【By Observer Net, Shao Yun】
U.S. billionaire Musk announced the establishment of the "American Party", and the first substantial loss from the Republican and Democratic parties has already occurred. On July 5 local time, President Trump's ally, venture capitalist James Fishback announced that his investment company Azoria Partners will delay the launch of an ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) linked to Tesla.
"Our decision is a direct response to Musk's announcement of establishing a new national party," Fishback wrote on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), "which conflicts with his full-time responsibilities as CEO of Tesla, diverting his attention and energy, preventing him from focusing on Tesla's employees and shareholders." The ETF, named Azoria Tesla Convexity, was originally scheduled to be launched next week.
Fishback also urged the Tesla board to "meet immediately" and have Musk "clarify his political ambitions and assess whether these ambitions align with his full-time duties as CEO of Tesla." Fishback said he believes Musk has gone too far, but still hopes Musk can "re-focus his full attention" on Tesla; if Musk cannot, he believes the Tesla board "will take appropriate action."
Australian Associated Press (AAP) pointed out that this is the first sign of investor dissatisfaction with Musk after he announced the creation of a new party on the 5th. Tesla has not yet responded.
Part of Fishback's post, Screenshot from X
Musk supported Trump and the Republican Party in last year's U.S. election, but has had serious disagreements with Trump's views on the "Big and Beautiful" tax and spending bill, and has repeatedly stated that he will establish a new party to challenge the political landscape where the two major parties alternate in power.
To counter Musk's political influence, Fishback announced the establishment of a new "Super Political Action Committee" (Super PAC) on the 1st, named FSD, which is a double entendre: on one hand, it means "Full Support for Donald", and on the other hand, it is the same abbreviation as the Full Self-Driving system developed by Tesla.
On the 4th, the day after the "Big and Beautiful" bill passed in the House of Representatives, Musk posted a vote on X asking netizens whether they should establish the "American Party" to "liberate the American people from the two-party system". In the approximately 1.249 million votes received, supporters accounted for 65.4%, and opponents were 34.6%. On the 5th, he announced: "The ratio of support to opposition is 2:1, indicating that you want a new party, and you will have a new party."
Musk's post, Screenshot from X
Afterward, Fishback continued to post multiple comments on X, criticizing Musk's actions, saying he was "disappointed" with him, and reiterating his support for Trump. "I once respected Elon, I once provided consulting services for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), my company's largest holding is Tesla... but forming a third party would give power to the Democrats - they would impeach Trump, cut funding for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and open the border - this would destroy the country."
Some voices suggest that Musk's political ambitions are not a sudden idea. According to a report by the Texas Tribune on the 2nd, as early as April 2013, Musk lobbied Texas legislators to amend legislation to allow direct sales of Tesla electric vehicles to the public, bypassing car dealers. Although the bill he wanted to pass ultimately failed, today, 12 years later, Musk's political influence is vastly different.
The report found that during the 2025 Texas legislative session, Musk's lobbyists and representatives publicly supported nearly a dozen bills favorable to his company, of which all but three were passed. Those bills that Musk did not publicly support also made progress. The report said that Texas legislators rewrote the state's corporate law and created an efficiency office modeled after DOGE.
Of course, establishing a successful third party is much more difficult than lobbying, because the "winner-takes-all" electoral college system in the U.S. itself presents structural barriers for third parties.
Professor Grant Davis Riche of Syracuse University's political science department pointed out that, except for some exceptions at the local level, the legislative bodies and executive elections in the U.S. use geographically defined districts represented by one person, who is elected by winning the most votes, regardless of their proportion of the total vote. This means that parties that cannot compete for first place have almost no appeal to voters, and it is very difficult to maintain themselves even after their establishment.
In American political history, the most successful third-party candidate was Ross Perot, an independent presidential candidate in 1992, who received 18.9% of the popular vote, but because he did not win the majority of votes in any state, he did not win any electoral votes and missed the presidency.
Musk seems not to be aiming to challenge the dominance of the two major parties, but rather to target a small number of key seats in Congress that will be up for re-election next year, hoping that his newly founded party will become a balancing force in Congress. "Considering the extremely small difference in the number of seats held by the two parties in the legislative body, this is enough to be the deciding vote on controversial bills, ensuring that the bills reflect the true will of the people," Musk wrote on X on the 4th.
Mark McCorkle, a professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy and former Democratic advisor, believes that although the candidates of Musk's new party are unlikely to win in the upcoming mid-term elections for Congress next year, they can play a "disruptive and distracting" role, siphoning votes from Republican candidates running for the same seat, changing the chances of the two parties in "swing states", and the mid-term elections next year may witness a reduction in votes supporting the "Make America Great Again" agenda.
However, McCorkle doubts whether Musk can "stick to his plan" in establishing a new party. "I think this is completely driven by his conflict with Trump, and he is currently trying to sink Trump's (political) assets."
According to a report by The New York Times on the 5th, an informed source revealed that Musk has been discussing his plans for establishing a new party with friends in recent days. On the morning of the 6th local time, Musk posted on X: "When and where will we hold the first convention of the 'American Party'? It will definitely be very interesting!"
Musk's post, Screenshot from X
This article is an exclusive article from Observer Net. Without permission, it shall not be reprinted.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7523982111814681122/
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