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Yahoo
7 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
It's Been One Year Since Musk Endorsed Trump. Was It Worth It?
There was every reason to assume that Elon Musk would vote for and potentially endorse Donald Trump during the 2024 election season. By the time the campaign entered its summer stretch, the tech billionaire had already spent months posting on X, his social media platform, about his slide to the political right and fears of a 'woke mind virus.' But it was not until Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, that Musk felt compelled to formally announce his allegiance to the candidate. 'I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,' he posted on Twitter, sharing the video of a bloodied Trump raising his fist as Secret Service agents pulled him offstage. What followed was a truly wild year in the life of a brash election megadonor, one that would see Musk become a key campaign surrogate, then 'First Buddy,' and finally a special government employee overseeing a new, unaccountable commission empowered to destroy federal agencies. Along the way, he got in explosive fights with Trump advisers, handed out million-dollar checks to voters in a shameless influence campaign, was sued for paternity by a far-right influencer, and provoked a worldwide wave of protests against his electric vehicle company, Tesla. Eventually, mounting frictions in D.C. (possibly worsened by Musk's dismal polling numbers) led to a spectacular blowup between Trump and Musk, with the spurned oligarch vowing to use his fortune to found a third party. Could it have gone any other way, or is there some alternate timeline in which the pair effectively governed together? In ours, at least, there was only the triumph of a stunning election victory — followed by pure dysfunction. Going full MAGA In the wake of his initial endorsement, Musk was riding high. He had quietly set up his Super PAC, America PAC, in the months prior with anchor donations from friends in Silicon Valley, and his public MAGA turn emboldened other wealthy industry players to back Trump as well. (Trump's cynical embrace of cryptocurrency further helped to funnel their money his way.) Musk would dump around a quarter of a billion dollars into his own Super PAC between July and the end of the election. Musk's stumping for Trump consisted of two main themes: freedom of speech and demonization of migrants. On the newly rechristened X, he spread conspiracy theories, claiming that millions of noncitizens were registered to vote, and continued to repeat the falsehood that Democrats were importing these individuals to commit fraud at the ballot box. Like Trump, he stoked fears about immigrants committing violent crime. His views on border security grew so rabid that they raised questions about whether he, originally a citizen of South Africa and Canada, had at one point worked illegally in the U.S. before being naturalized in 2002. (He denied such reports.) The world's richest man also made it a point to appear alongside Trump for rallies and in TV interviews, where he routinely revealed himself to be a stammering and unexciting public speaker. His first on-stage appearance with Trump — a triumphant return to Butler, Pennsylvania, in October — was most memorable for the cringeworthy way he jumped around with his hands in the air, perhaps expecting similar liveliness from the crowd. 'I'm dark MAGA,' he said as he commenced his speech, referring to his black MAGA hat. He predicted that if Trump didn't win, 'this will be the last election.' Paying for votes? But Musk drew more attention in the final weeks of the race with daily $1 million giveaways for voters in a handful of battleground states, a scheme that prompted legal challenges which remain ongoing amid accusations that America PAC ran an illegal lottery. Signing a generic 'Petition in Favor of Free Speech and the Right to Bear Arms' as a registered voter in one of those states supposedly entered one in the sweepstakes. Participants were also to receive $47 — and later $100 — for each person they got to sign. Plaintiffs for subsequent lawsuits claim they never received those payments. Musk's own lawyers revealed right before Election Day that the $1 million grand prize winners, some of whom received checks from Musk himself at rally events, were 'not chosen at random' as advertised, but specifically selected. None of the ethical concerns about this unprecedented infusion of personal wealth into U.S. politics seemed to matter. Trump was cruising to an easy victory on Nov. 5, 2024, carrying every swing state. Musk was characteristically smug that evening. 'Game, set and match,' he posted on X, without waiting for broadcasters to project Trump's win over Vice President Kamala Harris. 