The Dictatorship
What Elon Musk isn’t getting about America’s political party system
Elon Musk has officially declared his intent to launch a new political partyan announcement long on bravado but short on substance.
Our Founding Fathers didn’t even want political parties, which they called “factions.” George Washington warned against them and Alexander Hamilton railed against them. But once Thomas Jefferson and John Adams began aligning their political interests with their electoral ambitions, the foundation for America’s two-party system was laid.
The American political system isn’t just hostile to third parties, it is structurally designed to destroy them. Since that race between Federalist John Adams and Democratic–Republican Thomas Jefferson in 1800, we’ve been locked into a two-party system and have not looked back. Neither Democrats nor Republicans have any intention of clearing a path for a viable third, fourth or fifth option.
Starting a political party in America isn’t just a branding exercise. It’s a slog through 50 states, plus five inhabited territories, each with its own ballot laws, deadlines, filing requirements and thresholds for signature gathering and registration — and that’s just to get recognized. Musk wouldn’t be starting a political party; he’d be starting 55 political parties.
Starting a political party in America is a slog through 50 states, plus five inhabited territories.
That’s expensive. A good estimate for the bare minimum needed to build a party that can compete locally and nationally is three-quarters of a billion dollars — more than two and a half times what Musk spent helping elect Donald Trump in 2024. And all that does is satisfy the various legal and logistical requirements such as ballot access, staffing and organizing.
To put this in business terms Musk can understand, that’s how much you’ll have to spend just to create your corporation. You still have to develop and produce a product.
A political party must have an identity to succeed. When I became chairman of the Republican Party in 2009, it was in disarray. We had been hammered in the 2006 midterms and the 2008 presidential election. Donors were fleeing, the grassroots were demoralized and the party infrastructure was fraying. I worked hard to rebuild the party, focusing on the values it had championed from Reagan to George W. Bush.
I had the advantage of an existing brand identity that voters could reconnect with as well as local to statewide political infrastructure. Musk will be starting from ground zero. If anything, he might be starting off underground, as his personal reputation is at its lowest point after taking a chainsaw to federal agencies that helped fight disease, feed the hungry and educate our children.
I also had the advantage of a national network of like-minded Republicans willing to roll up their sleeves and pitch in. Parties require leaders at the state and county level, policy platforms that reflect something bigger than a personal grudge and candidates willing to carry that banner into battle. That means recruiting thousands and thousands of people doing jobs that can’t be automated by AI or offloaded to paid consultants.
All of these tasks would be a challenge for even the most dedicated political crusader. The ideal person to helm this effort would have a clear and popular political agenda, a sharp analytical mind that’s not easily distracted and loads of charisma, plus billions of dollars to burn. Musk has just one of those qualities.
This is a man known for initiating chaotic firings with little notice at Twitterselling Cybertrucks with windshield trim panels that fall off and building rockets that explode on the launchpad. He’s been fined by the Securities and Exchange Commission for intemperate tweets and turned his much-hyped AI chatbot into a Hitler-praising monster.
In short, he is not the guy.
I’m not saying this as a die-hard partisan. I actually would like to see a viable third party give the Democrats and Republicans a run for their money. I believe we could even see that in our lifetimes if we move toward ranked-choice voting, a national popular vote or other reforms.
But let’s be clear: the real problem is structural. Our two major parties built a system designed to keep everyone else out. Cracking it open requires more than a billionaire’s checkbook. It requires a grassroots movement, citizen by citizen, willing to do the hard work of rebuilding democracy outside of the Republican and Democratic parties.
In a country where even well-organized third-party efforts have been tried and failed, Musk’s gambit may reveal less about our broken politics and more about his personal pique with Donald Trump. The way I see it, this particular third party is a party of one.
For more thought-provoking insights from Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez and Symone Sanders-Townsend, watch “The Weeknight” every Monday-Friday at 7 p.m. ET on BLN.
