"America needs a new party"

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, once Trump's "First Buddy" and architect of the infamous Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), announced the founding of a new U.S. party on July 5, 2025: the "America Party." What initially looked like a PR stunt on X has now become political reality – an open challenge to Donald Trump, the two-party system, and the trillion-dollar bill Musk no longer wants to pay. "When it comes to the waste and corruption that is ruining our country, we live in a one-party system – not a democracy," Musk wrote on his platform X. It's a sentence that hits hard. And that has impact. A poll initiated by Musk himself, asking whether America needs a new party, garnered over 1.2 million votes – two-thirds of them answered "Yes." Musk responded promptly: "Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom." The message is clear, and so is the goal: Musk wants to fill the political vacuum in the center that has emerged through the ideological shelling from both sides. His party is neither right nor left but a vent for the "80 percent in between" who no longer feel represented by Washington. It is a calculation with disruptive potential – and one with a personal backstory.

What began as a political bromance between the tech billionaire and Donald Trump has long since turned into bitter hatred. When Musk supported Trump's re-election in 2024 with hundreds of millions of dollars and shortly thereafter took over the Department of Government Efficiency, he was seen as a beacon of hope for a streamlined state apparatus. But when Trump rammed the "One Big Beautiful Bill" – a historically expensive tax cut and spending bill – through Congress, Musk changed course – radically. He called the bill a "pork-filled abomination" and accused Republican lawmakers of betraying their own principles. Trump's response came quickly: at a press conference, he left open whether Musk – despite U.S. citizenship – might have to be "sent back to South Africa." A few hours later, on Truth Social, came the threat to cut all subsidies for Tesla’s Gigafactories, SpaceX, and Neuralink. The DOGE department, which Musk himself helped build, could "go back and eat Elon." But Musk did not back down – on the contrary. On X he wrote that enough was enough. If the existing system serves only itself, then a new party is needed to "implement the true will of the people." His plan: not to aim for the presidency right away, but to strategically flip individual centers of power. Two to three Senate seats, eight to ten seats in the House of Representatives – just enough to be the deciding vote in tight majorities. Musk wants blocking power – and with it the leverage over every future law.

Analysts are already warning: if Musk can mobilize his following, a tectonic shift in the political balance is looming. Not out of ideological conviction, but from a technocratic claim to power. The "America Party" is a company like Tesla, said one commentator: low chances of success – but if it works, it changes the game. Musk himself shared that comment with the emoji "💯" and the U.S. flag. But what exactly does this party want? So far, the content is vague. Musk talks about budget discipline, freedom, technological innovation, and independence from the "deep state." But concrete programs are missing. It is also unclear whether he will run himself – or remain in the background as financier. What is certain is that his feud with Trump has reached a new chapter. The advisor has become a rival. The donor a detonator. And a tweet a political project. Meanwhile, the culture war rages on. Trump has called on his supporters to isolate "traitors" like Musk. In the Senate, Republicans speak in hushed tones of a "stab in the back." And Democrats, it seems, watch the collapse of the right with quiet amazement – knowing full well that Musk could cost them votes too. Elon Musk is playing a dangerous game. But if anyone knows how to work against gravity, it’s him. The founding of the "America Party" is more than a political gag. It is an attempt to reprogram the U.S. political system – through an update from the outside. And as with all his projects, the same applies here: either it fails spectacularly – or it changes history.