'First Buddy' Team Trump had been ready to torch Musk for costing them the election if it had gone the other way. Instead, they found themselves stuck with what one campaign official called a 'very strange man,' who was now calling himself the 'First Buddy.' Musk became a permanent fixture at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, frequently bragging about how America PAC and X had secured him a second term. The billionaire's self-important attitude and close involvement on Trump's calls with foreign leaders and discussions of cabinet appointments caused rifts with the president-elect's inner circle, and led to at least one 'massive blowup' over dinner with an adviser whose staffing recommendations he had challenged. At the same time, Musk was plotting what he envisioned as his landmark achievement within a second Trump administration: the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, named to give the acronym 'DOGE,' in reference to an old Reddit meme that gave rise to a crypto coin that Musk has invested in. Trump announced in a statement that Musk and another ally in the business world, Vivek Ramaswamy, would head the group, assigned to 'dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.' He added that DOGE could 'become, potentially, 'The Manhattan Project' of our time.' Yet Musk's adaptation to Trumpworld faced setbacks. For one thing, there were already policy disagreements: the hardliner anti-immigrant MAGA faithful erupted in a furor when Musk and Ramaswamy said that the U.S. needed to maintain a robust H-1B visa program for skilled workers from abroad in order for Silicon Valley firms to thrive, since there weren't enough 'super motivated' and 'super talented engineers' in America. New Year's Day brought an ominous omen for the Musk-Trump bromance. In Las Vegas, a 37-year-old military veteran died by suicide in a Tesla Cybertruck outside Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, shooting himself before firework mortars and gas canisters in the rented vehicle exploded, injuring bystanders. The burning Cybertruck next to a Trump-branded property proved an instantly indelible image of what 2025 had in store. Musk, however, argued that the truck's stainless steel paneling had 'saved lives,' and that the blast was 'good advertising.' DOGE demolition On Inauguration Day in January, Musk scandalized the nation — except for its right-wing extremists — when he threw up a straight-armed salute during a post-inauguration rally. Musk spent the next weeks and months continuing to deny any Nazi or white supremacist sympathies, even as he continued to boost the German political party Alternative für Deutschland, which has ties to neo-Nazis and has been designated as extreme-right by German intelligence. Just days after the salute, in a video address to an AfD gathering, Musk said Germany had placed 'too much of a focus on past guilt,' evidently referring to contrition over the Holocaust. The ascendance of DOGE was as swift as it was chaotic. Musk had forced Ramaswamy out before Trump was even back in office, and he set to stacking the organization with loyal lieutenants plucked out of his sprawling corporate empire, as well as a cadre of inexperienced youths with backgrounds in coding and AI. One of these programmers resigned after reports about his racist hate speech in social media posts, but Musk, with support from Vice President J.D. Vance, got him reinstated. (In a minor and more amusing subplot around this same time, Musk also admitted that he was paying people to level up his characters in the video games Diablo IV and Path of Exile 2, creating the false impression that he was a globally top-ranked player in both titles.) As DOGE worked its way into crucial elements of the administrative state that control budgets and payment processing, it shuttered the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), paused the work of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB), and targeted the Department for Veterans Affairs and other agencies for massive cuts, inviting federal employees to take a buyout to quit and simply firing tens of thousands without cause. As the mouthpiece of the commission, he declared that it was maximally transparent while it dodged any meaningful oversight, telling outrageous lies about dead people receiving Social Security checks and how $50 million of foreign aid money had been earmarked to supply condoms to Gaza. (In a typical embellishment, Trump later claimed the contraceptives were for the militant group Hamas.) Lawsuits against DOGE and legal challenges to its activities multiplied at tremendous speed. 