VICTOR JOECKS: The political party Musk needs to back

If Elon Musk wants to lower the national debt, he needs to fund the Green Party.

Last Saturday, Musk announced that he was creating the America Party. The billionaire previously floated the idea as he feuded with President Donald Trump over his big, beautiful bill. Musk decried it as the “debt slavery bill.” Trump’s signature legislation contains tax cuts, money for immigration enforcement and some spending cuts.

“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste &graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk wrote on X.

In another post, Musk outlined his strategy: “One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts. Given the razor-thin legislative margins, that would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring that they serve the true will of the people.”

There are two problems here. The first is that massive deficits are more popular than substantial spending reductions or higher taxes. Musk is right that America’s current spending is deeply irresponsible and even immoral. But reforming entitlement programs, the main drivers of deficit spending, is politically fraught.

In 2005, President George W. Bush attempted to revamp Social Security. The country and low- and middle-income retirees would be in better shape if he had succeeded. Unfortunately, Democrats, including the late Sen. Harry Reid, effectively fear-mongered the issue. The plan went nowhere. Social Security reform wasn’t the only reason, but Democrats had massive victories in the 2006 elections. One of the reasons for Trump’s popularity is that he has repeatedly pledged to leave Social Security and Medicare alone.

By expanding deficits, Congress isn’t rejecting the “true will of the people.” Sadly, it’s following it.

This leads to the second difficulty. A fiscally conservative third party will split the Republican vote. That will lead to more Democrats — who care even less about the deficit — winning elections.

This isn’t idle speculation. It has been happening in Nevada for years with the conservative Independent American Party and Libertarian Party. Look at Nevada’s 2022 U.S. Senate race. Despite being massively outspent, Republican Adam Laxalt ran a great campaign against incumbent Democrat Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. She received only 48.8 percent of the vote. Laxalt lost by 8,000 votes while the IAP and Libertarian candidates received more than 11,000 votes. In Nevada’s 2024 U.S. Senate race, Republican Sam Brown lost by 24,000 votes. Those right-leaning third-party candidates received a combined 42,000 votes.

Musk is smart enough to see the takeaway. To elect more conservatives, he should fund the Green Party. If a Green Party candidate had been on the ballot in either of those Senate races, Nevada probably would have two Republican senators. Had that happened, the big, beautiful bill probably would have contained more substantial spending cuts.

It’s unclear if Musk’s priority is electing more fiscal conservatives or spiting Trump. If it’s the former, his best move would be to fund Green Party candidates in swing races.

Victor Joecks’ column appears in the Opinion section each Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Contact him at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.