Billionaire Elon Musk said Saturday he is forming a third political party, after a dramatic falling out with Donald Trump, indicating he will make good on threats he made if the president’s domestic policy bill became law.
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Trump’s former “first buddy” said on his social media platform, X. “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
Musk, the largest individual donor to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and, until recently, a close adviser to the president who spearheaded his administration’s push to cut government waste, had criticized Trump’s “big beautiful bill” because of estimates that it would add trillions of dollars to the federal deficit.
Musk’s criticism of the bill was the catalyst for a major falling out between the two men last month. That feud seemingly cooled after Musk expressed regret and deleted the most incendiary social media posts he made about Trump, but it reignited in the last several days as the bill neared passage. Trump signed the bill into law on Friday.
For his part, Trump called Musk’s announcement of the new party “ridiculous” and said it would sow confusion.
“I think it’s ridiculous to start a third party. We have a tremendous success with the Republican Party,” Trump said ahead of boarding Air Force One in New Jersey on Sunday. “The Democrats have lost their way, but it’s always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to confusion.”
“Third parties have never worked, so he can have fun with it — but I think it’s ridiculous,” the president added.
In a late-night post on his Truth Social, Trump further attacked Musk, describing him as “off the rails.”
“I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks,” Trump wrote late Sunday. “He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States.”
It’s unclear to what extent Musk has taken steps to legally form the party, which would be required to register with the Federal Election Commission. The most recent FEC filings showed no indication that has happened.
The world’s richest man has indicated he wants a party that is fiscally conservative and reins in spending but has offered few other details about what the party’s platform would be.
Musk and Trump hold similar views on contemporary social issues. But Musk has argued the Republican policy agenda will increase the debt, calling it “debt slavery.”
The two-party system in the United States has long been criticized by both registered Democrats and registered Republicans, but efforts in the last century to form a third party have shown little success. Billionaire Ross Perot ran for president as an independent in 1992, winning nearly a fifth of the popular vote, but carried no states in the election, which was won by Bill Clinton.
As CNN previously reported, experts in campaign finance and political science say it is financially and legally difficult to create a new party, and voters and candidates are hesitant to join.
Musk said in other posts to social media this week that his party would become an active political force during next year’s midterm elections and that it would initially focus on supporting candidates in just a handful of House and Senate races.
Trump, in turn, has made his own threats against the man who at one point was his most visible adviser. The president said earlier this week the government may reconsider its massive contracts with Musk’s companies and described the Department of Government Efficiency, which the billionaire previously helmed, as a monster that may “go back and eat Elon.”
From CNN
