Elon Musk Floats New Party in US Politics

Elon Musk finally broke the on-again-off-again mode of his rebellion against US president Donald Trump and the Republican Party, by announcing on X, the social media platform he owns, that a third alternative was going to be formed, the America Party. This is after Trump had managed to pass his Big Beautiful Bill into law, increasing the country’s debt by trillions of dollars. It was the immediate trigger that Musk used to launch the new outfit. Republicans have been traditionally for small government, and this is in direct antithesis to what a substantial segment of its leaders stand for.

Trump continued to insinuate that Musk’s motivations are personal and not public interest. He had removed subsidies and policies that benefited electric vehicles and by extension Musk’s company Tesla. Also, he reneged on making someone head of National Aeronautics and Space Agency who was Musk’s friend. Musk owns Space X which has substantial dealings with NASA. Writing on his social media platform Truth Social Trump stated: ‘I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely “off the rails,” essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks. He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States – The System seems not designed for them.’

He is right. Billionaires, like Ross Perot, have formed a third party earlier, but achieved no success or make a dent on US politics. Musk however has a different strategy. He is not planning to come to power by way of having someone (he himself can’t, not being born in the US) contest for the Presidential polls, as Perot did earlier. Instead, the party will focus all resources and energy into winning enough seats in the Senate and House that would make it the tipping force between Republicans and Democrats. It is a workable idea in theory because both chambers of Congress usually have a razor thin majority no matter who comes to power.  As Musk posted on X, ‘The way we’re going to crack the uniparty system is by using a variant of how Epaminondas shattered the myth of Spartan invincibility at Leuctra: Extremely concentrated force at a precise location on the battlefield.’

America PartyDonald TrumpElon MuskhouseSenatethird partyU.S. politicsUS politics