In academia, dumb smart people often appear to be merely quaint or eccentric. In the realm of politics, they initially appear as an exciting novelty, then as a destructive yet naive force, cynically manipulated by the very people they hoped to replace.
In 1992, the billionaire Ross Perot epitomized the dumb smart political actor when he ran as an Independent candidate against George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He pretended to provide an alternative to both Bush and Clinton. In reality, Perot guaranteed Clinton’s victory. That eventuality was something any canny observer could have predicted at the time. But a combination of starry-eyed Perot supporters and Machiavellian Democrats, who understood that supporting Perot was a vote for Clinton, concealed that harsh calculation beneath a patina of pseudo-idealism.
The summer of 2025 has witnessed the emergence of a new, albeit somewhat unconventional, political figure in the person of my favorite African American, Elon Musk. Over the last couple of months, Musk has metamorphosed from an avid supporter of Donald Trump into a petulant and irascible opponent. At first, the break seemed like a temporary spat, as both Musk and Trump lunged and parried, smote and then retreated.
But now Musk is on the verge, or past the verge, of attempting to create a third political party, the America party, to challenge the long-running pas de deux of Democrats and Republicans.
It is a fool’s errand. Before the advent of Donald Trump, Musk would have been correct to evoke and castigate “Republican/Democrat Uniparty.” But Trump’s MAGA movement has forged a vibrant alternative to the corrupt, self-engorging political compact under which American politics has proceeded for decades. One thing to appreciate about MAGA is its ideological diversity. It has attracted a wide range of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. Their common filiation is a love for America and the tradition of individual liberty it once fostered.
Elon Musk is not just a smart businessman. He is a visionary who has done an immense amount for America and the world. Forget about his signature companies, Tesla and SpaceX (the latter, incidentally, now launches about 95 percent of US satellites). Starlink is in the process of transforming the way the internet is delivered to the world, while Neuralink is enabling the blind to see and the crippled to walk. Those who say Elon Musk is the Thomas Edison of our day are right.
But for all that, Elon Musk is a political neophyte. He does not seem to understand that in a quasi-constitutional republic such as we inhabit, politics is conducted not by diktat but by compromise.
Even while working under such constraints, Donald Trump has managed to accomplish an immense amount in his six months in office. He has sealed the border, initiated the largest deportation operation in US history, driven down inflation, unleashed American energy producing capacity, and begun to repatriate manufacturing. His “big, beautiful bill,” which he just signed into law on July 4, has made his earlier tax cuts permanent and ushered in a host of economic perquisites for the middle class. Indeed, it is a long list of accomplishments. Stephen Miller counts 50 items, the commentator Salena Zito expatriates on 12.
Notwithstanding these extraordinary accomplishments, Elon Musk remains impatient. One of his biggest gripes is that the United States is drowning in debt. He is right about that. But Trump’s economic plan is working both to reduce the debt and bolster growth. This is something that Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary, has patiently explained many times.
If the America party gains traction, it would likely assure the Democrats’ victory in 2028, which, among other things, would ensure the prosecution of Elon Musk.
But Musk can rest easy. The American party is not going to amount to much. The people it has attracted so far are redolent of its essential fatuousness. Mark Cuban has given his support, as have Anthony Scaramucci, Brian Krassenstein, Thomas Massie, and (God help us) Mr. Goody-two-shoes, Mike Pence.
I admire many things about Elon Musk, so it pains me to have to acknowledge that the Federalist’s Sean Davis is right when he describes the America party as “a dumb vanity project driven entirely by a bruised ego.” The market appears to agree, as Tesla stock opened sharply down on Monday.
Perhaps the best characterization of Elon Musk’s dumb smartness was vouchsafed by his number one frenemy, Donald Trump. “I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social:
Elon is essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks. He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States — The System seems not designed for them. 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, who have lost their confidence and their minds! Republicans, on the other hand, are a smooth-running “machine” that just passed the biggest Bill of its kind in the History of our Country. It is a Great Bill, but, unfortunately for Elon, it eliminates the ridiculous Electric Vehicle (EV) Mandate, which would have forced everyone to buy an Electric Car in a short period of time. I have been strongly opposed to that from the very beginning. People are now allowed to buy whatever they want – Gasoline-Powered Vehicles, Hybrids (which are doing very well), or New Technologies as they emerge – no more EV Mandate. I have campaigned on this for two years, and, quite honestly, when Elon gave me his total and unquestioned Endorsement, I asked him whether or not he knew that I was going to terminate the EV Mandate. It was in every speech I made and in every conversation I had. He said he had no problems with that – I was very surprised!
Additionally, Elon asked that one of his close friends run NASA. While I thought his friend was very good, I was surprised to learn that he was a blue-blooded Democrat who had never contributed to a Republican before. Elon probably was, also. I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon’s, who was in the Space Business, would run NASA, given that NASA is such a significant part of Elon’s corporate life. My Number One charge is to protect the American Public!
If Elon Musk is going to graduate from being dumb-smart to being smart-smart, he will absorb and profit from the President’s hard but wise advice.
