Musk escalates Trump feud with third party launch, Epstein attack
Elon Musk has ratcheted up his already volatile feud with President Trump over the last several days, announcing the creation of a third party and taunting the president over the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Musk announced a new “America Party” faction after Republicans signed Trump’s major policy bill into law, prompting a rebuke from the president who called the idea “ridiculous” and blasted his ally-turned-foe a “train wreck.”
The tech billionaire also trolled the Trump administration over the Epstein case, after his allegation last month that Trump is named in the disgraced financier's files. A memo from the Justice Department and FBI determined there is no “client list.”
The two men had both signaled they might move on from their public falling out more than a month ago, but their clash escalated again last week as Musk vowed to back primary challengers against Republicans who supported the megabill — and their sparring shows little sign of letting up.
“This is potentially more problematic for Republicans than it is for Donald Trump,” said Brian Seitchik, a Republican strategist and Trump campaign alum.
“Elon Musk's ability to hurt Donald Trump feels more like hyperbole than reality,” he continued. “Should Musk decide to spend his vast resources hurting Republicans in the midterm elections or future elections is the real story here.”
Musk announced over the weekend that he would be forming a third party after polling users on the social platform X, which he owns, on whether they wanted “independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system!”
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk wrote in a post on X.
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
The move infuriated Trump, who criticized the tech billionaire on his Truth Social platform and argued making a new party was futile while describing Musk as going “off the rails.”
“He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States - The System seems not designed for them,” Trump wrote. “The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats, who have lost their confidence and their minds!”
Musk needled the president further on social media, insinuating the Trump administration was doing little over the Epstein case. His post came after the release of a memo from the Justice Department and FBI that found no evidence Epstein had a “client list” and that no additional charges were expected.
“What’s the time? Oh look, it’s no-one-has-been-arrested-o’clock again …” wrote Musk on X, attaching a graphic that read “The Official Jeffrey Epstein Pedophile Arrest Counter” with several zeroes underneath it.
Asked broadly about criticism related to the case on Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration “wants anyone who has ever committed a crime to be held accountable.”
Musk’s posts are part of a larger feud he’s reignited with Trump in recent weeks, particularly over Republicans’ major policy bill. He vowed he would support Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who declined to vote for the legislation, and launch primary challenges against Republicans who voted for it.
After signaling earlier this year that he would step back from political spending, Musk’s primary threats pose a challenge to the president and his allies ahead of the midterms. He spent at least $250 million through his America PAC on Trump’s election in 2024.
On the other hand, the megabill also underscored the limitations on Musk’s political power, argued GOP strategist Alex Conant.
“Musk spent a lot of money on the elections last year, and he's threatening to spend a lot of money in upcoming elections. He’s still waiting for some significant policy wins,” Conant said.
Musk is also likely to face challenges in his formation of a third party.
“It's very hard to start a political party in this country. You need a base to have a party, and I don't know what the base of an ‘American Party’ would look like,” Conant said.
Polling just before the November election has shown that while support for a third party has dipped recently, a healthy share of Americans are still in favor of one even if it faces serious questions around viability in an election. A Gallup poll released in late October found 58 percent of respondents saying a third party is needed, down from 63 percent in 2023.
But third-party candidates have long struggled to compete in the current system.
“In the end, whatever you think of Musk, he's not stupid. Eventually he's going to figure out that starting a third party is extremely difficult, not just because of his unpopularity but because of the features of the American political system that have kept the two parties in place since the 1850s,” said John Pitney, a politics professor at Claremont McKenna College in California, noting that Musk’s favorability rating has dropped amid the Trump fallout.
Trump, meanwhile, has left the door open to deporting the South African-born U.S. citizen and suggested Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could be turned against the tech billionaire’s companies.
The developments mark a sharp turn from earlier this year, when the president praised the massive cuts to the federal workforce under DOGE and even gifted Musk a gold key to the White House in May as recognition of the tech mogul’s efforts. During his tenure with DOGE, Musk had kept an office in the White House complex, slept over in the Lincoln Bedroom and snagged the spotlight at Cabinet meetings despite his non-Cabinet position.
"A conflict with Trump was inevitable. You can't have two top dogs,” Pitney said. “If they have one thing in common, it's that neither of them is a forgive-and-forget kind of guy.”
A representative for Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
Some lawmakers have said they want the two to make amends. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) posted a video generated by artificial intelligence of Trump and Musk dancing in synchrony.
“Who else wants this vibe back?” Lee wrote on X.
Other lawmakers suggested they cared more about Trump’s endorsement than Musk’s and that they were ignoring the Tesla CEO.
Still, some Republicans are warning against waving off Musk entirely, saying his actions could have consequences for the GOP.
“Should Musk choose to spend against specific incumbents, specifically senators and members of Congress in key seats, that could impact Republicans’ chances to succeed in those races — and depending on how this political party is constituted and what are the issues that the party is built around and what are the resources that those parties have — certainly they could chip away at Republican votes, at Republican-leaning voters in close elections,” Seitchik said.
Mike Madrid, an anti-Trump Republican strategist, also noted that Musk has a unique global influence with his Starlink satellite internet system and extraordinary wealth.
“There's nobody in the world who can practice foreign diplomacy unilaterally the way Elon Musk does,” Madrid said.
Yet Madrid, a co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, said it was unclear what Musk’s political party would stand for.
“The difference between this and the Lincoln Project split, for example, where there was a philosophical difference, is that this is just a personal power spat, and I think everybody sees it that way,” he said.