Tech billionaire Elon Musk has set out on the unlikely task of forming his own political party, which he has dubbed the “America Party,” amid his frayed relationship with President Trump and the GOP.
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk wrote on his social platform X on Saturday. “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
“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,” he added, referring to the historic Greek military leader known for precision tactics.
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Musk, 54, has been a vocal critic of the massive GOP tax and spending overhaul that Trump signed into law Friday. The measure created an initial splinter between Trump and his former White House aide, but their rift has since shattered into a public back-and-forth about the future of American politics.
What Musk wants
The South African-born wealthiest man in the world can’t become U.S. president, himself, under the Constitution, but he has displayed a willingness to put his financial heft behind his political views.
He was one of the largest backers of Trump’s successful 2024 reelection campaign, pouring millions into the effort and ultimately parlaying that into a starring role as head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which was tasked with rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending.
Musk has vowed to back primary candidates who challenge Republicans who supported Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” over his objections to it raising the federal debt limit.
What does the America Party stand for?
Musk hasn’t provided a formal outline of his policy platform for the new party, but he has offered clues in his social media posts since announcing its launch.
He notably reposted a gold-certified X account for Tesla owners in Silicon Valley that outlined a possible platform. That post listed reducing federal debt; using AI to modernize the military; advancing “pro tech” policies; decreasing regulations on energy; promoting “free speech” and “pro natalist” objectives; and applying “centrist policies everywhere else.”
“The America Party is needed to fight the Republican/Democrat Uniparty,” Musk wrote over several social media posts and reposts backing his idea. “The America Party is the solution.”
“When & where should we hold the inaugural American Party congress?” he asked his online followers on Sunday.
On one post discussing how Musk could be successful while others have failed to generate third-party enthusiasm, the Tesla founder wrote: “Not hard tbh,” using the acronym for “to be honest.”
What Trump says
The president has publicly dismissed his former ally’s push to disrupt the two-party system in American politics.
In a post on his own web platform, Truth Social, Trump wrote that he was “saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks” and argued a third party can’t be successful.
“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,” Trump wrote. “The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats, who have lost their confidence and their minds!”
“Republicans, on the other hand, are a smooth running ‘machine,’ that just passed the biggest Bill of its kind in the History of our Country,” he added, referencing his “big, beautiful bill.”
Trump accused Musk of lashing out because of cuts to electric vehicle (EV) mandates that benefit Musk-led automaker Tesla and because the Trump administration rejected his pick to lead NASA, which could have been a boon to Musk-led SpaceX.
Third-party history
Parties outside of the mainstream, modern-day Democratic Party and Republican Party have had limited success in the U.S. and have struggled to gain a foothold.
A Pew poll last year found that 49 percent of registered voters are Democrats or lean to the Democratic Party, and a nearly identical share – 48 percent – are Republicans or lean to the Republican Party.
According to research from Ballotpedia, more than 50 political parties existed in the U.S. as of January. Most notably among them, the Libertarian Party, Green Party and Reform Party have fielded high-profile candidates in recent elections, and the Democratic Socialists of America Party has gained momentum with boosts from progressive leaders like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
But third-party candidates often face the stigma of being a spoiler in a largely two-party system.
Texas billionaire Ross Perot, who died in 2019, ran as the Reform Party candidate for president in 1992, coming in third with nearly 19 percent of the vote. Republicans have blamed his candidacy for Democratic President Clinton’s win over that year over then-President George H.W. Bush.
Environmentalist Ralph Nader, the two-time presidential nominee of the Green Party, won more than 2 million votes in the 2000 presidential election, coming in third behind former President George W. Bush (R) and his Democratic rival in that contest, former Vice President Al Gore. Democrats blamed Nader for Gore’s loss.
Activist Jill Stein, who carried the Green Party banner in the 2016 presidential race, was often blamed for Democrat Hillary Clinton’s loss to Trump.
Trump, himself, briefly ran as a third-party presidential candidate in 2000, quitting after testing a few Reform Party primaries. He again mulled an independent run in 2012, before emerging as the leader of the GOP four years later.
