Nathalie Kitroeff

From The New York Times, I'm Nathalie Kitrowef.

This is The Daily.

At the heart of many of President Trump's most controversial policies, there's been one company, Palantir.

According to Palantir's CEO, the company exists to defend Western ideals.

Palantir is enabling the administration's illiberal tactics.

Today, Times contributor Michael Steinberger on how Palantir's CEO, who's described himself as a lifelong Democrat, became a champion of President Trump, how his political transformation shaped one of the most secretive companies in the world, and the impact that transformation could have on American democracy.

It's Tuesday, December 16th.

Michael, welcome to the show.

You just published this book.

It's called The Philosopher in the Valley about Palantir and its CEO, Alex Karp.

And in the process of working on that book, you spent a lot of time with Karp and inside the company, this company that is playing a very unique role in the second Trump administration.

So I can't think of anyone better to ask.

What exactly does Palantir do?

So that example of the war in Ukraine obviously shows the value of this software.

But this is a company that also prompts a lot of concern, right?

Can you just explain that part?

Can you just go a little deeper on one of those examples?

Like, how has it been at the center of things?

And what is that path?

Amazing.