Has Elon Musk abandoned his plans for an America Party?
The billionaire announced his intention to form the 'America Party' last month after leaving his role as White House adviser and entering a war of words with President Trump over his One Big Beautiful Bill.
However, he has cooled on the idea and privately said he wants to focus on running his companies Tesla and SpaceX, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Sources told the newspaper that Musk had acknowledged a new party would damage relations with senior Republicans including JD Vance, the vice-president. Musk is considering backing Vance if he decides to run for president in 2028, they added.
Musk denied the claims in a post on X, saying nothing the Journal reported 'should ever be thought of as true'.
The billionaire was the largest donor in the 2024 election, giving nearly $300 million to Trump and Republican candidates.
He served as a senior adviser to Trump, leading the Department of Government Efficiency, for four months until exiting in late May. The pair held a friendly press conference on Musk's final day, vowing to continue their work together.
Within days the relationship turned acrimonious as Musk derided Trump's flagship package of tax cuts and border-security funding, calling it a 'disgusting abomination'. He also pledged to 'fire all politicians' who voted for the bill.
On July 5 Musk declared his intention of launching a new party, citing the results of a poll he had posted on X. 'By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it,' he wrote. 'When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste and graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy. Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.'
Trump, who has publicly been relaxed about its electoral prospects, responded with a Truth Social post. 'I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks. He even wants to start a third political party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States,' he wrote.
Musk said the party would 'laser-focus' on a small number of seats in the midterm elections next November. He suggested this could be two or three Senate seats and eight to ten House districts, adding: 'Given the razor-thin legislative margins, that would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people.'
Musk's associates cancelled a call with a group specialising in third-party campaigns in late July, the Journal reported, but the America Party plan has yet to be officially called off.
Vance acknowledged that Musk had a 'complicated relationship' with the White House in an interview on August 9, telling The Gateway Pundit: 'I don't know that he would take my call right now … I kid. I'm sure he would take my call, but honestly, the drama around him and the White House over the last couple of months — my hope is that it just kinda cools down a bit.
'If you're patriotic, you're not trying to sink your knife in the back of the president, you're not trying to betray the movement.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Wisconsin court commissioner resigns after dispute over immigration warrant
A Wisconsin court commissioner has resigned from his job after he asked to see an immigration arrest warrant, the latest conflict between judges and President Donald Trump 's administration over the Republican's sweeping immigration crackdown. Peter Navis, who worked as a Walworth County Court Commissioner for four years, resigned from his position last month, county clerk Michelle Jacobs said Thursday. She declined to comment further because it is a personnel matter. The incident that cost Navis his job happened on July 15. It was first reported on Thursday by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The blowup in Navis' courtroom comes after Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was charged in May with obstructing federal officers and attempting to hide a person to avoid arrest. Authorities said Dugan tried to help a man who is in the country illegally evade U.S. immigration agents who wanted to arrest him in her courthouse. Dugan is seeking to have the charges against her dropped, arguing that she was acting in her official capacity as a judge and therefore is immune to prosecution. A ruling on that motion by U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman is pending. Navis was presiding in his courtroom that day in the case of Enrrique Onan Zamora Castro, of Milwaukee, who faced a misdemeanor charge of operating a vehicle without a valid driver's license for the second time in three years. A court transcript shows that Navis objected to sheriff's deputies attempting to detain Castro on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, without a valid federal warrant. 'In my courtroom, a person cannot be detained without lawful authority,' Navis said in the transcript. The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Andrew Herrmann, said Navis had no right to see the warrant, according to the transcript. Herrmann did not respond to a voicemail seeking comment. According to the transcript, Navis said, 'I've been instructed by the judges of this county to require warrants before individuals are detained in my courtroom.' None of the four Walworth County judges returned emails seeking comment. Walworth County Clerk of Courts Michele Jacobs said deputies routinely arrest people on warrants in the courthouse. Walworth County Sheriff Dave Gerber and ICE officials did not respond to email messages seeking comment. Walworth County, home to about 100,000 people, is in south-central Wisconsin along the Illinois border. Trump won the county with about 60% of the vote in November.
