An events company whose associates helped stage the January 6, 2021, rally has signed contracts worth over $26 million with the United States government, according to documents reviewed by WIRED. Since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Event Strategies, a Virginia-based firm with deep ties to Trumpworld, has negotiated a contract with the General Services Administration that could be worth up to $100 million over the next 15 years.
It’s a remarkable rise for the 26-year-old firm, which until the recent windfall had received what appeared to be around $50,000 in government contracts over the past decade. It also appears that Event Strategies won these new contracts with very little competition. According to HigherGov, a tool used by contractors to track federal and state contracts, Event Strategies was the only company to bid on eight of the 11 contracts tracked by the site.
Many of the recent contracts are related to America 250, an 18-month-long commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
In early 2025, the US Semiquincentennial Commission, a bipartisan group established in 2016 to coordinate the celebrations, cut ties with Precision Strategies, an event planning group founded by Obama-era staffers. Soon after, the commission hired Event Strategies to replace them.
Contracts reviewed by WIRED in the System for Award Management database show that by September 2025, the company had signed its first contract related to the celebrations: a $5 million contract for work related to Titans of the Sea, an event designed to celebrate the Navy’s 250th anniversary. Weeks later, the company signed another contract for a $2.1 million deal for “AMERICA 250 – EVENTS.”
More recently, Event Strategies signed a contract valued at $333,084 with the General Services Administration at the beginning of February for “FREEDOM 250 DESIGN AND CONTENT SUPPORT SERVICES.” Freedom 250 is, according to the White House, a “public-private partnership” related to America 250.
The tenor of the America 250 celebrations have already proven controversial. Over the last few months, large banners ostensibly tied to the project were seen hanging from federal buildings all over Washington, DC. One banner, which was hung outside the Department of Justice, features the tagline: “Make America Safe Again” alongside a massive image of Trump’s face. The DOJ said the banner was hung to “celebrate 250 years of our great country.” To many, the tagline was an indication that the Justice Department has failed to maintain its independence during Trump’s second term. California governor Gavin Newsom said the banner was “beyond parody,” writing on Facebook: “How many dictatorship-style monuments, building name changes, and fake awards do Americans have to endure?”
In early March, banners featuring Charlie Kirk, Booker T. Washington, and Catharine Beecher were hung outside the Department of Education near Capitol Hill, alongside two large banners featuring the America 250 logo. Critics were alarmed to see Kirk’s likeness on the banner, as the deceased Turning Point USA cofounder and conservative commentator had previously called to “abolish” the Department of Education and was known for numerous racist and homophobic comments.
WIRED could not confirm whether these specific banners, or the banners hanging at the DOJ, were designed and implemented by Event Strategies. The DOJ and the Education Department did not respond to a request for comment about the company responsible for the banners.
“There is a proper federal competitive bidding process, and the White House expects all agencies to comply with it,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle tells WIRED. When asked for further comment about Event Strategies, Ingle referred WIRED to the General Service Administration. GSA did not respond to a request for comment.
The Contracts
When Trump lost the 2020 election, Event Strategies was on hand: Cofounder Tim Unes was listed as a stage manager for the January 6 rally at the Ellipse in 2021, according to the paperwork submitted to secure a permit. Megan Powers Small, who is now the chief of staff at Event Strategies, was tagged on rally permit paperwork as the event’s “Operations Manager for Scheduling and Guidance.” Justin Caporale was listed as a project manager of the event. Though Caporale was later described as the Event Strategies CEO and the company’s managing partner, he had previously worked as director of operations for Melania Trump in 2018 and on the Trump campaign in 2020.
While out of office, Trump continued working with Event Strategies. The company produced many of Trump’s campaign rallies during the 2024 presidential campaign; filings from that year show Event Strategies received $31 million from the Trump 47 Committee PAC over a seven-month period. Caporale’s Instagram account also shows him associating with Trump and administration officials, including at some of those same rallies.
