When a billionaire who helps build the digital nervous system of American policing starts fantasizing aloud about public hangings, you are not just watching another hot take—you are getting a preview of the kind of power some people think they deserve.
Story Snapshot
- Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale publicly called for hanging repeat violent offenders—and doing it in town-square style spectacle.
- He framed this as restoring “masculine leadership” and defending a tougher, Trump-aligned vision of law and order.
- His comments collide with American history, criminology research, and basic constitutional limits on punishment.
- The episode exposes how ultra-wealthy tech figures now try to shape not just software, but the moral code of the justice system.
When A Tech Billionaire Starts Talking About the Gallows
Joe Lonsdale did not bury the lede. On X, the Palantir co-founder told his followers that if he were in charge, repeat violent offenders would not just face a “three strikes” law; they would be “quickly” tried and hanged after three violent crimes, “and yes, we will do it in public to deter others.” He tied this fantasy of mass deterrent theater to what he calls “masculine leadership,” casting harsh, very visible punishment as proof of moral courage.
The remark came as he defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from critics who called Hegseth’s celebratory posts about sinking alleged “narco-boats” grotesque. Lonsdale’s response was not to moderate the tone, but to double down. He praised “killing bad guys” as part of the job, demanded more bragging, and argued that left-leaning “schoolmarm leaders” supposedly cause violence by refusing to project enough toughness. To him, televised executions and sinking boats on social media live feeds belong in the same deterrence toolbox.
From Kentucky’s Last Public Hanging to Silicon Valley’s Law-and-Order Dreams
America has seen what public execution looks like, and it did not resemble the clean moral clarity Lonsdale imagines. The last public hanging in the United States took place in Owensboro, Kentucky in 1936, when Rainey Bethea was executed before roughly 15,000 onlookers. Contemporary accounts describe a carnival atmosphere, a drunken volunteer hangman, and a spectacle so shameful it helped push states to move executions behind prison walls. That decision reflected a conservative instinct: the state’s gravest power should be solemn, not turned into blood sport.
Criminologists have spent decades testing the macho assumption that harsher, more theatrical punishments scare people straight. The consensus is blunt: the certainty of being caught does more to deter crime than the savagery of the sentence. Public hangings do not fix broken policing, corrupt prosecutors, or revolving-door plea bargains. They simply raise the emotional temperature while leaving the real work of safety—competent law enforcement, functioning courts, and stable communities—largely untouched. That is where genuine, adult leadership usually shows up.
Masculine Leadership or Performative Severity?
Lonsdale insists that “bold, virtuous men deter evil” by projecting unapologetic force, whether through military strikes or public executions. American conservatives who value order, responsibility, and limited government have long argued for clear consequences when someone chooses violence. But many also believe the state’s power to kill must be fenced in by due process, constitutional protections, and an aversion to spectacle. Making death a public show drifts away from justice and toward state-sponsored dominance displays that any big government could abuse.
Billionaire Palantir co-founder calls for return of public hangings to show ‘masculine leadership’ in America
This is the sickness we'll have to deal with if we don't get billionaires out of politics.#America #DODhttps://t.co/icqqbon6hJ
— L 💙 🏳️🌈 🌊 🟦 🇮🇱 🇺🇦 (@Lyn_Samuels) December 9, 2025
Public reaction on social media captured that discomfort. One critic summarized the unease: “Nothing to see here, just the founder of Trump’s favorite AI powered policing tech company fantasizing about publicly executing people.” Another replied, “Yeah man great idea u don’t sound like a stupid bloodthirsty loser at all.” These are not academic rebuttals, but they reflect a basic common sense: when a billionaire starts dreaming out loud about state killing as a kind of character-building exercise for the nation, something feels off, not strong.
When Policing Software Meets Execution Rhetoric
Lonsdale is not a random commentator; he helped build Palantir, a data-analytics firm deeply embedded in U.S. law enforcement and national security work. He has launched multiple companies, backed conservative think tanks, and moved in the same early PayPal orbit as Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. When someone with that pedigree discusses hanging “repeat violent criminals” on an accelerated timetable, it raises a hard question: if this is the moral framework, how might he want data, AI, and predictive policing to be used in service of it?
No legislation flows from one social media rant. But rhetoric from elite tech circles helps set expectations for what “tough on crime” should look like in the algorithmic era. A conservative, common-sense approach would demand the opposite of public gallows: rigorous evidence, strict safeguards, and humility about government error—especially when the same people supplying the tools to find suspects are calling for faster, harsher endings to their lives. Power needs restraint, not a cheering section for the noose.
Sources:
Billionaire Palantir Co-Founder Calls For Return Of Public Hangings To Show ‘Masculine Leadership’