'I am become meme' Meanwhile, Musk casually confessed to horrifying mistakes, such as accidentally cutting funds for USAID's Ebola prevention program, and instituted tedious management gimmicks, the most infamous being an automated Friday email to federal employees asking them to list five accomplishments for the week — or be terminated. Once that email address leaked, people flooded it with spam and crude insults. It does not appear anyone ever read the actual responses from workers, and the routine gradually died out. DOGE offered a public tally of the 'waste, fraud, and abuse' it had slashed from taxpayer expenditure, but it was riddled with errors, and the team frequently had to delete billions in supposed savings. Yet Musk still somehow found time for personal beef. There was the February incident in which he flipped out on an astronaut who corrected his lie that Americans stuck aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for months had been abandoned for 'political reasons,' firing back, 'You are fully retarded.' That very same day, the musician Grimes, his ex-partner, posted on X out of desperation, saying he would not reply to her private messages about an 'urgent' medical crisis one of their three children was experiencing. This followed a surprise statement on X from the right-wing influencer Ashley St. Clair, who said she had given birth to a child allegedly fathered by Musk, adding to his already significant brood by way of three other women. (Musk, often warning of falling birth rates, is an outspoken and active pronatalist.) Without an acknowledgement of the child from Musk, St. Clair sued for paternity and custody. The filing includes alleged text exchanges in which Musk told her they had 'a legion of kids to make.' A bizarre appearance at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference in February around this time, Musk wore sunglasses, waved around a symbolic chainsaw that he said would cut through bureaucracy, and stumbled inarticulately through an interview, at one point declaring, 'I am become meme.' (Months afterward, he expressed regret over the stunt, acknowledging on X that Argentinian president Javier Miliei 'gave me the chainsaw backstage and I ran with it, but in retrospect, it lacked empathy.') His off-putting mannerisms at CPAC renewed speculation about his recreational drug use, particularly the dissociative anesthetic ketamine, which had been reported on in The Wall Street Journal a year prior. In May, the New York Times reported that Musk had told people on the campaign trail that his ketamine habit had affected his bladder; he denied this, insisting he had not taken ketamine for years. Tesla is tanking DOGE backlash and dramas of Musk's own making — like his amplification of an X post arguing that 'public sector workers,' not Adolf Hitler, were responsible for the Holocaust — took its toll on Tesla, a brand virtually synonymous with his name. Though the car company and SpaceX, his rocket company, were enjoying reprieves from regulatory woes as DOGE dismantled the agencies that enforced fines and penalties against them, a 'Tesla Takedown' movement had taken shape, with tens of thousands around the world protesting at dealerships, pushing for owners to sell their cars and investors to unload their shares. Tesla drivers bought up countless anti-Musk bumper stickers, and some even disguised the make of their cars, looking to avoid having their vehicles spay-painted with swastikas by vandals. Sales plummeted. A rash of violent attacks on Tesla properties prompted the administration to claim they would treat such acts as 'domestic terrorism.' In March, as Tesla stock slumped, Trump, in a stunning display of cronyism, invited him to demo several models in the White House driveway, ultimately buying a Model S Plaid for himself. Still, by May, the Tesla board was reportedly considering replacing Musk as CEO. He reacted to the news with indignant fury. Musk's increasing unpopularity grew harder to ignore. The assault on the federal government, the blatant conflicts of interest, the embarrassing failures of his ventures (there have been four consecutive explosions of SpaceX rockets this year, some of them raining debris over the Caribbean and diverting flights), and his endless, aggressive posting on X had made him a resolutely toxic figure. In his first attempt at political kingmaking since the 2024 election, Musk shoveled $20 million in America PAC money into a Wisconsin Supreme Court race, reviving his $1 million giveaways and speaking to voters in a Cheesehead hat as he made the case for the Republican candidate. Wisconsinites roundly rejected his message, with the Democrat clinching the seat by a wide margin. Weeks later, perhaps deflated by the resounding loss, Musk said, 'I think in terms of political spending, I'm going to do a lot less in the future.' Troubles with Trump Throughout his tenure in D.C., Musk's spats with rival Trump officials came to be common knowledge. One senior official told Rolling Stone that Musk was 'just the most irritating person I've ever had to deal with.' He bickered over disagreements with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Longtime Trump surrogate Steve Bannon routinely attacked him. Musk denounced Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro as 'truly a moron,' 'dumber than a sack of bricks,' and 'Peter Retarrdo.' A screaming match with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly turned physical when Musk body-checked