{"id":2457757,"date":"2025-07-10T04:20:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T08:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/it-wont-be-easy-for-musk-to-build-a-successful-third-party-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T04:22:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T08:22:37","slug":"it-wont-be-easy-for-musk-to-build-a-successful-third-party-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/it-wont-be-easy-for-musk-to-build-a-successful-third-party-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"It won\u2019t be easy for Musk to build a successful third party &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fit-wont-be-easy-for-musk-to-build-a-successful-third-party-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2457757&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the challenges Elon musk faces in creating a successful third political party,the America Party. while Republicans are concerned about his effort to split the GOP, Musk&#8217;s project encounters significant obstacles, including the absence of a strong presidential candidate and Musk&#8217;s constitutional ineligibility to run for president, as he is not a natural-born U.S. citizen. Unlike past third-party efforts led by prominent figures like ross Perot,Musk&#8217;s popularity is relatively low,and his political base remains unclear. Additionally, the U.S. electoral system,which is dominated by two major parties and only recently experimenting with ranked-choice voting,poses structural difficulties for new parties. Musk&#8217;s attempt to combine fiscal conservatism with support for industries like electric vehicles reflects an unclear political direction, and it remains uncertain whether his party can attract a substantial following. Although Musk has the financial resources to influence politics,legal limits prevent him from directly funding a political party,and third parties generally require extensive money and infrastructure to gain ballot access and win elections. the article suggests that building a viable third party may be more complex than even Musk&#8217;s ventures in space exploration.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">It won&rsquo;t be easy for Musk to build a successful third party<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2165127\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Republicans are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3466196\/republicans-concern-elon-musk-split-gop-america-party-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">rightly worried<\/a> about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/elon-musk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Elon Musk<\/a>&rsquo;s threat to form a third party, but for all his considerable talents, the billionaire&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >latest political project faces numerous obstacles<\/a> before it can become a real threat to the status quo.<\/p>\n<p>The first is the lack of a candidate. When Musk made his first foray into national politics, <span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">President&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Trump <\/a>solved that problem. Whatever the merits of Musk&rsquo;s contribution to the Trump 2024 ground game, we have yet to see it replicated down-ballot. Trum<\/span>p was previously elected president in 2016 and mounted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-line-up-behind-manchin-and-sinema-amid-their-independent-streak\/\" title=\"... Line Up Behind Manchin And Sinema Amid Their Independent Streak\">competitive reelection bid<\/a> in 2020 under historically adverse conditions. Musk&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3356781\/wisconsin-supreme-court-race-musk-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">forays<\/a> into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/wisconsin-supreme-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Wisconsin Supreme Court<\/a> race were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3367110\/liberal-susan-crawford-wins-wisconsin-supreme-court-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">unsuccessful<\/a> and may even have backfired.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3466719\/gavin-newsom-backlash-south-carolina-trip\/\">Newsom faces backlash for South Carolina trip<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3464666\/where-2028-presidential-contenders-visit-early-primary-states\/\">Here&#8217;s where possible 2028 presidential contenders are going as they visit early primary states<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/3465969\/new-book-trump-biden-harris-2024-campaigns-eight-takeaways\/\">New book gives inside look at Trump, Biden, Harris 2024 campaigns: Eight key takeaways<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The last billionaire to seriously attempt what Musk is undertaking, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ross-perot\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Ross Perot<\/a>, was able to solve that problem for himself. The draft-Perot movement of 1991 was to some extent astroturfed. Perot, who, like Musk, was animated by deficit reduction despite building a significant part of his fortune from government contracts, ran as an independent in 1992 before trying to start the Reform Party.<\/p>\n<p>Musk is constitutionally ineligible to run for president, unlike Perot, because he isn&rsquo;t a natural-born citizen; Trump has previously been known to raise this constitutional objection under more dubious circumstances. Nor is Musk personally all that popular. In a <em>Decision Desk<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DecisionDeskHQ\/status\/1943024895912480956\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">polling average<\/a>, Musk is viewed favorably by 35.4% compared to 55.8%, which is worse than Trump or Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jd-vance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">JD Vance<\/a>&rsquo;s numbers, suggesting some Republican defections.<\/p>\n<p>Musk&rsquo;s poll numbers among Democrats have tanked since his close association with Trump. CNN data analyst Harry Enten has found that only 4% of voters like Musk but not the sitting president.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The tech billionaire could try to turn these liabilities into assets. One thing that has held back past semi-successful third parties is that they become too associated with one big personality.