The war continues: Musk calls for a political party, and Trump threatens him with "the DOGE monster."

BarcelonaThe battle between Elon Musk and Donald Trump continues. And it's escalating. Musk has intensified his criticism and has even suggested that he could found a new party to confront Trump, and the president has responded by threatening to apply the full force of government cuts, a veiled threat to his companies that receive money from the administration, such as SpaceX.

The new scuffle has been motivated by the same thing that sparked the confrontation between the two billionaires and Musk's departure from the Trump administration: Donald Trump's massive spending bill that has just received the approval of the Senathat the House of Representatives could approve this week. "To every single Member of Congress who campaigned on cutting government spending and then immediately voted for the largest increase in debt in history, you will see your head on this poster during the primaries," Musk said in a tweet to X with an image of a Pinocchio and the word liar in very large letters.

Hours later, he added another tweet: "If this crazy spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day," he threatened.

Words that were immediately met with a response from Trump himself. Journalists asked him if he was planning to "deport" Musk, and Trump replied: "I don't know, we'll have to look into that." "Do you know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that Elon might have to go back and eat," Trump said, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency, which Musk himself led until he left the government and which imposed the most drastic cuts in public spending. "Elon is pissed off about the elimination of incentives for electric cars [...]. Nobody wants an electric car, I don't," Trump said, but warned that his former ally "could lose a lot more."

The response to the markets was not long in coming. Tesla shares fell more than 4% during Tuesday afternoon trading, although less than during the last clash between the two leaders in early June. Musk's companies, especially Tesla and SpaceX, benefit from a suite of federal contracts, grants, and loans that have provided the companies with tens of billions of dollars for years. Beyond the electric car purchase support program that the law threatens, Musk's empire needs flexible state and federal regulation of autonomous vehicles—his latest big bet. Especially since the electric car maker is investing heavily in an autonomous taxi project already being tested in Texas.

Some business leaders have already joined Musk's proposal to create a new party. Former 2020 Democratic primary candidate Andrew Yang says he has approached Musk with the idea of founding a third party together that could eliminate the two-party system of Democrats and Republicans. Yang already promoted an independent initiative called the Forward Party, which failed to take off, and Musk does not seem interested in collaborating with the former Democrat. Creating a new political project would not be a minor expense for the Tesla founder, who already spent around 300 million euros supporting Trump and the Republicans in the 2024 elections.