Musk’s new political party is unlikely to achieve any success at the ballot box, but it could accelerate the descent of US politics
This weekend marked 249 years since America’s founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and birthed the nation that’s become known as the USA. Most Americans mark the holiday by inviting a few friends over for a barbecue. Elon Musk, though, has gone a step further – he’s launched a new political party.
In theory, Musk is seeking to overturn a century of two-party domination of American politics. His claim is that something new is needed to represent the views of most US voters. Musk is one of the very few people with enough money to fund a genuine breakthrough party in the US, too – there will doubtless be political consultants and advertisers eager to pitch for his business.
Despite that, the prospect of Musk launching a viable new party is still a dubious one. For one, Musk is hardly a sensible or a moderate man. Until just a few weeks ago, he was not just an enthusiastic cheerleader for Donald Trump and Maga, but also a senior figure in the administration.
Furthermore, Musk claims his new party is for “the 80 per cent in the middle”, but his choice of name, the America Party, has already raised eyebrows. The original American Party was founded in the 1850s and was a paranoid and xenophobic movement obsessed with the idea that there was a Catholic plot to overthrow America.
On top of all of that, the world’s richest man is hardly a well-loved figure across America. He burned his popularity among Democrats when he first endorsed and then bankrolled Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, then torched his popularity with Republicans when he split with Trump last month.
Middle America might be crying out for something new – but it’s not at all clear they’re crying out for Musk.
Realistically, Musk’s America Party is unlikely to storm to success at the ballot box. It feels a long shot to expect to see Musk himself as a congressman or senator after the midterm elections in 2026, or for the party to necessarily win a single seat. Musk himself, as a naturalised US citizen, is not eligible to stand for the presidency in 2028, meaning that the America Party would need to find another standard bearer to challenge that election.
But Musk’s movement could easily influence American politics in other ways, though not necessarily to the detriment of Maga.
Donald Trump has a preternatural ability to generate headlines to the exclusion of all of his rivals. Amid the relentless chaos and media noise of Trump, the Democrats struggle to be heard at all, let alone get parity of airtime. Even for issues as serious as Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act – which will strip millions of Americans of health insurance to part-fund tax cuts for the ultra-rich – Democrats could barely be heard.
The only person who rivals Donald Trump’s ability to make noise in the media is… Elon Musk. He has more than 200 million followers on his own social network, he’s ultra-rich, and he’s volatile. Looking ahead to the next presidential race – assuming Trump doesn’t seek an unconstitutional third term – that spells drama.
Trump loves a spectacle, and so would be unlikely to immediately endorse a successor when he could instead let them fight it out. A Republican primary battle between Vice President JD Vance and one of the Trump children (likely Eric or Donald Jr) would soak up plenty of attention just on its own.
Musk could easily fill the rest of the political space available, and starve the Democrats in turn. Figures outside of the traditional Maga movement could easily take up even more of the oxygen of attention. If Robert F Kennedy Jr doesn’t fall out with Trump, he could make his own run for the Republican nomination in 2028. If he does, having a Kennedy on board could be an amazing get for Musk’s America Party.
The players involved may be chaotic and self-absorbed but they draw the spotlight. The same cannot be said of the Democrats. Musk’s new political party is unlikely to achieve any success at the ballot box, but it could accelerate the descent of US politics into WWE or UFC-style kayfabe and pyrotechnics.
Musk’s new party will tilt American politics even further towards showmanship. The danger in that for the Democrats is that they just get lost among the crowd.
James Ball is political editor of The New World