Defying Trump, Musk vows ‘to give you back your freedom' and launches America Party
Why Musk walked away
Live Events
Threats and promises
Impact on Republicans
Tesla takes a hit
Breaking the old order
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The uneasy friendship between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk has collapsed. On Saturday, Musk declared that he would start his own political party , the America Party , to fight back against Trump's 'big, beautiful' tax bill One day earlier, Musk had asked his followers on X if the United States needed a new party. The answer, he said, was clear enough. 'Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom,' Musk wrote. 'By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!'This split did not happen overnight. Musk was once Trump's biggest political backer. He spent hundreds of millions supporting the president's re-election. He even ran the Department of Government Efficiency at the start of Trump's second term. The goal was simple: slash costs and cut waste.All of that fell apart when Trump signed his tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday. Musk could not stomach it. On X, someone asked him what turned him from loyal supporter to open critic. Musk answered: 'Increasing the deficit from an already insane $2T under Biden to $2.5T. This will bankrupt the country.'He has not held back. Last month he called the bill a 'disgusting abomination' and warned, 'Congress is making America bankrupt.'Musk's rebellion has already drawn a sharp response. Trump threatened to cut the billions of dollars in subsidies that keep Musk's companies going. Tesla and SpaceX rely on that money. Yet Musk has doubled down.He says he will spend to unseat any lawmaker who backed Trump's bill. He even borrowed an old battle tactic to explain his plan. '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,' Musk wrote.'When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,' he added.This feud worries Republicans. Many fear the fallout could cost them their control of Congress in the 2026 midterms . Musk poured nearly $300 million into Republican campaigns in 2024. His super PAC helped Trump drive voter turnout in key states. But even with that money, the GOP lost a fight for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat this year. Musk spent over $20 million on that contest alone.The political fight has spilled over into the stock market. After Trump's re-election, Tesla shares jumped to over $488 in December. Then they sank. By last week, they were down more than half, closing at $315.35.Musk's plan to break the Republican-Democratic grip is bold, but history is not on his side. The two-party system has ruled American politics for more than 160 years. Trump's base has mostly stuck with him. His approval ratings have hovered above 40 percent in his second term.So far, Musk has not filed the official paperwork for the America Party. He says it will be ready to contest elections next year.Neither Trump nor the White House has commented on Musk's latest move. For now, the world's richest man is promising a new force in US politics — and a fight he says is about freedom and debt. Time will tell who follows him.
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