By Katherine Tinsley
4:41pm PDT, Jul 7, 2025
_
Donald Trump slammed Elon Musk after he suggested the U.S. embrace a multi-party system in a passionate X rant. "I think it's ridiculous to start a third party," the president told reporters on Sunday, July 6, when asked about Musk's comments. "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."
_
On Saturday, July 5, Elon Musk said that he plans to launch a new political party called the America Party. The announcement came after the tech tycoon ran a poll on X asking if voters want to be freed from the "two-party (some would say uniparty) system." With over 1.2 million participants, 65.4% responded "yes."
_
Elon Musk, who became a U.S. citizen in 2002, hinted at wanting to shift the American political structure. "By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it," he wrote on X. "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."
_
Donald Trump also responded to Elon Musk's comments on Truth Social. "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 – The System seems not designed for them," he wrote. "The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION [and] CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats, who have lost their confidence and their minds!"
_
Donald Trump went on to praise his own political party. "Republicans … are a smooth-running 'machine' that just passed the biggest Bill of its kind in the History of our Country," he wrote. "It is a Great Bill but, unfortunately for Elon [Musk], it eliminates the ridiculous Electric Vehicle (EV) Mandate, which would have forced everyone to buy an Electric Car in a short period of time."
_
Donald Trump noted he was "strongly opposed" to including an EV mandate in his Big, Beautiful Bill. "I have campaigned on this for two years and, quite honestly, when Elon [Musk] gave me his total and unquestioned Endorsement, I asked him whether or not he knew that I was going to terminate the EV Mandate – It was in every speech I made, and in every conversation I had," Trump said. "He said he had no problems with that – I was very surprised!"
_
Donald Trump later asserted that he was working in the best interest of the American public when he passed on Elon Musk's recommendation of his friend — a "blue-blooded Democrat" — for a position at NASA. "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," Trump said. "My Number One charge is to protect the American Public!"