OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
2:40 PM – Friday, January 2, 2026
Following a public rift and subsequent reconciliation with President Trump in 2025, Elon Musk has signaled a return to political activism. The Tesla CEO entered the new year with a pledge of significant financial backing for Republican candidates as the 2026 midterm cycle begins to take shape.
In a New Year’s Day post on X on Thursday, Musk asserted, “America is toast if the radical left wins. They will open the floodgates to illegal immigration and fraud.”
“Won’t be America anymore,” he added.
The post was a response to and a re-share of another post from X user @jackunheard stating, “Elon Musk is reportedly going all-in funding Republicans to help President Trump take back full control in the November midterms.”
The post featured footage of Trump patting Musk’s arm in November, a gesture that was widely seen as a public confirmation their relationship was recovering. The two had famously fallen out during the summer after President Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB), a legislative package that Musk had openly denounced.
Musk, who chaired the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) until his departure in May, condemned the legislation as a “pork-filled abomination.” He argued that the bill’s price tag would recklessly inflate the national deficit, undermining the very cost-cutting measures his task force had worked to implement.
However, President Trump responded by arguing that the real reason Musk disliked the OBBB was not purely about the national deficit, but specifically because the legislation eliminated federal tax credits for electric vehicles (EVs). During an Oval Office meeting in June, Trump expressed disappointment in Musk, stating that the billionaire “had no problem” with the bill until he realized it would terminate the EV subsidies that benefitted Tesla.
Over the summer, Musk had also threatened to create a third political party, called the “America Party,” running candidates in “2 or 3 Senate Seats and 8 to 10 House districts” to replace Republican incumbents who supported Trump’s expensive bill. Though Musk has not ruled out this idea, it’s currently on hold to avoid complicating his relationship with Vice President JD Vance, according to sources close to the tech CEO.
Before Trump and Musk’s public spat, during the 2024 election cycle, Musk was the country’s top political donor. He reportedly pledged more than $290 million to Trump’s campaign and other Republicans. However, Musk’s exact 2026 contributions will remain unknown until Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports are released.
Regarding the upcoming midterms, the most recent RealClear Politics average shows Democrats leading Republicans by 4 points, with an average of 46.2% to Republicans’ 42.2% in early 2026 positioning.
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