The tycoon Elon Musk, who at the time invested hundreds of millions of dollars to support the arrival of Donald Trump To the White House, he now prepares his counterattack: he threatened to finance campaigns against Republican congressmen who support the increase in debt and, according to Faiz Siddiqui, Beth Reinhard and Julian Mark in The Washington Post, seriously evaluates launch a third political party to compete with the historical bipartisanship of the US.
Having spent near U $ 288 million To boost Trump and related candidates, Musk changed posture after the imminent approval of the Public Expenditure and Immigration Package promoted by the former president himself. According to The Washington Post, Musk sees this new indebtedness as a betrayal of Republicans to their promises to cut the expense, and now threatens to use their fortune to displace those who vote in favor.
An unprecedented threat, but with few chances of success
According to The Washington Post, Musk proclaimed this week on his social network X (formerly Twitter): “All the members of the Congress who campaigned in favor of the reduction of public spending and then voted for the greatest increase in debt in history should be ashamed! And I will make their primaries lose next year, even if it is the last thing to do in this world.”
However, Siddiqui, Reinhard and Mark note that Creating a third strong game is an almost impossible feat In the recent history of the United States. Ross Perot, one of the most remembered cases, achieved 19% of votes in 1992, but did not get a single vote at the Electoral College.
Amid the growing political polarization, experts cited by The Washington Post, such as Lee Drutman of New America, warn that Musk could complicate key elections but hardly break the bipartisan scheme. “Historically, the vote to a third game is usually a lost vote. But if Musk wants to sow chaos and mark the court, that is easier than winning a choice,” Drutman said.
Musk’s whites: Massie and the Republican internal
As detailed Thomas Massieby Kentucky, who openly opposes the Trump project. Musk promised to support his re -election, encouraged by former congressman Justin Amash, who broke with the Republicans in 2019 accusing bipartisanship of being an “existential threat.”
Massie, on the other hand, reacted with irony in X sharing a note about Musk’s promise to donate funds: “something interesting has just happened,” he wrote. However, Trump plans Millionaire duel.
Musk, an awkward ally for conservatives?
For Faiz Siddiqui and his team, Musk’s turn is paradoxical: after having gone from Trump’s critic to his most faithful ally, now he faces him again from inside conservatism. The tension was clear when Jim McLaughlin, Trump’s pollster, ironized about the tycoon’s plan: “Today the Republican Party is Donald Trump. No one needs a third game with Elon Musk,” he said in dialogue with The Washington Post.
Even so, a Gallup survey cited in the article shows that 58% of Americans believe that a third political party is neededbecause Democrats and Republicans represent “very bad” the interests of society.
A third game: Impossible sleep or pressure lever?
Musk itself has been sliding the idea of a new political force for weeks. On June 5 he wrote: “Is it time to create a new political party that represents 80% in the middle?”, Along with an X survey.
However, The Washington Post emphasizes that its businesses, its fall of popularity and its recent conflicts within the Republican Party itself question their ability to transform that idea into a real political structure. Even so, we must not underestimate Musk: as Siddiqui, Reinhard and Mark remember, he already surprised the world with the purchase of Twitter and his key role in the presidential ones of 2024.
For now, his threat already bothers the Republican intern. And even if it fails to create a viable party, its ability to finance rivals, erode candidacies and condition the agenda I could give him the influence that he is looking for so much.
Source: Ambito
