WASHINGTON: Elon Musk, an ex-ally of US President Donald Trump, said Saturday (Jul 5) he had launched a new political party in the United States to challenge what the tech billionaire described as the country's "one-party system".

The world's richest person - and Trump's biggest political donor in the 2024 election - had a bitter falling out with the president after leading the Republican's effort to slash spending and cut federal jobs as head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk has clashed with Trump over the president's massive domestic spending plan, saying it would explode the US debt, and vowed to do everything in his power to defeat lawmakers who voted for it.

Now he has created the so-called America Party, his own political framework, through which to try and achieve that.

"When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy," the Space X and Tesla boss posted on X, the social media platform that he owns.

"Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom."

Musk cited a poll - uploaded on Friday, US Independence Day - in which he asked whether respondents "want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system" that has dominated US politics for some two centuries.

The yes-or-no survey earned more than 1.2 million responses.

"By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!" he posted on Saturday.

Musk also shared a meme depicting a two-headed snake and the caption "End the Uniparty".

"LASER-FOCUS" ON VULNERABLE LAWMAKERS

It is not clear how much impact the new party would have on the 2026 mid-term elections, or on the presidential vote two years after that.

The Trump-Musk feud reignited in dramatic fashion late last month as Trump pushed Republicans in Congress to ram through his massive domestic agenda in the form of the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Musk expressed fierce opposition to the legislation, and ruthlessly attacked its Republic...