Washington:
US Vice President JD Vance has urged Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s former “first buddy,” to reconsider forming a new political party, suggesting he could have greater impact by staying within the Republican Party. The guidance comes amid reports that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has paused plans to launch the America Party to concentrate on his business ventures. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Musk has not officially dismissed the idea and could revisit it in the future.
“My advice to Elon would be to try to fix the Republican Party. Try to push it in your own way. Disagree with me all you want, disagree with the president of the United States, but don’t pretend that you can make a big difference with a third party,” Vance told Fox News.
“I think Elon would make a much bigger difference if he stayed loyal to President Trump’s Republican Party, and if he had disagreements, express those disagreements from the inside as opposed from the outside,” he added.
Vance warned that moving forward with a third party could be a “huge mistake,” noting that after supporting Trump in the presidential elections, Musk is widely viewed by the far left as aligned with the American right.
“You believe in law and order, you believe in closed borders, you believe in economic growth and prosperity, you believe in making things in the United States of America. The idea that Elon is ever going to go back to being sort of in the middle, where Democrats and Republicans both like him, that’s just not going to happen. He is perceived as being on the American right,” he said.
Musk, the world’s richest person, announced his intentions to launch the America Party in July, shortly after Trump signed a major domestic policy bill that Musk criticized for potentially increasing the federal deficit. On X, Trump suggested that Musk’s new party could restore people’s “freedom” amid frustrations with the two-party system.
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Trump wrote.