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Perot wasn&rsquo;t even originally going to be the Reform Party&rsquo;s nominee in 1996. He lured former Gov. Richard Lamm (D-CO) into the fledgling party&rsquo;s presidential nomination race and then trounced him at the convention. Perot perennially feuded with the Reform Party&rsquo;s biggest electoral success story, then-Gov. Jesse Ventura, and then endorsed against its next presidential nominee, the conservative commentator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pat-buchanan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Pat Buchanan<\/a>, in 2000.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Reform Party never really recovered and had minimal post-Perot effect. Perhaps having a leader who cannot run for president, with a possible emphasis on state and local races that would theoretically be easier to win, would put Musk&rsquo;s America Party in a more favorable position.<\/p>\n<p>Another challenge would be determining the America Party&rsquo;s target audience. Musk appears to be motivated by a combination of fiscal austerity and, as Tesla&rsquo;s owner, a robust support for the electric vehicle industry. The overlap between these two groups is minimal. Is Musk trying to form a genuinely centrist political party? If so, is a combination of fiscal conservatism and social liberalism the best way to do that, as opposed to the other way around? Does Musk want to start a party to the right of the existing GOP, or at least a political movement that is more libertarian? Does he want to promote the industries in which he is heavily invested? He has yet to really pick a lane.<\/p>\n<p>A poll by Echelon Insights, a Republican firm, asked respondents which party they would support if the United States were a multiparty parliamentary democracy. The Right was closely divided between nationalists at 24% and conservatives at 20%. On the Left, a clear plurality of 31% picked a labor party, 13% chose a more centrist &ldquo;Acela&rdquo; one, and 6% were green.<\/p>\n<p>Musk could presumably draw from all of those camps, except perhaps labor. Ex-Democrat Andrew Yang has already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/business\/3465035\/andrew-yang-in-touch-elon-musk-america-party\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">offered to help<\/a>. However, it is unclear whether Musk or his party would be the logical first choice of any of these factions or whether Musk&rsquo;s vision would be more competitive nationally than Trump&rsquo;s. Most importantly, the U.S. is not a multiparty parliamentary democracy and is just beginning to experiment with ranked choice voting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While Musk was able to pour millions of dollars into pro-Trump super PACs last year, he would not legally be able to bankroll a political party. Third parties generally have to spend a great deal of money to secure ballot access before focusing on getting their candidates elected.<\/p>\n<p>The recent experience of Trump and Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/bernie-sanders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Bernie Sanders<\/a> (I-VT) suggests that taking over a major political party is the more promising path. Despite the pushback against their heterodoxy on the &ldquo;big, beautiful bill,&rdquo; Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) possess far more political power and have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/anti-woke-is-the-new-whig-party-it-will-collapse-for-the-very-same-reason\/\" title=\"&#039;Anti-Woke&#039; = New Whig ...: Will Collapse for Same Reason\">achieved electoral success<\/a> as Republicans than as members of the Libertarian Party. Musk was briefly an example of this as a member of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/trump-administration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Trump administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3465614\/ron-desantis-musk-america-party-warns-could-backfire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">DESANTIS WARNS MUSK THAT FORMATION OF AMERICAN PARTY COULD BACKFIRE <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If the America Party is purely a Musk revenge tour, it might not need to win many votes in close elections to have an effect. Musk&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3465834\/musk-suggests-epstein-files-release-will-be-high-priority-for-america-party\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">focus on the Jeffrey Epstein files<\/a>, for instance, may suggest that he targets the low-propensity voters he and conservative activist Charlie Kirk mobilized in 2024. These voters are already less likely to turn out in the midterm elections and haven&rsquo;t always supported down-ballot Republicans without Trump&rsquo;s coattails.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But many questions would need to be answered before Musk&rsquo;s new venture can get off the ground. As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/07\/02\/business\/elon-musk-new-political-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">one wag put it<\/a>, building rockets might be easier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2165127\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2165127\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Musk faces many hurdles to build a viable third party<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2659,"featured_media":2457758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/musk-inauguraiton.-.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[5533,32192,5894,58612,32076],"class_list":["post-2457757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-challenges","tag-elon-musk","tag-politics","tag-third-party-2","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/musk-inauguraiton.-.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2659"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2457757"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2457761,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457757\/revisions\/2457761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2457758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2457757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2457757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2457757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}