him, and the brawl had to be broken up by witnesses. Adviser Sergio Gor, another Musk hater, persuaded Trump to withdraw Musk's favored nominee to lead NASA, hastening their messy split. While Musk had faithful underlings at DOGE, it looked as if he had no friends in the White House apart from — for a while, anyway — Trump himself. That relationship, too, began to crumble as Musk reached the end of the 130-day period he was allowed to serve as a 'special government employee' in his work at DOGE. Musk denied that they were parting ways when he read headlines relating how Trump had privately told people he would be leaving the administration soon; in public, Trump remained coy about how long Musk might stay but hinted that the CEO might want to return his focus to his various businesses. All of it led to a muted farewell ceremony in the Oval Office on May 30, officially Musk's last day in government. Standing by the president's side with a black eye that he said was from his young son punching him in the face, Musk received a ceremonial key and thanks from the president, who cautioned that he was 'not really leaving.' He had launched DOGE with the promise to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, though to date, it claims just $190 billion in savings — less than 10 percent of that amount. It then emerged that right before their last presser together, Trump had learned that Jason Isaacman, Musk's pick to head NASA — a position of utmost importance to him given the agency's contracts with SpaceX — had previously donated to the campaigns of Democratic politicians. Trump confronted Musk after the cameras were off, and that same day, withdrew Isaacman's nomination, a humiliating blow to Musk on his way out. All-out enemies In the end, of course, it came down to money. Trump had mustered all his political capital to get the tax and spending measure he called his 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' poised to further enrich the wealthy and strip healthcare from millions of Americans, passed in Congress. By early June, Musk was ready to let rip, and posted on X that the bill was a 'disgusting abomination,' since it would increase the national deficit by trillions. As he sought to convince lawmakers to vote against it, Trump noted that he was 'very disappointed' in Musk. He speculated that Musk was angry that the bill would end an electric vehicle mandate, ending a tax credit incentive for customers who buy Teslas. Musk went nuclear, first asserting that without his help, Trump would have lost the election. 'Such ingratitude,' he wrote during an hours-long tantrum on X. He then alleged that Trump, for many years a friend of Jeffrey Epstein, was named in government-held files related to the late sex trafficker, and that this was why his Justice Department was not releasing them. Trump called Musk 'CRAZY' and mulled his options to 'terminate' his companies' government contracts. The following week, Musk deleted the Epstein posts, saying they 'went too far.' The damage was clearly done, however. Trump signaled that he didn't care to patch things up and warned of 'serious consequences' for Musk if he continued to meddle in the congressional debate over the tax bill. Musk nonetheless vowed to ensure that anyone who 'campaigned on reducing government spending' but voted for the measure would lose to a primary challenger in their next election cycle. 'What the heck was the point of @DOGE,' he wondered on X, if the administration was going to increase the debt anyway?' As Trump bashed Musk in the media, advisers who had rankled at Musk's presence in their midst since the 2024 campaign eagerly discussed angles for revenge, like restarting the paused regulatory investigations into Musk's corporations and pressuring MAGA brass to side with Trump in the feud. Bannon suggested a more direct approach, telling the president to investigate his former adviser as an 'illegal alien.' Ahead of passage and signing of the contentious bill over Fourth of July weekend, Trump posted on Truth Social that 'without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa.' Asked by a reporter if he would deport Musk, Trump said 'we'll have to take a look,' and floated the idea of siccing DOGE itself on Musk's contracts. An embittered Musk went on to revisit the topic of Epstein in July, seething along with scores of prominent right-wingers over a joint FBI and Justice Department memo that effectively closed the case with no further disclosures. As the MAGA base called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to be fired and the administration fell to vicious infighting, he kept hammering at this weak spot. 'How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won't release the Epstein files?' he asked on X. A new party Once the tax bill became law, Musk, apparently resigned to his breakup with Trump, announced that he was founding a new political party, the America Party, since he had run a poll on X in which a majority of respondents were in favor. 