Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Musk Starting New Political Party
Elon Musk has had a falling out with President Trump over the tax bill that become law last week. Mr. Musk rightly said it was a bad bill that blew up the national budget deficit and the national debt. Mr. Trump thinks it is the greatest thing ever, and will bring America a new golden age, blah, blah, blah. It is holes the American economy below the waterline, so Mr. Musk is right. His solution is to launch his own political party called "The America Party." The only thing more troubling that the unimaginative name is the lack principles. The big question is just what is the new party for?
The easy answer to that question is that the America Party is a vehicle for Mr. Musk to muck about in American politics. It is classic billionaire conspicuous consumption. Mr. Trump has a political party so Mr. Musk wants one. As he claimed in his announcement on X (Twitter gone stale), the American people have said in polls that they want a third political party, by about 2-1. But do they want the same kind of party? One doubts it. A third party sounds hopeful and exciting until one has to discuss policy. Then, everyone hates some part of it.
America has seent this before. Back in 1992, Ross Perot decided to take the millions he made in business and run for president. He lost, and Bill Clinton was president. However, Mr. Perot did win a good slice of the electorate, 18.9% of the popular vote. He ran again in 1996 to secure 8%. His Reform Party did run some state and local candidates, but today his Reform Party exists largely on old webpages. Today it has ballot access only in Florida and Mississippi. In short, the did not last as a force in politics after the rich guy left the stage.
Mr. Musk cannot be president as the Constitution requires the top guy to be born a citizen, which Mr. Musk was not. So, he has to find a candidate for the very top who has some charisma and who is willing to play second fiddle to the billionaire. At the same time, he needs to recruit candidates for lower level offices, and that is the mistake that a great many who want a third party make. Winning the White House is very hard. Winning a handful of congressional seats and maybe a couple of governorships is much easier. It also creates a local cadre of activists who will not vanish in the post-election let-down.
Mr. Trump believes this is a stupid idea, and he has a vested interest in making sure nothing comes of it. He won the White House by a percentage point or so, and a right-wing third party would attact enough to make sure the Democrats take the White House. So, killing off the America Party makes sense from his point of view.
For the Democrats, this is a golden opportunity. If Mr. Musk manages to field some candidates, he will probably take more votes from the Republicans that the Democrats. That creates Democratic majorities in the House and possibly the Senate. Any presidential candidate could slash GOP majorities to deliver the White House to the Democrats.
The real question is whether Mr. Musk can keep focus long enough to accomplish any of this. It may eat into his Tesla operation and his drive to colonize Mars. Frankly, this journal does not believe he will get much of this done. In the end, he will probably just throw money at the problem and hope for the best. It will not be an enduring legacy any more than the Ross Perot effort was. Indeed, Mr. Perot ran in two presidential elections which shows a certain amount of concentration on the objectives. Mr. Musk could be anywhere in his plotting this time next month.
© Copyright 2025 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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