Donald Trump calls Elon Musk's formation of a third US political party 'ridiculous'

Australia Broadcast Center

19 hours ago

United States President Donald Trump has labelled Elon Musk's plans to form a new political party as "ridiculous," in a fresh barb launched at the tech billionaire months after he formally departed the White House administration.
In his remarks on Sunday, local time, Mr Trump also said that the Musk ally he once named to lead NASA would have presented a conflict of interest given the SpaceX founder's business interests in space.
A day after Mr Musk escalated his feud with the president and announced the formation of a new US political party, Mr Trump was asked about it before boarding Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, as he returned to Washington DC upon visiting his nearby golf club.
"We have a tremendous success with the Republican Party. The Democrats have lost their way, but it's always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to confusion.
"It really seems to have been developed for two parties.
"Third parties have never worked, so he can have fun with it, but I think it's ridiculous."
Shortly after speaking about Mr Musk, Mr Trump posted further comments on his Truth Social platform, saying, "I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks."
"The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats, who have lost their confidence and their minds!" the president's post said.
Mr Musk announced on Saturday that he is establishing the "America Party" in response to Mr Trump's tax-cut and spending bill, which the billionaire said would bankrupt the country.
"What the heck was the point of @DOGE if he's just going to increase the debt by $5 trillion??" Mr Musk wrote on X on Sunday, referring to the government downsizing agency he briefly led.
Critics have said the bill will damage the US economy by significantly adding to the federal budget deficit.
Mr Musk said his new party would in next year's midterm elections look to unseat Republican politicians in Congress who backed the sweeping measure known as the "big, beautiful bill".
The move comes after he spent millions of dollars underwriting Mr Trump's 2024 re-election effort and, for a time, regularly showed up at the president's side in the White House Oval Office and elsewhere.
The pair's disagreement over the spending bill led to a falling out that Mr Musk briefly tried unsuccessfully to repair.
The president has said Mr Musk is unhappy because the measure, which was signed into law on Friday, takes away green-energy credits for Tesla's electric vehicles.
Mr Trump has threatened to pull billions of dollars Tesla and SpaceX receive in government contracts and subsidies in response to Musk's criticism.
In his social media comments about Mr Musk, the president also said it was "inappropriate" to have named an ally of the billionaire, Jared Isaacman, as NASA administrator considering Mr Musk's business with the space agency.
In December Mr Trump named Mr Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut, to lead NASA but withdrew the nomination on May 31, before his Senate confirmation vote and without explanation.
Mr Trump, who has yet to announce a new NASA nominee, on Sunday confirmed media reports he disapproved of Mr Isaacman's previous support for Democratic politicians.
"I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon's corporate life," the president said on Truth Social.
"My Number One charge is to protect the American Public!"
Mr Musk's announcement of a new party immediately brought a rebuke from investment firm Azoria Partners, which said on Saturday it will postpone the listing of its Azoria Tesla Convexity exchange-traded fund because the party's creation posed "a conflict with his full-time responsibilities as CEO".
Azoria was set to launch the Tesla ETF this week.
The company's CEO, James Fishback, posted on X several critical comments about the new party and reiterated his support for Mr Trump.
"I encourage the Board to meet immediately and ask Elon to clarify his political ambitions and evaluate whether they are compatible with his full-time obligations to Tesla as CEO," Mr Fishback said.
Reuters