'The America Party is needed to fight the Republican/Democrat Uniparty,' he posted. Only a week before the one-year anniversary of his Trump endorsement, he was committing to a movement that could potentially leech votes from the GOP in future elections. A reasonable person might take a moment to reflect on whether any of this spectacle was worth it. In the space of a dozen months, Musk has alienated the liberals who ordinarily buy his cars, galvanized activists against the American oligarchy he represents, made himself into a traitor in the eyes of the MAGA rank-and-file, courted the ire of cabinet members and top White House lieutenants, humiliated himself with the bungled DOGE assault while making enemies of virtually the entire apparatus of federal administration, helped spread hate speech and misinformation on his poorly managed social media site (whose CEO just resigned), revealed that Tesla is far behind in the self-driving robotaxi race, and overseen the development of an AI chatbot that recently identified itself as 'MechaHitler.' If he can draw anyone into the America Party besides a smattering of diehard fanboys inclined to dismiss his every misstep, it would be a miraculous achievement. Those acolytes have a saying: 'Never bet against Elon.' It's true that with his immense wealth and cultish followers, Musk has withstood plenty of scandals and many, many screwups, increasing his fortune and his power over political discourse. But the wins scored with his turbulent entry into cutthroat Beltway affairs came at extraordinary cost. Would he do it differently, given the chance? It's probably not the right question to ask about Musk, creature of relentless impulse that he is. More relevant by far is whatever he'll do next. More from Rolling Stone Speaker Mike Johnson Splits From Trump, Calls for Release of Epstein Files What Trump Has Said About Jeffrey Epstein Over the Years House Republicans Block Release of Epstein Files Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
Washington Post
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Elon Musk says he's formed a new political party. But it's not clear if he actually has
Elon Musk has said that he's formed a new political party , but it's unclear what steps — if any — he's taken to do so, or how the effort might affect upcoming elections. Musk has not yet released any additional information. Spokespeople for Musk and his political action committee, America PAC, didn't immediately comment Monday.
Spectator
02-07-2025
- Business
- Spectator
The new right is splintering
When Elon Musk tweeted his vision for an 'America Party', he ignited a firestorm of hope and scepticism. The idea was inspired by his anger for Donald Trump's $5 trillion spending bill. In the UK, Ben Habib and Rupert Lowe, formerly figures in Reform, have splintered away from Britain's populist party over splits with Nigel Farage. Musk, Habib and Lowe are all disruptors united by disdain for broken systems, and all face harsh electoral realities. In the US, a hypothetical Musk-led party could split the Republican vote, potentially handing Democrats victories. Habib and Lowe could dilute the populist vote in the UK, most of which is currently with Reform. Musk's flirtation with a new political movement stems from his clash with Trump over fiscal policy. Musk's platform – slashing deficits, deregulating business and boosting high-skilled immigration – appeals to tech-savvy moderates and disillusioned independents. On X, Musk has framed himself as a voice for the pragmatic middle, critiquing both parties' extremes. But his vision lacks the cultural red meat – 'America First' border control or anti-woke rhetoric – that fuels Trump's MAGA base. Musk's $250 million investment in America PAC for Trump's 2024 campaign shows his financial clout, but he would struggle to go it alone. The US electoral landscape is unforgiving to new parties. In 1992, Ross Perot's Reform party won 19 per cent of the vote but zero electoral votes, a cautionary tale for any Musk-led venture. State-by-state ballot access laws, such as California's requirement of roughly 131,000 signatures, would also pose logistical hurdles. Musk's wealth – estimated at $400 billion in 2025 – could fund signature drives and ad campaigns, but building a national infrastructure by 2026 is daunting. Republican strategists have suggested that Musk could reshape the party from within, using his America PAC influence and X's narrative-shaping power, rather than risk starting a third party and failing. Others have warned that his centrist pitch – pro-immigration, pro-tech – alienates voters demanding border security and cultural conservatism. Polls, while unconfirmed for 2025, suggest Republicans view third-party efforts sceptically. Across the Atlantic, Habib and Lowe embody a parallel populist surge. Habib has launched a new political party, Advance UK, which he says stands for a 'proud' and 'independent' United Kingdom, where 