Latest / Elon Musk Podcast / Elon Musk's Bitcoin Party
Transcript
- 0:01Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
- 0:04Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
- 0:07the critical crossroads that shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The
- 0:11Boring Company, and Neurolink. I'm your host, Will Walden.
- 0:17Elon Musk has confirmed that he is launching a new political
- 0:20party called the America Party, reigniting speculation about his
- 0:23next move in both politics and also cryptocurrency.
- 0:28Now the decision comes as the United States stares down a
- 0:31staggering $37 trillion debt pile that was triggered when
- 0:36some are calling a fiscal emergency.
- 0:40Musk has used his ex account to sharply criticize the current
- 0:43trajectory of U.S. government spending, citing it as his
- 0:47reason for splitting from Donald Trump in the Republican
- 0:51establishment. Now the question now being asked
- 0:54is direct and immediate. Will Elon Musk attempt to
- 0:57reshape American politics and the financial system at the same
- 1:00time by tying the American party to Bitcoin, not Doge?
- 1:06Now Musk's public follow with Donald Trump stems from Trump's
- 1:09support of a bill that raised the debt ceiling and expanded
- 1:12federal spending. Musk has originally championed
- 1:15Trump's return to the White House based on a shared platform
- 1:18of fiscal restraint, but broke ranks after Trump endorsed a
- 1:222024 budget that widened the deficit by another $500 billion.
- 1:29Musk called the move insane, arguing on X that it would
- 1:32bankrupt the country. His tone has turned sharper in
- 1:35recent months to especially as federal deficit projections
- 1:39continue to climb with no political consensus on cuts or
- 1:43restructuring. How the American party appears
- 1:46to be Musk's response to what he sees as bipartisan failure.
- 1:50He hasn't officially registered the party, but he has already
- 1:52started building a public presence around it.
- 1:55An unaffiliated account on X, labeled America Party X, has
- 2:00circulated pro Bitcoin posts and frequently interacts with
- 2:03cryptocurrency influencers, which has amplified theories
- 2:06that Musk intends to tie the party's financial ideology to
- 2:10Bitcoin and crypto. Now, while the account itself
- 2:13disclaims any direct link to Musk, has fueled a stream of
- 2:17online discourse tying Musk's monetary beliefs to digital
- 2:21currency ideals. Now Musk responded to an ex user
- 2:25who asked if the America Party would embrace Bitcoin by writing
- 2:28Fiat is hopeless. So yes, a single comment caused
- 2:32a sharp spike in the price of Bitcoin, echoing previous price
- 2:36swings tied to Musk's past statements about crypto.
- 2:40Musk was referring to Fiat currencies, government backed
- 2:43currencies that are not tied to any commodity like gold, as
- 2:47fundamentally flawed systems. That position aligns with long
- 2:51standing criticisms from Bitcoin supporters who argue that the
- 2:54dollar's value is manipulated by central banks in unsustainable
- 2:59levels of debt. Now let's see, Bitcoin is
- 3:08connected to the US deficit increase, and the surge of
- 3:15Bitcoin is going to be long term, according to some
- 3:19analysts. So nearly $2 trillion added to
- 3:24the federal debt in 2024 alone as a sign of monetary
- 3:28instability. Of course, there's some
- 3:31skepticism that we pointed out that the X account allegedly
- 3:37belonging to Musk lacked some verification.
- 3:42They've been fabricating images in the past, casting doubt on
- 3:46whether the interaction occurred between Elon Musk and his ex
- 3:49account. Even without hard proof, though,
- 3:52Musk's growing criticisms of government overspending have
- 3:56created an unmistakable alignment with the core values
- 3:59of the Bitcoin movement. The statements about the US
- 4:02dollar and his support for decentralized finance continue
- 4:05to energize crypto traders who believe he may fully embrace
- 4:09Bitcoin as part of his political message as opposed to Dogecoin.
- 4:13And I can understand why. Bitcoin has a much bigger market
- 4:17than Dogecoin, and it's more acceptable to use Bitcoin, that
- 4:22is, to use doge. So of course he's going to use
- 4:25Bitcoin. Now.
- 4:26The broader debate about U.S. debt has reached a fever pitch
- 4:29across Wall Street, Silicon Valley to the All In podcast,
- 4:34host David Friedberg warned the country of a fiscal emergency.
- 4:40He's hosted Elon Musk before and also Donald Trump on the
- 4:44podcast. And he said that current
- 4:46political leaders are ignoring the structural deficit crisis.
- 4:50You said that the post COVID stimulus packages and high
- 4:53interest rates are accelerating the cost of servicing our debt.
- 4:58Interest rates have risen sharply since 2022 as the
- 5:02Federal Reserve tried to fight inflation, causing the cost of
- 5:05servicing the national debt to increase dramatically.
- 5:08In the past fiscal year, though, the US government paid over a
- 5:11trillion dollars in interest payments but no political
- 5:15consensus on austerity or tax reform.
