Dem
47
GOP
53
As we have pointed out about a zillion times, anyone who works for Donald Trump, does his bidding, and worships him, will ultimately become the enemy when the worm turns. So it is with Elon Musk, once the First Buddy. Musk said he is out of politics, but that only applies to 2025, when there are no elections he cares about. Come 2026, he is likely back in. After all, he likes playing kingmaker and $100 million is nothing to him.
Trump doesn't trust Musk, and is already taking measures to head the South African off at the pass. Specifically, Trump is launching a new super PAC called Full Support for Donald (so, "FSD PAC," a play on Full Self Driving). What Trump will do is ask friendly billionaires who want something from the government to toss a few mil in the pot. That way, if Musk provides support for an anti-Trump candidate, the super PAC can provide support for the candidate's opponent, to even out the score. Musk spent $250 million on Trump's campaign in 2024. There are plenty of billionaires who could match that if they wanted to. Sheldon Adelson spent $100 million on Republican campaigns year after year. If Trump has half a dozen billionaires who want something from the government putting money in the pot, there may be enough to match Musk and thus neutralize him.
As to Musk's plan for a new party, that is just vaporware. There is almost no real demand for a new party. Every cycle, some group—say, No Labels—tries it and no one wants to run on the ticket. It is a losing proposition. The bottleneck isn't money. It's lack of demand. Also, if by some miracle, a third-party candidate got elected, every Republican and Democrat in Congress would want that president to be a complete failure, to stamp out the movement. The president would get nothing accomplished. Congress would block every proposal. Ain't gonna happen. (V)