When Palantir CEO Alex Karp took the stage at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit and told uncomfortable truths about the rot at the top of our institutions, a lot of people in that room finally heard something most of the country already knows. Karp didn’t come to coddle the attendees; he came to call out the lies and the hollow moralizing that passes for leadership in big business and media today.
Karp even shrugged off the charge of being an “arrogant prick,” arguing that leaders who are right often need to act like it, and that the pampered elite have lost the stomach for hard decisions. He openly embraced a merit-based, anti-woke culture at Palantir and said the company doesn’t care if you believe its ethics so long as it delivers results—language that made many in the coastal elites visibly uncomfortable.
The CEO’s pivot from establishment politics to blunt defense of law-and-order policies—he voiced support for Trump-era immigration enforcement and criticized the left’s direction—was the real scandal for the Summit faithful. Karp made clear that he sees the Democratic Party as moving away from issues that resonate with ordinary Americans, and he’s willing to say so even under the bright lights.
Conservative commentators like Dave Rubin weren’t shy about amplifying Karp’s message; Rubin shared a DM clip of the DealBook exchange and turned the viral moment into proof that the mainstream narrative is collapsing. The clip spread quickly on conservative platforms, and for good reason: a tech titan in front of Andrew Ross Sorkin openly admitting what the rest of America already feels is a rare and welcome thing.
Karp also pointed to a painful truth the left prefers to ignore—when institutions make bad decisions, it’s the poor and the working class who suffer the consequences, not the credentialed insiders who get bonuses and bailout speak. That line landed hard because it exposed the moral emptiness of performative virtue: soundbites for elites, real harm for everyone else.
Watching the DealBook host and the ballroom gasp at plain facts was instructive: the media and political class would rather be offended than corrected. If Americans are going to take back their country, we need more leaders who will stand up, speak plainly, and refuse to bow to the parade of moral posturing that has hollowed out our institutions.
This is a moment for patriots to stop applauding credentialism and start rewarding results. Support companies that prioritize merit, back leaders who defend law and order, and don’t be intimidated by the gasps of a media class that has lost touch with the people who actually build this country. The rest of us are tired of elites who lecture while ordinary Americans pay the price.