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![Palantir Debuts Chic Chore Coat So the World Knows You’re One of the Baddies
This week, Palantir announced the upcoming release of a new chore coat branded with the company’s logo. The company has been releasing gear since 2024, and this new coat is a great way to tell everyone what you stand for. Specifically, it communicates to everyone in your immediate vicinity that you support ICE and aren’t a big fan of civil liberties. Palantir’s head of strategic engagement Eliano A. Younes tweeted the chore coat this week, which he says will be released on April 30. the lightweight Palantir chore coat [04.30.2026 • 0930 AM EST] pic.twitter.com/9K5fmu3bSs — Eliano A Younes (@eliano) April 21, 2026 X users responded to Younes with the kind of comments that anyone might expect about Palantir, a company aligned with President Donald Trump and the most dystopian elements of our modern surveillance society.
“could it be operated remotely ? detonated? listening ? what’s the features list,” one user joked, while another asked if it had “built in surveillance trackers?” But Younes seemed genuinely offended by the most obvious jokes any reasonable person might be expected to make of Palantir, a defense contractor that prides itself in helping surveil and kill people around the world. He responded with “here for the shitposting but I need to see better from you. this is unoriginal and not funny,” and “not even remotely funny. try harder.”
Even Palantir employees seem to be waking up to what the company stands for, according to a recent report from Wired. When the U.S. launched a missile attack against an elementary school in Iran on Feb. 28 that killed about 175 people, mostly children, the employees reportedly started to question whether Palantir’s Maven technology had been used. Employees are also worried about the company’s lucrative contracts with ICE, an organization that has been terrorizing American streets in particularly heinous ways.
But Palantir seems intent on pushing out gear that allows like-minded people to wrap themselves in a horrifying, anti-American brand. “We want millions of people wearing Palantir merch around the world,” recently Younes told GQ. Younes says he wants Palantir to be a lifestyle brand, telling GQ, “There are people out there wearing Palantir merchandise to signal their alignment with our mission, and that’s exactly what a lifestyle brand is.” That lifestyle, of course, isn’t something that decent people would be proud of. Palantir recently promoted a Reader’s Digest-style version of the book The Technological Republic, co-authored by CEO Alex Karp, in a tweet. The book advocates for reinstatement of the draft, says the “postwar neutering” of Germany and Japan following the atrocities of World War II was an overcorrection, and criticizes the concept of pluralism.
It’s not just the chore coat. The company also sell sweatshirts, t-shirts, and hats, among other items. One t-shirt Palantir sold in 2025 featured an image of Karp along with the word “Dominate.” That item is no longer available for purchase. Younes also suggested to GQ that its CEO was important for Palantir as a fashion brand: “A lot of the store’s designs are downstream of Dr. Karp and our chief technology officer Shyam Sankar’s personal style.” Younes wouldn’t say how many units the company is selling, but did claim, “store sales have increased 64% year-over-year and everything we’ve made has sold out, sometimes in minutes.”
GQ asked about Palantir’s ICE contracts and the other “controversial” things it’s engaged in with the U.S. military, but Younes insisted the company is “not political,” whatever that’s supposed to mean. As the Wall Street Journal recently pointed out, Palantir is leaning hard into selling the “tech-boss-as-hero ethos,” that’s frankly pretty common in Silicon Valley these days. But even some fans of the company think the merchandising effort is embarrassing.
“Unpopular opinion: all these merch posts are so ‘fan boy’ and extra cringe,” one user wrote in the Palantir subreddit about Karp’s Dominate shirt. “Like the stock or don’t, believe in the company or don’t,…. But the incessant merch posts are weak sauce.” Others are fully bought in, with one user writing, “Definitely a collectors item for me, could be worth something one day.” Younes told GQ that Palantir is working on a tennis collection and something for the America 250 celebrations this summer. So if you’re a fan of techno-fascism, keep your eyes peeled. Whatever merch they’ve got planned for the rest of the year could be sold out in no time. #Palantir #Debuts #Chic #Chore #Coat #World #Youre #BaddiesPalantir](https://i1.wp.com/gizmodo.com/app/uploads/2026/04/palatnir-chore-coats-1280x853.jpg?ssl=1 "Palantir Debuts Chic Chore Coat So the World Knows You’re One of the Baddies
This week, Palantir announced the upcoming release of a new chore coat branded with the company’s logo. The company has been releasing gear since 2024, and this new coat is a great way to tell everyone what you stand for. Specifically, it communicates to everyone in your immediate vicinity that you support ICE and aren’t a big fan of civil liberties. Palantir’s head of strategic engagement Eliano A. Younes tweeted the chore coat this week, which he says will be released on April 30. the lightweight Palantir chore coat [04.30.2026 • 0930 AM EST] pic.twitter.com/9K5fmu3bSs — Eliano A Younes (@eliano) April 21, 2026 X users responded to Younes with the kind of comments that anyone might expect about Palantir, a company aligned with President Donald Trump and the most dystopian elements of our modern surveillance society.
