WASHINGTON – Billionaire businessman Elon Musk is said to be putting the brakes on his big plan to start a third U.S. political party called the “America Party.” He announced its formation just a few months ago. The Wall Street Journal says that people close to Musk said that the CEO is stepping back to focus on his business and stay out of trouble with influential Republicans.
This news comes after Musk said in July that he was starting the America Party to fight the two-party system. The move occurred after Musk had a public fight with President Donald Trump over a tax and spending measure that Musk strongly opposed. Musk, who can’t run for president because he wasn’t born in the U.S., blasted both major parties at the time. He said on X that the country was like a “unified political machine driven by self-interest.”
The new article says that Musk’s plans for politics may be changing. Instead of starting a new party from scratch, he is said to be thinking about utilizing his huge wealth to help Vice President J.D. Vance run for president in 2028. This plan would let him stay powerful in the Republican Party without having to deal with the huge problems that come with starting a new party.
Musk’s political career has been distinguished by a complicated and frequently rocky connection with Donald Trump. Musk gave Trump’s 2024 campaign about $250 million, making him a big financial supporter. In the second Trump administration, he was named head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). However, his time in office was short-lived; he quit in May and publicly questioned Trump’s spending policies, which led to a rivalry that led to his formation of the “America Party.”
The new strategy, which focuses on backing a well-known Republican like Vance, presents a more practical way for Musk to have an impact on politics. His choice comes at a time when political experts have pointed out the big problems that third parties have in the U.S. and how a third party could end up hurting one of the major parties by taking votes away from the other.