"The Axios Show": Palantir CEO Karp says Democrats know "nothing Mamdani is saying can ever work"
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Palantir co-founder and CEO Alex Karp said on "The Axios Show" that Democrats privately tell him they doubt New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani can accomplish his ambitious agenda.
Why it matters: Karp is part of an influential group of tech billionaires who have broken with the Democratic Party and aligned themselves with President Trump.
What he's saying: "The percentage of Democrats who know that nothing Mamdani is saying can ever work is very high," Karp told Axios' Mike Allen. "If you talk to them in private, they'll be like: 'Yeah, that can never work.' "
- "We're in a world where you have to start speaking up if someone is saying something you know can never work," he said.
Zoom out: Karp, who once considered himself a progressive, listed complaints about Democrats when asked what the party could do to win him back.
- He had sharp words for liberal immigration policies here and around the globe: "The idea that somehow it's a God-given right of people of widely divergent cultures to come to our culture" goes against "actual, empirical experience, and none of your voters want it."
- "If you make this into some kind of bigotry, like, we have to take everyone or we're a bigot, they're going to vote for people who actually are bigoted — or not," he said.
Karp also bashed Democrats for not doing a better job of welcoming men into their party.
- "Democrats just completely neglect males. There is nothing wrong [with], and it's admirable to be, a somewhat- to high-testosterone male," he said.
- Young men shifted right in the 2024 presidential election, and Democrats have agonized for months about how to regain their trust.
- Tuesday's elections showed some signs that an economic message could help the party attract more men's votes. Democrat Abigail Spanberger was elected Virginia governor with 48% of men voting for her, according to exit polling. Four years earlier, Republican Glenn Youngkin was +12 points among men.
The other side: Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec told Axios: "Donald Trump and his billionaire allies would not have spent over $40 million opposing the Zohran Mamdani if they thought we were not going to deliver on our deeply popular affordability agenda."
- "The crushing cost-of-living crisis requires bold solutions, and that's exactly what Zohran will pursue relentlessly as mayor," she added.
Zoom out: The Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the subsequent anti-Israel protests "led [Karp] to decisively break with the Democrats," according to a new book about Karp, "The Philosopher in the Valley," by journalist Michael Steinberger.
- Karp told Axios that he still has "I hope, many" Democratic friends, and urged them to "grow a spine because a lot of these people actually agree with me in private."
