Elon Musk’s feud with President Donald Trump is heating up again — and the richest person in the world is threatening to try to take down the entire Republican Party.
Musk is fiercely opposed to Trump’s megabill, which passed the Senate on Tuesday and is now headed to the House. He sees it as a “disgusting abomination” that will saddle the U.S. with debt.
It’s hard to know how much bite may lie behind Musk’s bark.
On Monday, Musk launched an all-out offensive against the bill on X, suggesting he would seek vengeance against the GOP if it passes the bill.
“If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day,” he wote. “Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”
He even threatened to primary Republicans en masse: “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! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”
When former Rep. Justin Amash asked Musk to support Rep. Thomas Massie — a libertarian Republican from Kentucky who opposes Trump’s megabill and could find himself vulnerable to a MAGA challenger — the Tesla CEO responded, “I will.”
Trump fired back at Musk by threatening to scrap the federal subsidies that provide a huge amount of revenue for many of Musk’s businesses. “Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this?” he posted on Truth Social. (Trump has also said he’ll have to “take a look” when asked by a reporter about the idea of deporting Musk.)
It’s hard to know how much bite may lie behind Musk’s bark. His initial falling out with the president in June led to the two men exchanging insults and threats, but within a week Musk expressed regret at the vitriol. It’s possible that he could bankroll primary challengers against some Republicans, although he may overestimate how many Republicans meet his criterion of breaking a promise to reduce spending, as campaigning on fiscal conservatism is no longer in vogue in the Trump era.
Ultimately, I’m skeptical that Musk would launch a libertarian-leaning third party that could, theoretically, threaten the GOP’s electoral prospects and thus put him at war with the entire party. It seems like something he’d have little appetite for after his brief stint as a special government employee hurt his business empire and reportedly exacted a mental toll on him as well.
But whatever decision Musk makes, it’s remarkable to see him evolve from the GOP’s biggest donor and unofficial co-president to a loud-mouthed aspiring saboteur of Trump’s legislative agenda. And it’s particularly odd given that the president is doing exactly what he was expected to do. Trump’s indifference to the debt is in keeping with both his first term record and his general policy vision, which includes massive tax cuts for the rich. It’s all the more reason to think that, when Musk decided to become more involved in politics, he didn’t entirely understand what he was getting himself into.