Elon Musk Says That He'll Start a Third Party if the GOP's Budget Bill Passes

Although Elon Musk wasn't always an explicitly political guy, his involvement in Donald Trump's 2024 campaign was seen as momentous at the time. Musk spent the first few months of Trump's second term inside the White House running the Department of Government Efficiency, but now that he's left government behind, he's getting more and more vocal about areas where he disagrees with the president.

In fact, Musk has gotten so assertive in his disagreements with the president that he's even suggested that he might start a third party. Here's what we know about whether he really means it.

Third parties in the United States have had a famously tough time ascending to major centers of power, but Musk certainly has the money to give it a try. Musk wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that if Trump's Big Beautiful Bill becomes law, "America Party will be formed the next day." He added that the bill represented "insane" domestic policy, and further suggested that Americans needed a party that could actually represent their interests.

“Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE,” he wrote. Musk's main hangup seems to be that, in spite of Republican claims that they want a balanced budget, this bill would increase the deficit substantially by reducing the amount that the wealthiest individuals are taxed, and offsetting only parts of those cuts with decreases in spending.

“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” Musk wrote. “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”

The bill is also set to take a hatchet to renewable energy subsidies, which are an important part of how Musk has made his money.

Ever since he left the White House, Musk has been suggesting that he believes in founding a third party. Of course, there are a number of hurdles that make third parties difficult in the American electoral context, specifically. Because elections are winner-take-all, the two major parties, which have high brand recognition, tend to get the lion's share of the vote.

Successful third parties have existed before in American history, but for all of his railing against the Trump administration, Musk is even less popular than the president. All of that suggests that Musk's third-party effort might not be as immediately successful as he might believe that it should be.

What Musk does have, though, is billions of dollars, so he could certainly make the lives of certain Republican candidates difficult by ensuring that their primary challengers exist and are well-funded. Whether he'll actually follow through on this threat remains to be seen, but the idea of Musk using his money against Republicans should make them a little nervous.