- 5:18The debt ceiling has turned into a recurring crisis point.
- 5:22Each increase in the ceiling now introduces trillions more in
- 5:26borrowing, compelling investor anxiety about long term currency
- 5:30stability. The Musk's statement that Fiat
- 5:33is hopeless adds more dimensions to this debate, he suggests, may
- 5:40not be just reacting to US fiscal policy, but actively
- 5:44proposing an alternative economic framework.
- 5:47So Bitcoin could be used in this and in this context, it becomes
- 5:51more than just an asset. Like people have it now, they
- 5:54hold on to our huddle onto it for a while and make some money.
- 5:58Now, truth be told, I do have some Bitcoin holdings and I'm
- 6:05happy that Elon Musk and Bitcoin are working together in some
- 6:09fashion, or at least there's speculation about it, but it's
- 6:13not much, to be honest with you. Anything I make from this show,
- 6:17I put a tiny bit of it into Bitcoin for, you know, for later
- 6:21on in life, just as a speculative investment or a
- 6:25speculative asset. So Bitcoin becomes a policy tool
- 6:29for Elon. And if Elon Musk follows through
- 6:31on incorporating Bitcoin into his political platform would
- 6:36make the American Party the first credible national
- 6:38political initiative in the United States to formally reject
- 6:42Fiat currency as its foundation. Now, this begs another point.
- 6:48If Elon Musk and the America Party are taking Bitcoin
- 6:53donations in some way, if that's even possible, how do you track
- 6:58those donations? I don't know if you can.
- 7:03There's ways to track Bitcoin, but it's very difficult. the US
- 7:08government can do it, I know that.
- 7:10But will they spend their time and their money and their
- 7:13manpower on tracking all of the political donations to Elon
- 7:18Musk's American Party? Probably, yes.
- 7:20They're afraid of him. The Republicans and the
- 7:22Democrats alike, They don't want a third party because they're in
- 7:26power right now and they will continue to be in power for the
- 7:30foreseeable future until somebody with power, money and
- 7:35the right plan comes along and shakes things up.
- 7:39And that could be Elon Musk. So we'll see what happens as far
- 7:43as Bitcoin and the funding of his party because to be honest
- 7:48with you, I'm not Privy to the knowledge of how a political
- 7:53party is formed. And then we'll get into that in
- 7:55another episode about this whole thing and how the parties are
- 7:58formed and what it takes for Elon to actually do this.
- 8:02Like where is he going to get the funding?
- 8:03Does he fund it himself? Are there outside funders?
- 8:06I, I'm not 100% sure, but he is in talks with other people that
- 8:10have funded other parties in the past.
- 8:15So he will, he'll know that all the information pretty soon and
- 8:20we'll bring that to you as well. So far, Musk hasn't confirmed
- 8:24any specific policy platforms for the American party beyond
- 8:28his condemnation the federal overspending, though the timing
- 8:32of the bro pro Bitcoin comments in the emerging network of pro
- 8:36crypto messaging around the new party have established a clear
- 8:39signal the monetary reform may be central to its identity.
- 8:43But also think of it like this. People that hold crypto want to
- 8:49make money, so of course they'll make an account that's pro Elon
- 8:55and pro the America Party so they can bump up the price of
- 8:59Bitcoin and get that massive return because people think that
- 9:04Elon Musk is backing Bitcoin, the most powerful, richest
- 9:07person in the world outside of the US president.
- 9:12Of course the price of Bitcoin is going to go up and of course
- 9:15people are going to make money. So that would make sense as well
- 9:19if this X account is not from the America party.
- 9:24Now I Speaking of Bitcoin and financial things, I asked the
- 9:33other day for some help for the channel for the show.
- 9:37And if you're a if you're a supporter of this show, and I
- 9:40know there are a lot of you out there that are supporters of the
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- 10:17you can donate to the show by using Venmo.
- 10:24The Venmo account is at Will Dash Walden.
- 10:28Any amount helps, whether it's $1.10 dollars, $100, a $1000,
- 10:34anything helps, $5. We had some donations yesterday
- 10:40and let me help you remember. Let me help me remember actually
- 10:48what they said because I'd like to take a second and see what
- 10:53everybody said here. So we had a donation from Jacob,
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- 11:06Is it they are very thankful for the show.
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- 11:48right now. Let's get back to the America
- 11:50Party for a minute. It's unofficial.
- 11:55It's presence is already influencing discourse around the
- 11:58US and talking about the US debt, people, more people are
- 12:02talking about it and also alternative economic models. the
- 12:06US isn't going to move away from what it is now.
- 12:09They're not going to move to Bitcoin.
- 12:11There's no way they're going to do that.
- 12:12There's it's too much, it's too complicated.
- 12:14But, you know, Elon Musk has shifted from being a corporate
- 12:17executive with just strong opinions to someone who appears
- 12:22to be building an ideological movement.
