Elon Musk makes major U-Turn after promising to upend US politics with third party… and goes all in on Trump's successor
The billionaire Tesla founder intends to shift his focus back to his companies after a tumultuous stint working with President Trump and has become wary of upsetting Republicans, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Musk has decided to join other tech titans and rally behind the person they believe is the likely successor to Trump: Vice President JD Vance, who has made moves recently suggesting he will run in 2028.
The former DOGE head spent nearly $300million helping to elect Trump in 2024, but the duo has a spectacular fallout earlier this year with Musk eventually writing on X that 'Trump is in the Epstein files.'
With Trump term-limited as president, Musk is considering putting his massive wealth behind Vance in 2028.
He would join other tech honchos who have doled out money to Vance such as Palantir CEO Peter Thiel, former PayPal COO David Sacks, Roku CEO Anthony Wood and entrepreneur Palmer Luckey.
Recent polls show Vance as a clear front runner for the 2028 Republican nomination.
Musk has been speaking to Vance in recent weeks, the Journal said, and believes launching the America Party for the 2026 midterms might jeopardize their relationship.
Also, many suggest the work has not begun on the basics like getting his America Party on the ballot or organizing with potential supporters.
'So my hope is that by the time of the midterms, he's kind of come back into the fold,' Vance told The Gateway Pundit in a recent interview.
Billionaire CEO Mark Cuban, who endorsed Musk's attempt to start a third party, has said he's heard nothing about the plans for a third party, complaints echoed by others who've offered to work with Musk.
'It's almost an eerie silence,' Libertarian National Committee Chair Steven Nekhaila, whose party has tried to engage and even join forces with Musk, said.
'It doesn't seem like anything has been in action, neither at the state level or at the ground level.'
Those close to Musk cancelled a July meeting with a group that helps organize third-party campaigns and were told Musk wanted to focus more on business.
Musk's potential backing of Vance despite his feud with Trump is the latest suggestion the VP and former Ohio Senator will attempt to make himself the successor to Trump.
In June, Vance made a secret trip to Rupert Murdoch 's Montana ranch, but it wasn't to ride horses or loll about tasting wine.
The vice president spoke with the 94-year-old media mogul, his son Lachlan Murdoch and a group of other Fox News executives at the $280 million estate on June 11, to the talk up Trump agenda.
The specifics of the meeting and Vance's conversation with the group was not disclosed - but it appeared to be brief. Murdoch and other top executives are known for hosting powerful politicians across the summer at their sprawling estates.
After the Murdoch meeting, the vice president and his wife, Usha, then took a hike, Montana State Auditor James Brown, who helped plan the trip, told Montana Talks.
Musk's fallout with Trump appears to have simmered down since their blow up, with Trump saying in July that he wants success for the ex-'First Buddy' and his companies.
Trump had previously threatened to take away the billions in government contracts granted to Musk's various companies including SpaceX, The Boring Company, xAI and Neuralink.
The duo had a very public fallout over Trump's one big beautiful bill, which resulted in each man making threats against the other.
But the president now says he wants Musk to 'thrive.'
'Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon's companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so!,' the president wrote on Truth Social.
'I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE, in fact, THRIVE like never before! The better they do, the better the USA does, and that's good for all of us,' Trump wrote.
Musk's fallout with Trump appears to have simmered down as the summer goes on, with Trump saying in July that he wants success for the ex-'First Buddy' and his companies
Earlier in July Trump added an additional threat: turning DOGE - the agency Musk founded - against him.
'I don't know. We'll have to take a look,' the president told Daily Mail when asked about deporting Musk.
'We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon,' Trump added.
The America Party's founding came after Musk created an online poll on July 4 asking his followers whether to establish the new party.
The results came back 65.4 percent in favor, leading Musk to make the announcement.
'By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!' Musk wrote.
'When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.
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