Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington, D.C., on March 9, 2020.
AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File
Musk posted a poll on July 4, asking respondents if they wanted a new party, with 65.4 percent saying that they supported the idea.
On X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: "Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom," citing the poll.
Given he is a foreign-born U.S. citizen, Musk cannot run for president but he can support third-party candidates, who can put themselves on the ballot in every state, if they have enough signatures to support their bid. However, this could prove difficult because it is rare for third-party candidates to break through significantly in federal elections.
What To Know
Posting on X, Marc Cuban, a billionaire businessman and TV personality suggested he was interested in the party, sharing fireworks emojis then writing: "I work with [Center for Competitive Democracy]. They will help you get on ballots. That is their mission."Anthony Scaramucci, who was fired by Donald Trump just 10 days into the job as White House communications director in 2017, wrote: "I would like to meet to discuss."
Social media personality Brian Krassenstein, who has over 900,000 followers, wrote: "Awesome! Where can we see more information?"
Tyler Palmer, a tech investor and producer, suggested policies the America Party should endorse like modernizing the military with AI and robotics and said if these policies were on the platform "where do we send our donations?"
However, other people expressed concerns about the party.
Roger Stone, a longtime Republican strategist and Trump loyalist, said: "I have huge respect for @elonmusk and everything he has done for free speech and to ferret out waste fraud and corruption in federal spending, but I would rather see him pursue his efforts at electoral reform within the Republican Party primaries rather than having a new party splitting the vote of sane people and letting the Marxist Democrats gain control again."
Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon also criticized the party on the Friday edition of his podcast The War Room.
"The foul, the buffoon. Elmo the Mook, formerly known as Elon Musk, Elmo the Mook," Bannon said. "He's today, in another smear, and this—only a foreigner could do this—think about it, he's got up on, he's got up on Twitter right now, a poll about starting an America Party, a non-American starting an America Party."
He added: "No, brother, you're not an American. You're a South African. We take enough time and prove the facts of that, you should be deported because it's a crime of what you did—among many."
What People Are Saying
Dafydd Townley, an American politics expert at the University of Portsmouth, previously told Newsweek that "third parties do not tend to have a long lifetime in American politics," adding that Musk's new party "would likely split the Republican vote, potentially resulting in a Democrat-dominated House of Representatives, at least in the short term, due to the winner-takes-all electoral system."What Happens Next
As more details about the party emerge, it is likely that other high-profile political figures will comment on it, either to criticize the initiative or to offer their support.Article Link
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