Unhappy with the slow pace of fiscal reform in Washington, DC, Elon Musk has just announced the formation of a new political party, called the America Party. Elon is unhappy with the RINO Republicans in control of Congress who talk big but haven’t adequately addressed the spending problems DOGE has identified, and he views a new conservative political party as a means to restore fiscal restraint in Washington, DC. His idea may sound good, but his new party will be counterproductive, resulting in just the opposite of what he intends. It will deliver Democrat election victories and more profligate spending.
His idea is nothing new. Third-party movements are gaining popularity worldwide. The Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV) was once a small third party, but it is now in control of the Dutch Parliament. The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has evolved from being a fringe party to becoming the second-largest political party in Germany. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has surpassed the Conservative Party in Great Britain, and Farage is likely to be the next Prime Minister.
Elon Musk’s formation of a new party is something I warned could happen if voters became unhappy with the slow pace of reform that the Republicans were taking. The Republican Party is infected with weak, left-leaning members who fail to deliver the results voters want over and over again. The party may be beyond repair and need to be replaced, but not when we are in the midst of the Trump revolution.
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President Trump has an opportunity to reform the government in our country like has never before been possible in my lifetime. He will need a strong and determined Republican Party to help him achieve these reforms. Should they fail to deliver, then it might be time to replace them. Musk says the party has failed, and that time is now. The primary concern with Musk’s idea is that it will likely be counterproductive in the near term.
If Musk’s America Party attracts enough members, we may end up with congressional races in 2026 where a fiscal conservative from Elon’s new party runs against a Republican and Democrat. If this happens, conservatives will lose close elections. Alaskans can appreciate how this might happen. We went through something similar when Ranked Choice Voting was first introduced to our state. When two conservatives and one liberal ran for our lone congressional seat in the 2022 election, the leftist Mary Peltola was elected as our Representative for one term, despite her not winning a majority of the votes in the General election. Although Peltola’s election victory was partially the result of Alaska’s Ranked Choice Voting system, Elon’s party will deliver the same results as RCV. It will split conservatives, giving liberals election victories they do not deserve.
There is also an example of this on a national level. In 1992, Ross Perot formed a third-party organization and ran as an independent candidate for president.
Perot won almost 19% of the popular vote, and in a parliamentary system like the ones used in Europe, that would have given Perot a powerful and influential position in government. However, the United States has a Republican form of government, and Perot won exactly zero electoral votes. This resulted in Bill Clinton getting an election victory despite receiving only 43% of the popular vote. More voters chose someone other than Clinton, but because a third-party candidate was in the race, the more liberal candidate won the election.
A similar scenario could unfold in the 2026 congressional races. The result of this will be a split in the conservative vote, leading to Democratic victories. Because the Republicans have a slim majority in Congress, the loss of just a few seats will put the Democrats in power. If Musk thinks spending is bad now, he will hate it when the Democrats are in charge.
Musk’s efforts should serve as a warning call to the Republican party, both nationally and here at home. The voters want fiscal responsibility and a halt to profligate government spending. The GOP has done almost nothing to stop the fraud and waste discovered by the DOGE team in the federal government. They should consider Elon Musk’s America Party a threat to their political power and a signal that they need to deliver better results to stay in office.
The views expressed here are those of Greg Sarber. Read more Sarber posts at his Seward’s Folly substack.
8 Comments
Greg,
Do republicans care about the national debt:
5) After years of voting against debt-limit increases – and bragging about it – nearly every Republican has now voted for a $5 trillion debt-limit increase. This is a radical change in GOP orthodoxy, and all because Trump didn’t want to have to cut a deal with Democrats. Only Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) refused to go along, and Trump lashed out at them repeatedly.
Republicans attacked CBO’s estimate that the GOP reconciliation package would add $3.4 trillion to the national debt by 2034, but that’s actually at the low end of estimates. The libertarian Cato Institute projects the total will be more than $6 trillion.
Folks better wake up!
You’re right about a call to the Republican Party to get its ducks in line, especially relating to fiscal integrity. But you warn about splitting the conservative vote, and that’s true. But you actually contradict that warning by citing success in the Netherlands, England & Germany for new conservative parties. So 3rd parties can succeed if popular enough with voters or if they are, by majority, sick of status quo. As long as there are not too many 3rd parties! I don’t know the answers but I believe they will rise to the surface and be implemented by popular demand if voters stay engaged. However if the R party & its candidates can pull together & keep promises made it may be all that is needed. Hopefully.
Dave, the 3rd parties in parliamentarian governments still have to form coalitions with the other parties in power (most of who are left to communist leaning) in order to accomplish anything. This ends up diluting the more conservative power they have. Similar to what has happened in the AK legislature with the RINOs who have paired up with the Dems for power. Do the far left Dems ever give up on anything? No. The Republicans end up moving left to “get along” with them.
Maybe a third party is desirable and may even succeed, but the least qualified person on the planet to advance it is Elon Musk. He has no integrity, no aversion to dishonesty and, like Trump, he’s a narcissist. His DOGE bullshit upended all the services and institutions we Americans rely on. He found no waste fraud and abuse but has and will cost us billions over the next few years.
Yep, it’s the old split-the-vote strategy.
Men leaders are different than women leaders yet the woman ae in charge of the Republicans in our state and other states. Woman have their place as nurturers but not to stand up like men with confidence and strength and verbal finesse to get the job done. Strong men need to be leading the Republicans not women. Also, as in Ecclesiastes life is meaningless without God and without applying God’s laws.
You are not doing yourself any favor by claiming that destructive nonsense.
Musk is a big crybaby, plus don’t vote for Rino-losers Lisa, she’s just like a third party person. Let’s vote for a real republican, who wants to help Alaskans, not themselves.