Musk announces the establishment of a political party to “restore freedom to Americans.”

The businessman Elon Musk announced this Saturday on X, the social media platform he owns, the launch of the America Party, the political party he had been hinting at in recent weeks following his departure from Donald Trump’s government and his bitter public clash with the U.S. president. He did not provide further details on how or where he created or plans to register this party, other than to imply its establishment, claiming it is enough to “bring freedom back to Americans.”

The reason driving the world’s richest man in this direction is the same that led to the end of his romance with Trump: the tax reform “One Big Beautiful Bill” (BBB for its English initials). It was just approved in the U.S. Congress and signed by Trump on Friday. It includes a tax cut of $4.5 trillion and cuts amounting to a trillion to social assistance programs like Medicaid, which will see about 12 million people lose coverage, and food stamps. It also suggests a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich and an increase in the already soaring public deficit.

Musk announced his decision to found the America Party after closing a poll he initiated on Friday, Independence Day in the United States. He wrote it was “the ideal time” to ask if people are ready to welcome a third party to break the century-long equilibrium between Republicans and Democrats. “Should we create the America Party?” Musk asked his more than 221 million followers on X. He received 1.25 million votes.

A 65% majority responded affirmatively, prompting the South African-born businessman to react with another message: “By double the votes, you have decided that you want a new party, and you will have it. When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste, this is a one-party system, not a democracy.”

This week, while the BBB was being processed, Musk had already mentioned founding the America Party as a reaction to a regulation that, according to an independent congressional agency, will lead to a $3.3 trillion increase in the public deficit over the next ten years.

He also suggested that he would fund campaigns in the primaries for candidates running against Republicans who supported its approval in the Capitol, even if it is “the last thing” he does. On Friday, he specified that it would be enough to “focus on just two or three Senate seats and between eight and ten House districts.” “Given the narrow legislative margins, this would be sufficient to cast the deciding vote on controversial laws, ensuring they serve the true will of the people,” he wrote, still on X.

Both in a post on his own social network, Truth, and in subsequent statements to reporters, Trump reacted during the week to these plans by threatening Musk with a government investigation into his companies and the suspension of public contracts for a businessman heavily reliant on him, especially in two of his ventures: the space exploration company Space X and the automotive company Tesla. The president also hinted at the idea of deportation. “Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close shop and return to South Africa [where the businessman was born 54 years ago] to his home,” wrote Trump.

There are too many uncertainties surrounding Musk’s announcement this Saturday. Among them, how a businessman with talent but little political experience—gained primarily over the past year—plans to implement the idea of a party. First, he joined Trump’s reelection campaign, contributing a record figure of over $260 million. Later, he enlisted as a special government employee heading the public spending chainsaw known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with which he dismantled entire federal agencies and laid off tens of thousands of employees.

He certainly has the money to influence politics, and these days, many Republican congressmen from contested districts have expressed fear of facing candidates funded by Musk in a country where campaign funds are almost always the sole electoral argument possible.

Beyond the confines of X, it still seems very unlikely that Musk will be able to change the U.S. two-party system as he promises. Others have attempted to break that sturdy shield before, and these efforts always lead to melancholy, perfectly summarized by the great historian Richard Hofstadter (1916-1970): “Third parties are like bees. Once they sting, they die.”