Is MAGA Turning on Trump's Buddy Palantir?

Gizmodo

2 days ago

Creepy defense contractor Palantir has a new mission: convincing Americans that it's not actually creepy.
The company was been put on the defensive this week after the New York Times published a story detailing its role in the Trump administration's controversial effort to centralize data on Americans. Earlier this year, the White House made it known that—as part of its DOGE initiative—it planned to eliminate 'information silos' throughout the government. While it was a little unclear what the White House meant at the time, concerns have since spread that the administration is effectively building a new, comprehensive database on Americans using information culled from agencies across the government.
The Times' new report notes that Palantir's software is being used at more and more agencies, and that the company is playing a central role in the administration's effort to de-silo federal data. Critics fear that the expanded use of Palantir's data-handling software could pave the way for the creation of 'detailed portraits' on Americans—a kind of Stasi-type surveillance profile that would allow Trump to target and punish his critics. DOGE reportedly selected Palantir for the data effort—a point that's worth noting since the former head of DOGE, Elon Musk, is a longtime friend of Palantir's founder, Peter Thiel, as the two were PayPal mafia members.
Palantir has made a lot of money since Trump took office (both in stock value and through government contracts), and its software has become central to some of the Trump administration's most pivotal initiatives. In April, 404 Media reported on Palantir's work to support the government's aggressive deportation efforts aimed at illegal immigrants.
Yet as Palantir's star has risen, so, too, has public scrutiny of its work. The New York Times report on Palantir's data efforts took off online this week, with rumors circulating that the company was helping to build a 'surveillance database' on Americans. Indeed, since the newspaper's report, the defense contractor has come under attack by MAGA types, who seem perturbed that Trump, who campaigned on promises to 'destroy' the deep state, seems to be in bed with a company that is the very face of it.
The outrage has been helped along by several prominent MAGA voices, most notably self-admitted white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Fuentes recently attacked Palantir on his podcast, claiming that it was 'created so the government can legally violate our constitutional rights.' Once a Trump supporter, Fuentes has been increasingly critical of the new administration's policies over the last few months. In his diatribe against the company, Fuentes accurately noted that Palantir was created with money from the CIA. 'Trump's promotion of Palantir is the ultimate betrayal of his own people,' Fuentes tweeted. 'Seriously, if Palantir isn't the deep state, then what is?'
Meanwhile, Joe Lonsdale, one of Palantir's co-founders, got into a fight with 'Retard Finder,' a rightwing X account that identifies people it has deemed 'retarded,' typically Democratic politicians or leftist activists. On Tuesday, the account wrote: 'The Palantir database idea is retarded.' In response, Lonsdale quote tweeted Retard Finder and sought to repel its attack. 'Palantir's not a 'database'; it's a platform created by 1000s of the most talented and patriotic Americans to partner with our DoD to stop attacks and defeat bad guys, while protecting liberty & privacy.' He added: 'In a sad turn of events, the retard account itself is, in fact, retarded.'
On Tuesday, Palantir published a statement on X, claiming that the newspaper's reporting was inaccurate. 'The recently published article by the New York Times is blatantly untrue,' the account wrote. 'Palantir never collects data to unlawfully surveil Americans, and our Foundry platform employs granular security protections. If the facts were on its side, the New York Times would not have needed to twist the truth.' However, Palantir's statement notably misconstrues the Times reporting: nowhere in the report does the newspaper claim that the company is helping to 'unlawfully surveil' Americans.
The MAGA community has increasingly found itself at odds with the Trump administration, as the new government, which campaigned on promises that it would smash the status quo, has swiftly betrayed many of those promises. Most notably, Trump voters have increasingly expressed discontent over the government's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which, during the campaign, Trump promised to release. In recent weeks, as right-wing influencer-turned-FBI stooge Dan Bongino has definitively declared that Epstein actually did kill himself, MAGA types have swiftly lost their minds.
Gizmodo reached out to the Trump administration for comment. In a statement to Newsweek, spokesperson Taylor Rogers said: 'President Trump signed an executive order to eliminate information silos and streamline data collection across all agencies to increase government efficiency and save hard-earned taxpayer dollars.' Palantir did not respond to Gizmodo's request for comment.