World's richest, with a net worth of over $360 billion, Elon Musk has announced the formation of a new political party in the US named the America Party. The move, announced on his platform X, comes after his fallout with US President Donald Trump, the Republicans he heavily financed to get re-elected in 2024.
A day after asking his followers on his X platform whether a new U.S. political party should be created, Musk declared in a post on Saturday that "Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom." On July 4th, Elon Musk ran a poll on X asking if his followers want independence from the two-party or what he called "uniparty" system by creating a new "America Party." Over 1.2 million participated in the survey with 65.4% voting Yes, while 34.6% voted No.
"By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it! When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy. 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 wrote on X, the social media platform he owns.
Musk, who as per Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, has a net worth of $361 billion, provided as much as $291 million in campaign funds to the current US President Trump as he fought Kamala Harris from the Democratic Party last year.
He later took on an advisory role in his administration heading a new government department called "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE). However, within months in the job, during which he spotted millions in government funding and at one point shut down USAID, he had a spat with the administration’s policy directions.
Trump-Musk Fallout over 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Musk stepped down from DOGE on May 28. Initially, the move was seen as the billionaire pivoting back to his ailing electric vehicle giant Tesla. However, within days, he started criticising Donald Trump’s flagship policy, the "One Big, Beautiful Bill" Act (OBBBA). He called it a “disgusting abomination” and a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill,” warning those who voted for it to “hang their head in shame.”
He also described it as “utterly insane and destructive”, arguing it would harm future-focused industries and lead to a historic deficit increase—raising the debt ceiling by $5 trillion and propelling the U.S. toward “debt slavery.”
Musk expressed disappointment, stating the bill undermines the cutbacks achieved under DOGE and worsens the budget deficit.
However, as per Trump, Musk's opposition was due to cuts the OBBBA was making in EV subsidies, which historically benefited Tesla.
The feud escalated to personal attacks as Musk linked Trump to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Trump threatened to cut government contracts of SpaceX. He later even threatened to deport the tech tycoon and strip federal funds from his businesses.
"We'll have to take a look," the president told reporters when asked if he would consider deporting Musk, who was born in South Africa and has held US citizenship since 2002.
The bill was finally signed into law on July 4.
All 435 seats in the US House of Representatives are contested every two years, while roughly one-third of the 100-member Senate are also elected in the same cycle.
Some netizens were quick to note that third-party campaigns have historically split the vote, as seen in 1992 when businessman Ross Perot's independent presidential bid is widely believed to have hurt George H.W. Bush’s re-election chances, paving the way for Democrat Bill Clinton’s win.
“You’re pulling a Ross Perot, and I don’t like it,” one user wrote to Musk on X.
