Palmer Luckey—Endorsed Trump's threat to crack down on defense industry, saying 'it's good to scare people sometimes'
In January 2026, Palmer Luckey publicly supported President Trump's plan to limit pay for defense contractor leaders and crack down on the defense industry, telling Bloomberg TV 'I think it's even good maybe to scare people sometimes.' He revealed he pays himself only $100,000 per year at Anduril. While noting some changes 'might not necessarily help the defense space,' he stood by Trump's policies despite the president's rebuke of defense companies and their CEOs.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Military & Defense Contracts | +toward | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.286 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
Fortune reported Luckey embraced Trump's defense industry crackdown threats
Fortune reported Luckey stood by Trump's policies despite the president's rebuke of defense companies, saying 'I think it's even good maybe to scare people sometimes.' He also revealed he pays himself $100,000 a year and supports limiting defense contractor executive pay.