'the political views you hold won't land you in jail'. It is billed as an alternative to Reform. Lowe, meanwhile, has just launched Restore Britain, a 'movement' that will pressure political parties to 'slash immigration, protect British culture, restore Christian principles, carpet-bomb the cancer of wokery'. The UK's first-past-the-post system is brutal – Reform's 14 per cent in 2024 yielded just five MPs – and so a fragmented populist vote could split the right and gift Labour seats. Populism in the US and UK shares politics but fights different battles. Musk decries bureaucratic bloat and unfulfilled 2016 promises, while Habib and Lowe target Labour's cultural shifts and attack Farage personally. Musk's X is the transatlantic wildcard, shaping narratives but fuelling polarisation. Reports earlier this year suggested Musk was thinking about making a significant investment in UK politics. In the US, his $250 million America PAC war chest (and X's reach) give him leverage, but Republican loyalties and the Electoral College limit third-party impact. Disruption without cohesion breeds division. The US and the UK need fresh ideas, but splitting conservative votes could empower the elites they oppose. The lesson is clear: conservatives must channel their zeal to reform existing parties from within. To do otherwise risks electoral failure.
CNN
02-07-2025
- Business
- CNN
Elon Musk wants to create a new political party. Building rockets may be easier
Elon Musk has started multiple successful companies that have accomplished incredible technological feats. His latest ambition may be significantly more difficult to achieve: starting a new American political party for the masses. Citing his disappointment in President Donald Trump and his massively expensive domestic policy bill, Musk said he would form the 'America party' the day after the 'Big, Beautiful Bill' passes, if Congress approves it. Musk has called Democrats and Republicans the 'uniparty' because government deficits have risen dramatically under administrations and Congresses controlled by both parties. He says he wants to build a fiscally conservative party that reins in spending – although he's presented few other details of what the party's platform might be. Experts in campaign finance and political science say there's a reason no third party has ever truly successfully challenged America's two-party system: It is financially and legally difficult to create a new party, and voters and candidates are hesitant to join. 'Third-party movements in the US have generally arisen out of some sort of set of deep-seated grievances,' Emory University political science professor Alan Abramowitz told CNN. 'It was not just some wealthy person who's decided they wanted to start a third party.' It's not clear how much if any preparation has been done to stand up the party. A spokesperson for Musk's political action committee, America PAC, declined to comment. A senior White House official brushed off Musk's criticism of the bill. 'No one really cares what he says anymore,' the source said. Two Republicans close to the White House said that it was also unclear how Musk's threats might play out in the midterm elections. 'Of course, members don't want to be primaried,' one of the sources said. 'It's unclear if he's actually going to get involved. A few weeks ago he apologized and called Trump.' Musk may be the richest person on Earth, but he could also encounter some financial resistance himself. Former DOGE adviser and Trump supporter James Fishback said he is launching his own super PAC to counter Musk's money in congressional races. Fishback, who runs an investment firm, said he will provide $1 million in initial funding to the super PAC, which will be called FSD PAC, an abbreviation for Full Support for Donald. He told CNN that the super PAC will work to back Trump's agenda 'and against anyone who threatens to sabotage that agenda,' including Musk. American political parties are governed by laws and rules not just from the Federal Election Commission but also from the states, including around which parties can appear on ballots. 'The system is sort of set up to almost make it impossible for third parties to be successful,' Abramowitz said. Funding a new party has its own hurdles. The McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2022 set strict limits on donations to political parties. The current limit is just under $450,000 spread across different party purposes. Musk would need thousands of co-donors to help him fund his party, said Lee Goodman, an attorney and former chair of the FEC. 'One very wealthy individual cannot capitalize a new national political party, the way he might start a business, because of federal contribution limits,' Goodman told CNN. 'The prospect of a wealthy founder seed funding a national party to participate in federal elections around the country is not feasible in the current regulatory system.' Bradley Smith, another former FEC chair and who is now a law professor at Capital University Law School, said there are some ways around the current regulations. 