When Americans are approached by pollsters and asked whether they worry about our nation’s astronomical debt, the answer is usually “yes.” In fact, the issue is so pressing that it ranks among Americans’ top political issues, right up there with war, crime, and the rising cost of groceries.
But if politicians believed that what Americans tell pollsters is what they actually think, they’d be unsuccessful politicians. It makes fiscal conservatives a bit angry, but that’s what President Donald Trump and the Republicans in the House and Senate recognized when they designed the Big Beautiful Bill, which is complete with tax cuts, increased spending, and (according to some estimates) trillions of dollars added to the national debt.
If the debt really were so worrisome to Americans, you’d think that the Big Beautiful Bill would be political kryptonite. It’s not because it comes with tax cuts.
The whole situation, of course, bothers Elon Musk — a businessman who knows that, in business, systemic debt caused by bad business practices usually leads to bankruptcy. He apparently believed Republicans when they promised they’d lower the national debt (something most of us have been cured of), and when the Big Beautiful Bill made it very obvious that they had no intention of reducing spending, he and President Trump had the break-up of a lifetime. (READ MORE: Is Elon Musk Ross Perot Reincarnated?)
Then, just after Independence Day, while the rest of us were still sleeping off the fireworks and the Republicans were congratulating themselves on getting their massive bill signed into law, Musk announced that he would be founding the America Party. For now, he seems to be serious.
It’s tempting to brush off the America Party as yet another third-party flop just waiting to happen; after all, American history has not been particularly kind to political players who aren’t satisfied with the two-party system we’re stuck with.
That’s not to say Musk doesn’t have some factors going for him. Third parties typically struggle with a lack of media attention and a lack of funds, Musk’s signature flair and his personal funding likely won’t let either of those things happen (at least not before the upcoming midterms). Furthermore, Musk isn’t quite deluded enough to think that he can compete with the Democratic or Republican Parties on a national scale.
If his X posts are anything to go by, he’s planning on using the America Party like a political sniper against shaky districts. Even just a few America Party candidates in Congress could exploit razor thin margins to block pieces of legislation they don’t like. For those of us classicists, that would be a political strategy modeled on Epaminondas’s battle tactics at Leuctra. (READ MORE: The ‘BBB’: Conservatism but With Caveats)
Of course, as any political commentator would remind you, Musk’s challenge will be getting a single candidate to win a district — it happens, but not frequently.
That said, it’s somewhat disingenuous to make the argument that, just because third parties usually fail, Musk’s failure is a foregone conclusion. It’s possible — even if it’s not probable — that the America Party could surprise us. Stranger things have happened in American politics.
Except Musk’s party has a major flaw: One of its central tenets is to stop the uniparty from “bankrupting our country with waste & graft.” The trouble isn’t so much that most Americans don’t believe the premise, but rather that they don’t like the steps needed to balance the government’s budget, much less begin tackling national debt.
When it comes down to the ballot box though, Americans are still interested in being promised that their rent will be less expensive, taxes will go down, and they’ll be able to afford groceries. Unless the America Party can pivot and make that argument more effectively than Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani, it’s doomed to failure.
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