About Musk's Third Party

Whether fantasy or reality, it doesn't make sense—but it could be consequential

Photo by Darya Eglite on Unsplash

When the world’s most powerful narcissist broke up with the world’s wealthiest narcissist, the latter decided he would create his own political party as a way to regain relevance and exact revenge. Because this is Elon Musk, there’s no way to know how serious he is about creating what he calls the America Party to compete with Republicans and Democrats. It could just be a whim or another inflated boast, like promising self-driving cars by 2018.

Or he may be serious.

If Musk moves ahead with his plans, he will find himself with a project that could make colonizing Mars look simple. Plenty of others have tried to upend the two-party duopoly. All of them have failed.

Now, there are good reasons to believe Musk’s third party idea may never come to fruition. Setting up a new party requires securing ballot lines by navigating a thicket of state party laws, recruiting candidates and organizing campaigns. It’s a complex process and Musk may have no appetite for the details.

It’s also a very expensive process—which is precisely why Musk’s desire to bankroll a third party effort should be taken seriously. Very few people have the funds to make something like this happen. Musk does.

Let’s try to unpack what he is up to here and the effect it is likely to have on our elections by taking a look at what history and our knowledge of institutions tell us about where Elon Musk’s latest foray into something he knows nothing about is likely to end up.

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