“could it be operated remotely ? detonated? listening ? what’s the features list,” one user joked, while another asked if it had “built in surveillance trackers?” But Younes seemed genuinely offended by the most obvious jokes any reasonable person might be expected to make of Palantir, a defense contractor that prides itself in helping surveil and kill people around the world. He responded with “here for the shitposting but I need to see better from you. this is unoriginal and not funny,” and “not even remotely funny. try harder.”
Even Palantir employees seem to be waking up to what the company stands for, according to a recent report from Wired. When the U.S. launched a missile attack against an elementary school in Iran on Feb. 28 that killed about 175 people, mostly children, the employees reportedly started to question whether Palantir’s Maven technology had been used. Employees are also worried about the company’s lucrative contracts with ICE, an organization that has been terrorizing American streets in particularly heinous ways.
But Palantir seems intent on pushing out gear that allows like-minded people to wrap themselves in a horrifying, anti-American brand. “We want millions of people wearing Palantir merch around the world,” recently Younes told GQ. Younes says he wants Palantir to be a lifestyle brand, telling GQ, “There are people out there wearing Palantir merchandise to signal their alignment with our mission, and that’s exactly what a lifestyle brand is.” That lifestyle, of course, isn’t something that decent people would be proud of. Palantir recently promoted a Reader’s Digest-style version of the book The Technological Republic, co-authored by CEO Alex Karp, in a tweet. The book advocates for reinstatement of the draft, says the “postwar neutering” of Germany and Japan following the atrocities of World War II was an overcorrection, and criticizes the concept of pluralism.
It’s not just the chore coat. The company also sell sweatshirts, t-shirts, and hats, among other items. One t-shirt Palantir sold in 2025 featured an image of Karp along with the word “Dominate.” That item is no longer available for purchase. Younes also suggested to GQ that its CEO was important for Palantir as a fashion brand: “A lot of the store’s designs are downstream of Dr. Karp and our chief technology officer Shyam Sankar’s personal style.” Younes wouldn’t say how many units the company is selling, but did claim, “store sales have increased 64% year-over-year and everything we’ve made has sold out, sometimes in minutes.”
GQ asked about Palantir’s ICE contracts and the other “controversial” things it’s engaged in with the U.S. military, but Younes insisted the company is “not political,” whatever that’s supposed to mean. As the Wall Street Journal recently pointed out, Palantir is leaning hard into selling the “tech-boss-as-hero ethos,” that’s frankly pretty common in Silicon Valley these days. But even some fans of the company think the merchandising effort is embarrassing.