Michael Steele is a co-host of “The Weeknight,” which airs Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET on BLN. He is a former lieutenant governor of Maryland and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Wednesday marks four years since the Supreme Court issued its landmark Dobbs decisionwhich effectively overturned Roe v. Wade and repealed the constitutional right to an abortion. On “Morning Joe,” co-host Mika Brzezinski explained how the ruling set off a domino effect across the United States, affecting not just abortion-related care, but also altering “the state of women’s healthcare as a whole.”
As Brzezinski noted, states across the country have enacted harsher abortion restrictions since the 2022 ruling, with 13 outright banning the procedure with very limited exceptions. This has created a climate of fear among those who treat pregnant patients, with many healthcare providers worrying that any care involving an abortion could violate the law, even when the mother’s health is at risk.
“We are talking about people dying when they’re miscarrying because doctors are too afraid to intervene and save their lives,” Amy Littlefield, abortion access correspondent for The Nation, told MS NOW.
Brzezinski said the laws have effectively limited women’s “access to lifesaving healthcare.”
The MS NOW host reflected on some high-profile stories of pregnant women who faced delayed care in states with near-total abortion bans, noting “the numbers of cases that we’ve covered here on the show of women who have had their lives threatened, have been forced to give birth to dying or dead babies, and then, by the way, denied the access to ever create life again, because they became sterilized in the process.”
“There’s an image I can’t get out of my head,” Brzezinski added, before sharing reporting from ProPublica about Porsha Ngumezi, a 35-year-old mother who died in Texas in 2023 after not receiving timely care for a miscarriage.
“For months afterward, Porsha’s 3-year-old son would chase after women who looked like her on the street, shouting, ‘That’s Mommy!’” Brzezinski said. “That’s the detail I can’t forget. I can’t stop imagining that little boy chasing after strangers on the street. And that story repeats itself.”
You can watch Brzezinski’s full comments in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”
One of the biggest upsets in Tuesday night’s primaries came in New York’s 13th Congressional District, where Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old democratic socialist, managed to beat incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat, 71, who was backed by establishment Democrats.
Chevalier, a doctoral student in sociology at the City University of New York, secured 49.4% of votes in the district — which encompasses upper Manhattan, Harlem and parts of the Bronx — defeating Espaillat, who received about 46% of the votes after representing the district for nearly a decade, according to The Associated Press. She now advances to the November general election, which she is presumed to win in the solidly Democratic district.
Chevalier’s primary win marks a major win for the Democrats’ left-wing flank that backed her, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdaniwho endorsed Chevalier last month during a joint interview on MS NOW’s “The Briefing with Jen Psaki.”
Here is what to know about Chevalier and the platform she campaigned on.
She has never held elected office
Prior to her congressional campaign, Chevalier had never run or held elected office. But she has been involved with advocating for issues that became political flashpoints, including helping organize the pro-Palestinian encampments at Columbia University, according to her biography on the website of the Justice Democratsthe progressive group that recruited her to run.
The daughter of Dominican immigrants, Chevalier also worked as an organizer for Families for Freedom, a New York City group that assists immigrants facing deportation.
Chevalier earned a bachelor’s degree in Middle Eastern studies from Columbia University in 2016 and later worked as a paralegal, according to her LinkedIn.
Chevalier faced scrutiny during her campaign over previously articulated stances and incendiary comments, including her appearance at a Times Square rally the day after Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, where attendees reportedly suggested the attack was justified.
At a March candidates’ forum, Chevalier declined to condemn Hamas, saying that a request to do so “ignores the 75 years of occupation that the Palestinian people have been subjected to and the conditions that that folks were living under before this genocide began,” the local outlet City & State reported. Later, on local radio station WNYC, Chevalier said she did condemn Hamas when asked, adding, “As far as I know, the U.S. does not send a single dime to Hamas. What we fund is the Israeli military.”
In a series of since-deleted social media posts between 2018 and 2022Chevalier also used expletives to refer to former Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic National Committee, calling for abolishing borders and stopping all deportations, according to BLN. Other reports noted that she called former President Joe Biden a “rapist” and disparaged white people in some of her posts.
