Elon Musk is forming new political party after fallout with Trump, CNN reports

KATHMANDU: Billionaire Elon Musk said on Saturday he is forming a third political party following a dramatic falling-out with President Donald Trump, indicating he will make good on threats he issued if the president’s domestic policy bill became law, CNN reported.

“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste and graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk wrote 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 who spearheaded the administration’s push to cut government waste, had criticised Trump’s “big beautiful bill” because estimates suggested it would add trillions of dollars to the federal deficit. Trump signed the legislation into law on Friday.

His public criticism of the bill was the catalyst for a major falling-out between the two men last month. That feud briefly cooled after Musk expressed regret and deleted incendiary posts, but it reignited as the measure neared passage.

It remains unclear to what extent Musk has taken formal steps to register the America Party, a process requiring notification to the Federal Election Commission. The commission’s most recent filings show no indication that such a notification has been submitted.

The world’s richest man has said he wants his new party to be fiscally conservative and rein in spending but has offered few further details about its platform or policy priorities.

Although Musk and Trump share similar views on many contemporary social issues, Musk has warned that the Republican policy agenda will swell the national debt, calling it “debt slavery”.

The United States’ two-party system has long been criticised by members of both major parties. Efforts over the last century to establish viable third parties have had little success: independent Ross Perot won nearly a fifth of the popular vote in 1992 but carried no states in the election won by Bill Clinton.

Experts in campaign finance and political science say it is both financially and legally difficult to create a new party, and that potential voters and candidates are wary of joining a fledgling organisation, CNN reported.

In further social-media posts this week, Musk said the America Party would become an active political force during next year’s midterm elections, initially focusing on a small number of House and Senate races.

In response, Trump has threatened to reconsider massive government contracts with Musk’s companies and warned that the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk previously helmed, may “go back and eat Elon”.