As billionaire Elon Musk continues to push forward with trying to create a third political party, MSNBC host and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki took the time Tuesday night to explain why it won’t work — and really never will.
During her show, Psaki noted that Musk isn’t the first wealthy man to attempt to form third parties, citing examples such as Ross Perot, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, and Andrew Yang. According to Psaki, Musk is just “the latest wealthy egomaniac to fall into this trap.” She then explained why each of them failed, and why Musk will likely do the same.
“The truth is, there are a lot of barriers to building a new political party in this country, a lot,” she said. “I mean, for starters, every state has its own unique laws about how to get on the ballot.”
Psaki cited New York as an example, which bars a political party from having “American” or even part of that name in a party title, meaning Musk’s “America Party” would not be able to get on the ballot. She then noted that typically, a third party “will inevitably become a spoiler for the major party that most closely aligns with their views.”
Of course, Psaki struggled to see how Musk would sway any Democratic voters, given his tenure in the Trump administration.
“Elon Musk has spent the last six months taking an axe to the federal government and making an enemy of Democratic voters basically everywhere,” she said. “So it’s really hard to see how a new political party born from that legacy would attract any left-leaning voters to its cause.”
The MSNBC host called out the data Musk is using to argue that voters really want his third party.
“Musk cited his own unscientific X poll, which found that 80% of respondents want to see a new party. But actual polling finds that 80% of voters in both parties think wealthy donors like Elon Musk have too much influence in politics,” she debunked. “They don’t need more, which may be part of why Musk himself is viewed negatively by a majority of Americans.”
Between this data and historical precedent, Psaki wondered if Musk is really just on an ego trip.
“Does he want a new party because his efforts to buy one of the two major parties didn’t pan out the way he thought they would? Maybe,” she said. “Or maybe it’s just a vanity project to get some attention from the world’s most insecure billionaire.”
You can watch Psaki’s full breakdown in the video above.
