Elon Musk isn’t done with politics just yet.
Days after the SpaceX and Tesla CEO threatened to form his own political party as an alternative to America’s “Democrat-Republican uniparty,” Musk has announced his pledge to do so.
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom,” Musk wrote in a July 5 post on X. “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.”
Following a rift between him and President Donald Trump that saw Musk unceremoniously severed from his “Department of Government Efficiency,” the former top campaign funder became a vocal opponent to the Trump Administration’s 900-page “One, Big, Beautiful bill,” which was recently signed into law and includes cuts to Medicaid and $350 billion for border and national security.
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Trump, in response to Musk’s criticisms that Republicans were supporting “debt slavery,” threatened to cut electric vehicle subsidies and investigate SpaceX spending, saying it may force Musk to “close up shop and head back home to South Africa.”
Responding on X, Musk said what sealed the deal in severing ties with Trump and the Republican Party, despite years spent aligning himself with the administration in a grab at power, was economic: “Increasing the deficit from an already insane $2 [trillion] under Biden to $2.5 [trillion]. This will bankrupt the country.”
Amid a series of replies and posts on X after the America Party announcement, Musk reshared what could become key platform points for his party (under which he would still be unable to run for President). The list included reducing debt, modernizing the military with AI and robotics, less regulation in the energy sector, and pro-natalism. The CEO appears to be attempting to turn his devoted follower base away from the Republican party and establishment politics — reposting sentiment from X influencers and Tesla fan accounts about the GOP “dangling” and then dropping the promise of “limited government and an America First agenda.”
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Trump critics and Musk allies jumped on the announcement, including financier and former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and investor Mark Cuban, who suggested Musk reach out to the Center for Competitive Democracy to help get the America Party on voters’ ballots.
Tesla’s top investors are waiting to see how the CEO’s political moves will affect the status of his company, after Musk seemingly departed politics to focus on turning around declining sales. James Fishback, CEO of investment firm Azoria, said he was postponing a Tesla exchange-traded fund until the Tesla board could “clarify Musk’s political ambitions,” Reuters reported, as shareholder trust declines.