“Unpopular opinion: all these merch posts are so ‘fan boy’ and extra cringe,” one user wrote in the Palantir subreddit about Karp’s Dominate shirt. “Like the stock or don’t, believe in the company or don’t,…. But the incessant merch posts are weak sauce.” Others are fully bought in, with one user writing, “Definitely a collectors item for me, could be worth something one day.” Younes told GQ that Palantir is working on a tennis collection and something for the America 250 celebrations this summer. So if you’re a fan of techno-fascism, keep your eyes peeled. Whatever merch they’ve got planned for the rest of the year could be sold out in no time. #Palantir #Debuts #Chic #Chore #Coat #World #Youre #BaddiesPalantir")
![Palantir Debuts Chic Chore Coat So the World Knows You’re One of the Baddies
This week, Palantir announced the upcoming release of a new chore coat branded with the company’s logo. The company has been releasing gear since 2024, and this new coat is a great way to tell everyone what you stand for. Specifically, it communicates to everyone in your immediate vicinity that you support ICE and aren’t a big fan of civil liberties. Palantir’s head of strategic engagement Eliano A. Younes tweeted the chore coat this week, which he says will be released on April 30. the lightweight Palantir chore coat [04.30.2026 • 0930 AM EST] pic.twitter.com/9K5fmu3bSs — Eliano A Younes (@eliano) April 21, 2026 X users responded to Younes with the kind of comments that anyone might expect about Palantir, a company aligned with President Donald Trump and the most dystopian elements of our modern surveillance society.
“could it be operated remotely ? detonated? listening ? what’s the features list,” one user joked, while another asked if it had “built in surveillance trackers?” But Younes seemed genuinely offended by the most obvious jokes any reasonable person might be expected to make of Palantir, a defense contractor that prides itself in helping surveil and kill people around the world. He responded with “here for the shitposting but I need to see better from you. this is unoriginal and not funny,” and “not even remotely funny. try harder.”
Even Palantir employees seem to be waking up to what the company stands for, according to a recent report from Wired. When the U.S. launched a missile attack against an elementary school in Iran on Feb. 28 that killed about 175 people, mostly children, the employees reportedly started to question whether Palantir’s Maven technology had been used. Employees are also worried about the company’s lucrative contracts with ICE, an organization that has been terrorizing American streets in particularly heinous ways.
But Palantir seems intent on pushing out gear that allows like-minded people to wrap themselves in a horrifying, anti-American brand. “We want millions of people wearing Palantir merch around the world,” recently Younes told GQ. Younes says he wants Palantir to be a lifestyle brand, telling GQ, “There are people out there wearing Palantir merchandise to signal their alignment with our mission, and that’s exactly what a lifestyle brand is.” That lifestyle, of course, isn’t something that decent people would be proud of. Palantir recently promoted a Reader’s Digest-style version of the book The Technological Republic, co-authored by CEO Alex Karp, in a tweet. The book advocates for reinstatement of the draft, says the “postwar neutering” of Germany and Japan following the atrocities of World War II was an overcorrection, and criticizes the concept of pluralism.
It’s not just the chore coat. The company also sell sweatshirts, t-shirts, and hats, among other items. One t-shirt Palantir sold in 2025 featured an image of Karp along with the word “Dominate.” That item is no longer available for purchase. Younes also suggested to GQ that its CEO was important for Palantir as a fashion brand: “A lot of the store’s designs are downstream of Dr. Karp and our chief technology officer Shyam Sankar’s personal style.” Younes wouldn’t say how many units the company is selling, but did claim, “store sales have increased 64% year-over-year and everything we’ve made has sold out, sometimes in minutes.”
GQ asked about Palantir’s ICE contracts and the other “controversial” things it’s engaged in with the U.S. military, but Younes insisted the company is “not political,” whatever that’s supposed to mean. As the Wall Street Journal recently pointed out, Palantir is leaning hard into selling the “tech-boss-as-hero ethos,” that’s frankly pretty common in Silicon Valley these days. But even some fans of the company think the merchandising effort is embarrassing.
