Elon Musk launches America Party amid feud with Trump

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has announced the creation of a new political party in the United States, dubbed the "America Party", marking a dramatic escalation in his political feud with President Donald Trump.

The move comes just days after Trump signed the controversial federal budget bill—nicknamed the "One Big, Beautiful Bill"—into law, which Musk has fiercely criticized as fiscally disastrous. Musk, formerly one of Trump’s top campaign donors and head of the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, now claims the bill will "bankrupt the country with waste and graft."

In a post on X on Saturday, Musk wrote, “When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy. Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

The declaration followed a July 4th online poll Musk posted, asking users whether they desired “independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system.” With over 1.2 million responses, the “yes” votes reportedly outnumbered the “no” votes 2 to 1.

“You want a new political party and you shall have it!” Musk declared.

Musk and Trump had once been close allies. Musk played a prominent role in Trump’s re-election campaign in 2024 and was appointed to lead cost-cutting efforts within the federal government. However, tensions flared when Musk publicly opposed Trump’s new spending package, which economists say could add $3.4 trillion to the national deficit over the next decade.

Musk previously vowed to unseat lawmakers who backed the bill, warning, “They will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”

In response, Trump reportedly threatened to cut off federal subsidies to Musk’s companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, and floated the idea of deporting Musk, who was born in South Africa and became a US citizen in 2002. “We’ll have to take a look,” Trump told reporters this week when asked about the possibility.