Sorry, Elon. There’s Already a Third Party, and It’s Called MAGA

(Bloomberg Opinion) — Elon Musk just can’t seem to make up his mind. 

Either he has “done enough” when it comes to political spending and will focus on his businesses or he will spend more money to start a new political party to take on the “uniparty.”

“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!” Musk wrote on X after posting a poll on July 4. 

The world’s richest man is right. For years, Americans have stated a desire for another party beyond red or blue. An October Gallup poll showed support for a third party at 58%. The numbers speak to an overall discontent with a lack of choice and distaste for rank partisanship. Third-party support ebbs and flows, but the desire for more choices is a constant.

Nevertheless, while voters claim to want more choices, once they cast their ballots, third-party candidates haven’t broken through in any meaningful way. In 2020, 1.79% voted for a third-party candidate for the White House. In 2024, 1.85% of voters backed a candidate not named Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. A group called No Labels tried and failed to identify a credible White House candidate in 2024. Typically, third party candidates have only acted as spoilers; see Ross Perot in 1992, Ralph Nader in 2000 and Jill Stein in 2016. Part of the problem is the very high structural hurdles the two existing parties have put in place to keep rival parties from forming. 

There is also this to consider: A third party kind of already exists. It’s called the Republican Party under Trump, otherwise known as MAGA. Rather than run on a third party line, as he explored doing in 2000 with Perot’s Reform Party, Trump rode populist discontent to power within an existing political party.

He hijacked the GOP and remade it in his own image with ideas from both parties. 

He is pro-union, more isolationist than hawk, and against free trade. And he doesn’t care about the debt and deficits — he agrees with Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren that the debt ceiling “should be thrown out entirely.”  

As one headline from Reason Magazine put it, “Donald Trump Sounds Like a Democrat From the 1980s.”

Musk, with his billions and his influence, might be better off bankrolling candidates within the two-party system who offer a similar ideological blend. But for now, he seems set on doing what others before him have tried and failed to do. So let’s take him at his word and assume that the world’s richest man will show some focus and play in the 2026 midterms via a third party. 

“One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,” he posted. “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.”

His strategy actually isn’t a bad one and aligns with what some other groups are doing.

“Elon, I don’t know what he is going to do, but I believe some of these candidates he would want to give some cash to,” said Adam Brandon, senior advisor to The Independent Center, a group that will back a handful of independent candidates in the midterms. “If we do this in 2026, this sets up a different conversation in 2028.” 

The group is hosting what they are billing as the largest independent event in Washington DC later this month, and predicts that 2026 will see an independent surge. 

But Musk may be a tainted messenger. He once enjoyed a level of support among a wide array of people with differing political views as a kind of real life Tony Stark, but his approval ratings have dipped in recent months, as has his brand. In December, according to a YouGov poll, Musk was even among independent voters, with 42% liking and disliking him. His unfavorable rating is now 59% among that group. His numbers are also down among Democrats and Republicans. 

It’s true that some people tend to like Musk’s products, even as they dislike him. Witness the Anti-Elon Tesla Club stickers affixed to his signature product. 

What is missing, however, is a real reason for Musk’s latest version of the disruptive third party. Musk is a political contradiction, with no consistent ideas about policy. He says the America Party is about freedom, yet it seems to be about his own personal grievances with Trump. He claims to care about ballooning deficits, yet is happy to take billions from the federal government to foot the bill for his projects. He claims to care about the environment, yet also claims that global depopulation is a bigger threat than climate change.

What would the America Party platform look like and what candidates would it attract? What story would they tell about the big problems the country faces and what would the solutions be? That kind of narrative coherence is necessary, as party affiliation has become an extension of identity. In choosing to back a party, voters are telling a story about who they are, what they believe and how they think the government should operate. It’s akin to joining a club.

Musk has billions. But he has few resonant answers to that standard question that can be paraphrased this way when it comes to political parties: What are you and why are you here? Absent that, his third-party ambitions are likely to run aground. 

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This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Nia-Malika Henderson is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former senior political reporter for CNN and the Washington Post, she has covered politics and campaigns for almost two decades.

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