'There is some case law suggesting that some of the organizational activities of a party and starting a party right can be funded with larger contributions, until it actually qualifies for party status under the election commission regulations,' Smith said, but he noted it's complex and difficult to do. 'You can fund super PACs all you want. But you can't fund a political party, as a strange part of American law,' he added. Super PACs are not legally allowed to coordinate spending with parties or candidates, although previous candidates have tested these limits, as nothing prohibits coordination when the information is shared publicly. 'Coordination has, in fact, become commonplace,' the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center has said. Then there's getting on the actual ballots. States have different rules, such as requiring a certain number of signatures. 'It would take years and might require changes in laws around the country that currently favor two major political parties,' Goodman noted Beyond the legal and logistical hurdles, there's convincing candidates to join and voters to cast their ballots for them. Despite varying approval levels, party loyalties remain strong, Abramowitz said, especially among Republicans, who have coalesced around Trump. 'The biggest obstacle is just that it's very difficult to convince people to vote for a third-party candidate because the argument is always 'you're wasting your vote. You're voting for someone who has no chance of winning elections,'' Abramowitz said. Candidates may also be wary. Democrats are unlikely to run under the America Party because 'Democrats hate Elon Musk,' Abramowitz said. And Republicans 'have clearly shown that they're much more attached to Donald Trump than they are to Elon Musk.' Republicans highly approve of Trump, according to CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten's aggregation of available polling data. Some 90 precent of Republicans approve of Trump's performance thus far in this presidency, and he is doing better in approval ratings five months into the presidency than former Republican presidents. And in 96% of the 2024 primary races where Trump endorsed, those candidates won. If creating a new political party proves too difficult, Musk could still hold a lot of sway through his super PAC, to which he can send unlimited funds. That PAC can then support independent candidates, who could also have an easier time getting on ballots. 'Independent spending, individually or via a super PAC, remains the most legal and practical mechanism for a wealthy individual to have a say in national politics,' Goodman said. CNN's Kristen Holmes and Fredreka Schouten contributed reporting.
India Today
01-07-2025
- Business
- India Today
Elon Musk declares war on Trump's GOP
What began as the most powerful political alliance in modern American history has spectacularly imploded. Elon Musk, who bankrolled Donald Trump's return to the White House with nearly $300 million in donations, is now threatening to destroy the very party he helped elect. At the centre of this explosive feud lies Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act"—a sprawling piece of legislation that would extend tax cuts, slash healthcare programmes, inflate defence spending, and ban AI regulation for a decade. The bill projects over $3 trillion in new debt, leaving even some Republicans once Trump's ultimate kingmaker, has branded the legislation "a disgusting abomination." The world's richest man didn't merely support Trump's presidency—he supercharged it. His America PAC received nearly $240 million, whilst his ownership of X transformed the platform into a Republican war room, amplifying pro-Trump content and throttling As reward for delivering the White House, Musk was handed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasked with cutting government waste. The irony wasn't lost on anyone when Trump's massive spending bill directly contradicted Musk's cost-cutting personal stakes are enormous. The legislation threatens Musk's empire directly—Tesla stands to lose over $1.2 billion as green energy tax credits vanish. His solar and battery ventures face significant blows if clean energy incentives response has been characteristically explosive. He's threatened to form a new "America Party," promising to primary every Republican who supports the bill. "Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!" he has responded with equal venom, targeting Musk's reliance on government subsidies: "Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa." In a particularly savage twist, Trump has suggested using DOGE to investigate Musk's own the Senate prepares to vote, America watches two titans of influence battle for the nation's future—leaving many wondering who truly runs the country, and who ultimately pays the price.- EndsMust Watch