Chevalier has said she has “grown considerably” since writing those posts and that she regrets them. Mamdani defended her after the social media posts surfaced but said he was unaware of them before endorsing Chevalier.
She’s the left’s preferred candidate
Chevalier’s focus on affordability, expanding housing access and opposing war and deportations made her the preferred candidate of many progressive groups. In addition to the endorsements from Mamdani and the Justice Democrats, she was also backed by the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and several progressive members of the New York City Council.
After her primary win, the Democratic establishment also seems to have rallied behind her, despite her previous expletive-laden critiques of them.
In a statement Tuesday, DNC Chair Ken Martin called Chevalier “a tireless advocate for the hard-working people of New York City” who “will fight for healthcare, affordable housing, public education, civil rights, and an economy that works for everyone.”
Julianne McShane is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW who also covers the politics of abortion and reproductive rights. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at jmcshane.19 or follow her on X or Bluesky.
When white South African refugees enter the United States in the coming weeks, they reportedly can expect a special treat: a gift bag containing an Android tablet, copies of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and an American flag. Oh, and one more perk: literature that argues white people in South Africa and the U.S. are victims of discrimination — and that the U.S. Civil Rights Movement was misguided.
That’s the plan that’s being finalized in the Trump administration, according to a new story from The New York Timeswhich cites government documents and an official familiar with the matter, and observes that welcome gifts of this kind are “unusual.” These welcome bags are a brazen expression of white nationalism. And remarkably, they represent the White House doing exactly what MAGA conspiracy theorists love to (ludicrously) accuse the left of trying to do: Use immigration policy to boost its political fortunes.
Literature reportedly included in the bags encourages incoming Afrikaners to align themselves culturally and politically with the MAGA movement.
According to the Times, the bags are expected to include a letter that reads, “The Trump administration understands America’s immigration system must put the U.S. citizen first, and only welcome in those who will assimilate into the American way of life and preserve our borders, language, culture, traditions and ideals.”
The president and his administration have long made it clear that Afrikaners are virtually the only people who fit the White House’s criteria. At a Turning Point USA event in April, Trump boasted, “We suspended all refugee resettlement — except for persecuted South Africans.” And Trump has said that the people in South Africa being “persecuted” are Africans — basing his claim on white nationalist disinformation that a “white genocide” is being perpetrated in South Africa.
Singling out this population, amid all the people enduring wars and serious persecution around the world, was in and of itself a white nationalist salvo. But the letter, combined with other texts and booklets planned for the bag, take it to another level.
Other literature reportedly included in the bags encourages incoming Afrikaners to align themselves culturally and politically with the MAGA movement. According to the Times, the plan is for the bags to include “several products from PragerU, which produces right-wing educational materials, such as a story about a Black South African who must protect a white rugby teammate from a Black mob.” That story describes Nelson Mandela, the legendary anti-apartheid activist and South Africa’s first post-apartheid president, as a “South African lawyer and activist who sought to end apartheid with acts of sabotage.” It also says that the South African government in the post-apartheid era has “made race relations even worse.”
The Times reports that the administration also plans to include a report by Trump’s 1776 Commissionwhich “likens progressivism to fascism, and says Americans were being indoctrinated with a false critique of the nation’s founding and identity, including the role of slavery.” The report says the Civil Rights Movement “was almost immediately turned to programs that ran counter to the lofty ideals of the founders.”
Remarkably, Trump’s white nationalist goodie bags would help inaugurate a right-wing version of the right’s own racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory. That evidence-free theory holds that Democrats favor immigration as a way to “replace” the local population with meek immigrants who will (for some reason) vote as a bloc in favor of Democrats. Now it seems the Trump administration is angling to create a new bloc of immigrants who help support right-wing ideologies and political goals — to the exclusion of all other populations.
The planned white nationalist goodie bags make it clear that Trump is willing to welcome foreigners with welcome arms. They just need to look and think a certain way.
Zeeshan Aleem is a writer and editor for MS NOW. He primarily writes about politics and foreign policy.
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