Though he is “not thrilled” with the direction the Democratic Party is taking, Palantir CEO Alex Karp says he will be “voting against Trump.” (Getty Images / Getty Images)
"Political correctness in the party is a huge problem, the Democrats can’t yet understand the cost of it," he added in his comments to the outlet.
The remarks from Karp come amid a growing number of calls from elected Democrats for Biden to withdraw from the 2024 race.
Karp has repeatedly spoken out against progressive activists in recent months, describing wokeness as the main threat to his tech company and America, overall earlier this year.
The outspoken executive made the statement during an earnings call in May, noting that his company, which specializes in making software for data collection, had seen strong growth in the latest period because it champions Western values while other companies and institutions have suffered for embracing progressive ideology.
"I think the central risk to Palantir and America and the world is a regressive way of thinking that is corrupting and corroding our institutions that calls itself ‘progressive,’ but actually — and is called ‘woke' — but is actually a form of a thin pagan religion," Karp said at the time.
"There are lots of questions about why we are so active in defending the values of the West, that our belief that the West is a superior way to live, and our ways of organizing around that are the reason why our products are transformative," he added.
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Alex Karp speaks during the AI Expo For National Competitiveness at Walter E. Washington Convention Center on May 7, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Palantir / Getty Images)
Karp continued, "The reason why we have the best people in the world; the reason why a Palantir degree, as it were, is much more valuable than an Ivy League degree."
He went on, stating that "the Ivy Leagues" have "embraced the thin and new woke religion, otherwise, viewed as an intellectual cause, but in fact, is a way of organizing things so that the greatest institutions of our time disappear and turn into discriminatory dysfunction."
Karp called Palantir a "counter-example" to companies that have embraced wokeness, adding, "I’m super proud of the results. We are going to continue to execute, especially in the U.S."
"That is a real danger to our society, and it is a real danger to Palantir if we allow — if we don’t discuss these things," he said, concluding his point.
Karp was quick to speak out against the anti-Israel agitators that have been active on college campuses across the country since the Oct. 7 attack against Israel by Hamas.
During a Reagan National Defense Forum panel discussion last December, Karp called out American companies for not speaking out in support of Israel following the attack. "As far as I can tell, there are only three companies that have been publicly pro-Israel on Oct. 7," he said, naming Palantir, Booz Allen and Anduril Industries.
Addressing business leaders who have dropped the ball on the subject, he urged, "We have to do better."
Students speak with law enforcement during a pro-Palestine protest at The University of Texas at Austin on April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images / Getty Images)
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That same month, Palantir announced via social media platform X that it was prioritizing hiring Jewish college students once they graduate.
"Students on campuses are terrified and have been instructed by administrators to hide their Judaism. We are launching an initiative for students who because of antisemitism fear for their safety on campus and need to seek refuge outside traditional establishments of higher education. They are welcome to join Palantir, and we are setting aside 180 positions for them immediately. More details to follow shortly," read the post.
Fox News Digital's Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