Daily Mirror
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
'Time traveller' spotted in Trump and Putin photo with eerie similarity to 1959
US President Donald Trump shared two photos of meetings between American leaders and their counterparts from Russia and the Soviet Union, with many people noticing a striking similarity Eagle-eyed online sleuths have noted an odd detail involving an apparent "time traveller" in photos showing meetings between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and between Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev. US President Trump met with despot Putin for the Alaska summit last week where he hoped to squeeze out conditions for a peace deal with the Russian President. During the meeting, where Putin issued steep demands for peace, the two leaders appeared cordial and, at times, friendly. One photo from the meeting, shared by the US President on TruthSocial, showed Trump pointing his finger squarely at a smirking Putin's chest while an interpreter seemingly guiding the conversation between the pair. The snap was accompanied by another photo of then-Vice President Nixon and Soviet Union leader Khrushchev, with a similar finger pointing incident during the so-called "Kitchen Debate" in Moscow, in 1959. While Trump appeared to highlight the similarities between his gesture and his Republican predecessor, as an apparent show of strength, eagle-eyed people online noted another similarity. At the centre of both images were interpreters who appeared strikingly similar. The unidentified men were noted for having physical similarities including their hair, face shape and their clothes, namely a shirt, suit and tie. X/ Twitter user Carole Tahan said: "A time traveller from the Nixon/Khroutchev encounter (1959) to the Trump/Putin Alaska summit (2025). The striking resemblance of the 2 interpreters!" Another commenter, going by the handle @polymath1959 added: "2025 upper panel - Trump vs Putin 1959 lower panel - Nixon vs Khruschev. Weird fun fact? Same interpreter in both, not aged a day!" Body language expert Judi James also noted the similarity, telling The Mirror: "They even seem to have booked a double of the guy who stood between the leaders back then, to stand in the same spot with the same look of concern on his face, suggesting this is serious stuff." The US pursued a strategy of containment against the Soviet Union, which resulted in Washington DC challenging the emergence of communism in multiple countries, including Vietnam, as well as assisting its enemies, such as in Afghanistan. But Trump has struck up a more positive tone with Putin that had not been seen since Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Putin last enjoyed cordial relations with a Republican when George W. Bush was President. The pair met in 2001, with the former President commenting he looked into Putin's eyes and "found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy, and we had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul." Bush also said Putin "was a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country and I appreciate very much the frank dialogue and that's the beginning of a very constructive relationship." Trump has had a friendly relationship with Putin and has spoken warmly about him, even appearing to favour him in talks about ending the war in Ukraine.
Telegraph
27 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Crisp bag filled with cash was gift for journalist not bribe, says Eric Adams adviser
One of New York mayor Eric Adams's close advisers has been forced to deny trying to bribe a journalist with a bag of sour cream and onion crisps stuffed with cash. Winnie Greco pressed an open bag of herr's sour cream and onion ripple potato chips holding more than $100 (£74) in a red envelope into a reporter's hand after an event for Mr Adams's campaign in Harlem, The City reported. Ms Greco has been a close adviser to Mr Adams for more than a decade. She has helped him raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for his mayoral campaigns and has escorted him on several trips to China. A spokesperson for Mr Adam's re-election campaign said Ms Greco does not hold a formal position within the team, and had been suspended from volunteer activities. The reporter, Katie Honan, who works for The City, a New York local news website, had scrutinised Ms Greco's conduct in the past as a major fundraiser for Mr Adams in the Chinese American community. Ms Grece stepped down as Mr Adams's director of Asian affairs in October, months after her homes were raided by the FBI as part of an investigation into Chinese interference in the 2021 mayoral race. She had returned to Mr Adams's campaign trail as a volunteer in his run against Zohran Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo, and was at an event on Wednesday night with Ms Honan. Following the event, Ms Greco reportedly sent Ms Honan a text and asked her to meet across the street from the campaign next to a bank. The pair walked to the Whole Foods supermarket next door and Ms Greco handed Ms Honan an opened bag of crisps, accordintg to The City. Thinking Ms Greco was trying to offer her a snack, Ms Honan declined, but Ms Greco insisted she keep them. After leaving Ms Greco, Ms Honan looked inside the bag and found a red envelope with at least one $100 bill and several $20 bills. The reporter called Ms Greco saying she could not accept the money and tried to return it. On Wednesday Ms Greco told the outlet she had made 'a mistake', adding: 'I'm so sorry. It's a culture thing. I don't know. I don't understand. I'm so sorry. I feel so bad right now. I'm so sorry, honey.' 'I just wanted to be her friend,' Ms Greco said. 'I just wanted to have one good friend. It's nothing.' Steven Brill, Ms Greco's lawyer, said the situation was being 'blown out of proportion' and she had made the gesture because she is 'fond' of the reporter. 'This was not a bag of cash,' Mr Brill said. He added: 'In the Chinese culture, money is often given to others in a gesture of friendship and gratitude. And that's all that was done here. Winnie's intention was born purely out of kindness.' Todd Shapiro, Mr Adams's campaign spokesperson, said Ms Greco had been suspended from the campaign and Mr Adams had 'no prior knowledge of this matter'. The City reported Ms Greco's actions to the city's department of investigation and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn contacted the newspaper's lawyers. Last year, Mr Adams was charged with a string of federal corruption and bribery charges. The charges were later dropped the direction of the Department of Justice, which argued the case was hindering Mr Adams's ability to help Donald Trump's with his immigration crackdown.
