Apple’s next chapter, SpaceX and Cursor make a deal, and Palantir’s controversial statement

Brian Barrett: As far as things going, that deal won’t happen until later this year. It was recently reported that this part makes the most sense to me that SpaceX is gearing up for an IPO. They’re getting close to that, and they didn’t want to close this deal because it would delay the IPO. So there’s kind of an arrangement of things, like, “We need to get the word out before we try to close a $60 billion deal,” which again, like everything about these things, I wouldn’t say cursed, is likely to go off the rails at some point.

Zoe Schiffer: Yes. The reporter in me is really excited for the IPO year because I feel like this is a time when companies really need to come together. They need their internal processes and processes to be really cohesive. You’re going to announce it, there’s going to be a lot of scrutiny. There will be a lot of contributors. SpaceX is trying to do just that. Anthropic tries to do this. OpenAI is trying to do just that. I think it’s going to be a wild time, and things are going to get weird along the way.

Brian Barrett: Have either of you read Palantir CEO Alex Karp’s book Technological Republic Or rather, how many times have you read it?

Zoe Schiffer: right. This is the practical question.

Leah Weiger: I have to admit I haven’t read it, but I’ve read a lot about it. Unfortunately, I feel like I’ve read it at this point.

Brian Barrett: Well, everyone should now follow Palantir on X, and if you don’t, that’s okay. Just to be clear, this is not an endorsement. But this week, Palantir on They prefaced it with: “Because we ask so much, this is the Techno Republic in a nutshell.” It goes on to recount Karp’s utopian vision of technology and state as one. There are some points here, some salient points, I quote, “Silicon Valley’s engineering elite have a positive commitment to participate in the defense of the nation.” He also quoted, “No other country in the history of the world has promoted progressive values ​​more than this country.” There’s another one I want to talk about.

Leah Weiger: Draft? You have to talk about the draft

Brian Barrett: A draft is a good idea. I was going to say, “Some cultures have produced vital advances, others remain dysfunctional and reactionary.”

Leah Weiger: Yes. It’s hard not to read every point in this statement out loud. In saying that strong reaction ensued, though we kind of miss the big reaction, which is that critics online called this fascist. They were like, “You’re just giving us point by point about Palantir’s opposition to fascism basically.” We spend a lot of time talking about this company. We don’t talk much about her origins and how she views herself in the whole American dream or what that means. Founded after September 11. This was supposed to happen after this great national consensus, which considers fighting terrorism abroad to be the ideal solution. The company was founded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel. The data collection analysis tool powers everything from businesses to the US military’s targeting systems, and more recently, that means specifically immigrant targeting systems. So the way CEO Alex Karp talks about this company as an extended arm of the US government is not necessarily new. I think it comes down to this very specific point for critics, and critics internally as well, who say, “Wait a minute, this is not the country I actually signed up for.” Especially this year, with ICE and DHS monitoring and support for military operations in Iran, the company has doubled down on all of these positions. We actually have a story coming tomorrow from politics reporter McKenna Kelly about how it hasn’t been well received internally either. Then you have Alex Karp who doesn’t really seem to care, and he’s like, “No, no, no, we’re on the right track. We’re going to keep moving forward here.”