Elon Musk’s exploration of a third-party alternative may be generating headlines, and some people may find it appealing. However well-intentioned, efforts like these rarely lead to reform; they more often serve to divide movements that need unity most. I respect Musk’s ambitions to disrupt the political status quo, but fragmentation is exactly what the opposition is counting on.
So what should Musk do instead?
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) has an answer for that.
In a recent press conference, DeSantis made it clear that the creation of a new party, especially one that siphons votes in competitive races, would have a disastrous effect for conservatives: “The problem is when you do another party, especially if you're running on some of the issues that he talks about, you know, that would end up, if he funds Senate candidates and House candidates in competitive races, that would likely end up meaning the Democrats would win all the competitive Senate and House races. And so, look, I'm a Republican. You know, I don't wanna see that happen.”
It’s not that DeSantis doesn’t get the frustration Musk feels, either: “You know, we do have a problem in the Republican Party with these D.C. congressmen, they always run saying there's out of control spending and they're gonna spend less, and they never do it. And so there's a gap between the campaign rhetoric and then the performance. Elon was doing DOGE and a lot of Congress didn't want anything to do with actually adopting the DOGE cuts.”
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DeSantis expressed deep frustration with the GOP’s failure to deliver on promises, pointing to the lack of follow-through on Trump’s executive orders and the disconnect between campaign rhetoric and action in Washington. But rather than backing a third-party effort, he argued for challenging the status quo through primaries and structural reform. According to DeSantis, simply electing a few better politicians won’t fix the system — real change requires altering the incentives in Washington that drive these failures.
He outlined a concrete and ambitious strategy: push for a balanced budget amendment and term limits through the states, leveraging Article V of the Constitution. “So you need to do a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and you can do that through the states, you can do it through Article V. We've got 28 states that have approved this," he said. "There's another four or five that are on the docket. Once you hit 34, then you write an amendment and then the states are able to ratify that, and you need three-quarters. Um, you know, if Elon wanted to weigh in on that and work on those state legisla- I mean, he would have a monumental impact on doing this.”
🚨 BREAKING: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis calls on Elon Musk to put his resources toward a BALANCED BUDGET and TERM LIMITS FOR CONGRESS amendment, says that would be FAR more successful than a new political party.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 7, 2025
"You need to do a BALANCED BUDGET amendment to the U.S.… pic.twitter.com/bLLDmwrXcI
If Musk truly wants to shake up the system, DeSantis has made the path clear: don’t fracture the movement, don’t hand power to the opposition, and don’t squander influence on a third-party fantasy that only benefits the left. The real fight isn’t about making a splash; it’s about making lasting change. With the right focus, resources, and leadership, structural reforms like term limits and fiscal discipline aren’t just possible — they’re within reach.
