President Donald Trump dismissed Sunday Elon Musk’s launch of a new political party as "ridiculous," escalating a feud with the billionaire who was once one of his strongest allies.
Trump also branded the SpaceX and Tesla tycoon a "TRAIN WRECK" who had gone "off the rails" after Musk said he wanted to challenge the current U.S. political system.
The world's richest man was almost inseparable from Trump as he headed the cost-cutting "Department of Government Efficiency," but they fell out hard over the president's "big beautiful" tax and spending mega-bill.
"I think it's ridiculous to start a third party," Trump told reporters before he boarded Air Force One on his way back to Washington from his New Jersey golf club.
"It's always been a two-party system, and I think starting a third party just adds to confusion. Third parties have never worked. So he can have fun with it, but I think it's ridiculous," he said.
South African-born Musk announced Saturday that he would create the so-called "America Party" to challenge what he called the United States' "one-party system."
Musk says the president's massive domestic spending plan would explode the U.S. debt, and has vowed to do everything in his power to defeat lawmakers who voted for it.
The former DOGE boss, who led a huge drive to slash federal spending and cut jobs, equated Trump's Republicans with rival Democrats when it came to domestic spending.
"When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy," Musk posted on X, the social media platform that he owns.
Musk gave few details of his plan and it was not clear whether he had registered the party with US electoral authorities, but it could cause Republicans headaches in the 2026 midterm elections – and beyond.
In a sign of how sensitive the issue could be for Trump, he took to his Truth Social network while still on Air Force One to double down on his assault on Musk.
"I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely 'off the rails,' essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks," Trump posted.
"The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats."
In a lengthy diatribe, Trump repeated his earlier assertion that Musk's ownership of electric vehicle company Tesla had made him turn on the president due to the spending bill cutting subsidies for such automobiles.
Musk has insisted that his opposition is primarily due to the bill increasing the U.S. fiscal deficit and sovereign debt.
Earlier Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also threw shade at Musk's attempts to enter the political fray, telling him to stick to running his companies.
When asked by CNN if Musk's plan bothered the Trump administration, Bessent offered thinly veiled criticism.
"I believe that the boards of directors at his various companies wanted him to come back and run those companies, which he is better at than anyone," Bessent said.
"So I imagine that those board of directors did not like this announcement yesterday and will be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities."
Musk left DOGE in May to focus full-time on his corporate responsibilities, with Tesla's sales and image especially suffering from his brief venture into Trump's inner circle.
Trump gave him a grand send-off in the Oval Office, during a bizarre ceremony during which Musk appeared with a black eye and received a golden key to the White House from the president.
But just days later the two were exchanging bitter insults on social media after Musk criticized Trump's flagship spending bill.
Trump would not comment on Sunday when asked if he would be asking Musk to return the golden key.
