Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is officially moving forward with his plans to launch a third party to compete with Republicans. Now, President Donald Trump's administration is now making it known that any conservative operatives who plan to help Musk should consider themselves blacklisted.
That's according to a Monday article in the New York Times, which reported that Musk's newly christened "America Party" is now actively aiming to recruit staffers committed to recruiting candidates and getting enough petition signatures to qualify for the 2026 ballot in numerous key states. While the party is still theoretical at this point and Musk hasn't yet set a budget, the Times' Teddy Schleifer tweeted that some of Musk's advisors "appear more focused on those details and are soliciting more feedback from experts." The move from theoretical to practical apparently has Trump concerned enough to warn GOP operatives to not align with Musk.
Just as Trump threatened Republicans to not hire a Republican strategist who worked for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) — his 2024 Republican primary rival — he's communicating a similar message to conservatives entertaining the prospect of working for the world's richest man. An unnamed source told the Times that the White House has been "closely watching Mr. Musk’s allied operatives" since he announced his intent to launch the America Party.
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In a series of posts to his X account, Musk said his new party would likely focus its efforts next year on just 2-3 U.S. Senate seats and 8-10 U.S. House seats. He acknowledged that while this wouldn't qualify as a takeover of Congress, it would constitute just enough representation to tilt critical votes toward his favored outcome.
"It could also require Mr. Musk to direct the actions of his candidates and elected officials, much like an old-school party boss," the Times reported. "And for such a smaller-scale initiative to achieve the influence he imagines, it most likely rests on the continuation of a narrowly divided Congress, in which lawmakers aligned with Mr. Musk had the numbers to decide the majority."
Ever since his public falling out with Trump in June, Musk has been promising to launch a new party if Trump signed the Republican budget megabill into law. And following the bill's signing, Musk conducted a poll on X asking his 221 million followers to weigh in on whether he should follow through on his threats. The poll finished with roughly two-thirds of 1.2 million respondents in favor of the idea, prompting the South African centibillionaire to say that the America Party was being created "to give you back your freedom."
Musk's "America Party" branding could cause him multiple headaches down the road: Not only in terms of the immense financial and organizing-related obstacles third parties have to overcome, but also due to particular state laws. The Times pointed out that in New York, there is already a state law banning any party with the name "America" or "American" in its name from appearing on a ballot. And journalist Molly Conger observed that while Musk may have wanted to call his new effort the "American Party," that name already has a sordid history, as pro-segregation Alabama Governor George Wallace ran on the "American Party" ticket in 1968.
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Click here to read the Times' full report (subscription required).