“Unpopular opinion: all these merch posts are so ‘fan boy’ and extra cringe,” one user wrote in the Palantir subreddit about Karp’s Dominate shirt. “Like the stock or don’t, believe in the company or don’t,…. But the incessant merch posts are weak sauce.” Others are fully bought in, with one user writing, “Definitely a collectors item for me, could be worth something one day.” Younes told GQ that Palantir is working on a tennis collection and something for the America 250 celebrations this summer. So if you’re a fan of techno-fascism, keep your eyes peeled. Whatever merch they’ve got planned for the rest of the year could be sold out in no time. #Palantir #Debuts #Chic #Chore #Coat #World #Youre #BaddiesPalantir](https://gizmodo.com/app/uploads/2026/04/palatnir-chore-coats-1280x853.jpg "Palantir Debuts Chic Chore Coat So the World Knows You’re One of the Baddies
This week, Palantir announced the upcoming release of a new chore coat branded with the company’s logo. The company has been releasing gear since 2024, and this new coat is a great way to tell everyone what you stand for. Specifically, it communicates to everyone in your immediate vicinity that you support ICE and aren’t a big fan of civil liberties. Palantir’s head of strategic engagement Eliano A. Younes tweeted the chore coat this week, which he says will be released on April 30. the lightweight Palantir chore coat [04.30.2026 • 0930 AM EST] pic.twitter.com/9K5fmu3bSs — Eliano A Younes (@eliano) April 21, 2026 X users responded to Younes with the kind of comments that anyone might expect about Palantir, a company aligned with President Donald Trump and the most dystopian elements of our modern surveillance society.
“could it be operated remotely ? detonated? listening ? what’s the features list,” one user joked, while another asked if it had “built in surveillance trackers?” But Younes seemed genuinely offended by the most obvious jokes any reasonable person might be expected to make of Palantir, a defense contractor that prides itself in helping surveil and kill people around the world. He responded with “here for the shitposting but I need to see better from you. this is unoriginal and not funny,” and “not even remotely funny. try harder.”
Even Palantir employees seem to be waking up to what the company stands for, according to a recent report from Wired. When the U.S. launched a missile attack against an elementary school in Iran on Feb. 28 that killed about 175 people, mostly children, the employees reportedly started to question whether Palantir’s Maven technology had been used. Employees are also worried about the company’s lucrative contracts with ICE, an organization that has been terrorizing American streets in particularly heinous ways.
But Palantir seems intent on pushing out gear that allows like-minded people to wrap themselves in a horrifying, anti-American brand. “We want millions of people wearing Palantir merch around the world,” recently Younes told GQ. Younes says he wants Palantir to be a lifestyle brand, telling GQ, “There are people out there wearing Palantir merchandise to signal their alignment with our mission, and that’s exactly what a lifestyle brand is.” That lifestyle, of course, isn’t something that decent people would be proud of. Palantir recently promoted a Reader’s Digest-style version of the book The Technological Republic, co-authored by CEO Alex Karp, in a tweet. The book advocates for reinstatement of the draft, says the “postwar neutering” of Germany and Japan following the atrocities of World War II was an overcorrection, and criticizes the concept of pluralism.
It’s not just the chore coat. The company also sell sweatshirts, t-shirts, and hats, among other items. One t-shirt Palantir sold in 2025 featured an image of Karp along with the word “Dominate.” That item is no longer available for purchase. Younes also suggested to GQ that its CEO was important for Palantir as a fashion brand: “A lot of the store’s designs are downstream of Dr. Karp and our chief technology officer Shyam Sankar’s personal style.” Younes wouldn’t say how many units the company is selling, but did claim, “store sales have increased 64% year-over-year and everything we’ve made has sold out, sometimes in minutes.”
GQ asked about Palantir’s ICE contracts and the other “controversial” things it’s engaged in with the U.S. military, but Younes insisted the company is “not political,” whatever that’s supposed to mean. As the Wall Street Journal recently pointed out, Palantir is leaning hard into selling the “tech-boss-as-hero ethos,” that’s frankly pretty common in Silicon Valley these days. But even some fans of the company think the merchandising effort is embarrassing.
“Unpopular opinion: all these merch posts are so ‘fan boy’ and extra cringe,” one user wrote in the Palantir subreddit about Karp’s Dominate shirt. “Like the stock or don’t, believe in the company or don’t,…. But the incessant merch posts are weak sauce.” Others are fully bought in, with one user writing, “Definitely a collectors item for me, could be worth something one day.” Younes told GQ that Palantir is working on a tennis collection and something for the America 250 celebrations this summer. So if you’re a fan of techno-fascism, keep your eyes peeled. Whatever merch they’ve got planned for the rest of the year could be sold out in no time. #Palantir #Debuts #Chic #Chore #Coat #World #Youre #BaddiesPalantir")
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