Elon Musk, a former ally of US President Donald Trump, launched a new political party on Sunday, which Trump blasted as “ridiculous,” further escalating the Republican’s conflict with the man who was once his biggest supporter.
Trump also branded the SpaceX and Tesla tycoon a “TRAIN WRECK” who had gone “off the rails” after Musk said he wanted to challenge the current US political system.
The world’s richest man was almost inseparable from Trump as he headed the cost-cutting “Department of Government Efficiency,” but they fell out hard over the president’s “big beautiful” tax and spending mega-bill.
“I think it’s ridiculous to start a third party,” Trump told reporters before he boarded Air Force One on his way back to Washington from his New Jersey golf club.
“It’s always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to confusion. Third parties have never worked. So he can have fun with it, but I think it’s ridiculous,” he said.
South African-born Musk announced on Saturday that he would create the so-called “America Party” to challenge what he called the United States’ “one-party system.”
Musk says the president’s massive domestic spending plan would explode the US debt, and has vowed to do everything in his power to defeat lawmakers who voted for it.
The former DOGE boss, who led a huge drive to slash federal spending and cut jobs, equated Trump’s Republicans with rival Democrats when it came to domestic spending.
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk posted on X, the social media platform that he owns.
Musk gave few details of his plan and it was not clear whether he had registered the party with US electoral authorities, but it could cause Republicans headaches in the 2026 midterm elections — and beyond.