- 12:26And Peter Thiel had an interview recently.
- 12:29I was watching. And in that interview, he was
- 12:34talking about how Elon Musk realized, and it took him years
- 12:38to realize this, that even if you do go to Mars, the
- 12:43ideologies from Earth will follow you there.
- 12:47That woke woke AI will follow you to Mars.
- 12:53So is this the beginning of Elon Musk creating a Society of
- 12:59people that he would want to bring to Mars with him?
- 13:03An ideology that Elon Musk could bring to Mars with him to create
- 13:09a new society With those ideologies, the America party
- 13:14could become the Mars party. Elon Musk still wants to send
- 13:17broadcast to Mars and working on it at Star Base Texas.
- 13:22If you're not familiar with the show, I spent about 10 months at
- 13:25Starbase Texas reporting on Starship.
- 13:28At Starbase, I was on the side of the road.
- 13:30It was 110°. Every day it's getting blasted
- 13:33by the sun, getting sandblasted and also torrential downpours.
- 13:37Got caught in a couple hurricanes down there.
- 13:40It was wild. But I spent my time down there.
- 13:43I did my time and I reported from the side of the road
- 13:46because I'm a supporter of what Elon is doing as far as Starship
- 13:51goes and sending humans to Mars. I think it's going to be a
- 13:57humanity changing mission if it all goes well.
- 14:01So I wanted to be there in the beginning when he started
- 14:04building this thing. So I was there before any
- 14:06launches and the rocket 4/20 was stacked.
- 14:12And then after that IA few months after that I took off and
- 14:16had to go back up north to the northeast.
- 14:19But I think what Elon is doing down there is important.
- 14:23I think making those rockets is important because not only for
- 14:25SpaceX and for Elon, but for all of humanity to know that super
- 14:29heavy rockets can exist and they can actually work.
- 14:32That's important because then we can send gigantic payloads to
- 14:38other planets. We can send them to Mars.
- 14:41We can send a Saturn to Jupiter, to Uranus, but we can send
- 14:46people to those places too, as long as, you know, radiation
- 14:50doesn't get us and they have enough supplies to get to those
- 14:53places and back. But the important thing is what
- 14:58Elon realized before, that AI can follow you to any planet in
- 15:04the solar system. And if AI can follow you to any
- 15:08planet in the solar system, also robotics can go to any planet in
- 15:14the solar system. So maybe the play isn't sending
- 15:19people to Mars. Maybe initially it will be, but
- 15:24sending AI robots around the solar system with this ideology,
- 15:29the America Party ideology, and the AI in those robots could
- 15:36have this ideology. Maybe that's the play now.
- 15:40Maybe it's bigger than just America.
- 15:42Maybe it's bigger than just getting a hold of the fiscal
- 15:46economic model that's alternative to what we have now.
- 15:50And he might see the downfall of Western civilization as we know
- 15:54it if the US goes into bigger debt and he wants to make an
- 15:59alternative to what we have now. So there's an escape plan.
- 16:05If you're on a podcast platform that has comments, please leave
- 16:10a comment. What you think about that?
- 16:13Do you think Elon's building this America party for an escape
- 16:15plan? It's going to be very difficult
- 16:18to live on Mars, by the way. They're still working on it.
- 16:23Nobody actually knows how to live on Mars yet.
- 16:26One, because there's no field tests on Mars that have been
- 16:31done. The radiation on Mars will kill
- 16:35you. You have to have a habitat and
- 16:38it's not going to be one of those like fancy habitats that
- 16:41you see in all the sci-fi shows where it's glass and metal and
- 16:47it's going to be ugly. It's not going to be the best
- 16:50looking thing. It's going to have thick walls
- 16:54and you pretty much can't go outside unless you're going to
- 16:57go from your habitat to like a rocket or something to get away
- 17:02from the radiation. You can't stand out there for
- 17:05very long, and we can talk about that another episode too, about
- 17:09the habitat on Mars and how it seems almost unattainable,
- 17:15almost impossible for people to live on Mars, basically because
- 17:19there's no there's no atmosphere that protects you.
- 17:22Same with the moon. There's no atmosphere.
- 17:25So people can stay on the moon for a little while, of course,
- 17:28but living on the moon, working on the moon, that's going to be
- 17:31very dangerous. Same with Mars now.
- 17:33Is this America party? This is just the precursor.
- 17:38Could this just be a precursor to Elon's off world Mars
- 17:45adventure? The Peter Teal interview was
- 17:49striking. I didn't expect him to say that
- 17:51when he said that. And he also could.
- 17:53He talked about Elon's rockets as little science experiments
- 18:00didn't really like he kind of talked down about him and eel on
- 18:03her friends. But the way he talked about it
- 18:05was condescending a little bit little condescending little
- 18:09science experiment. Oh, Elon with his little science
- 18:12experiment down there in Texas. You know, whatever you think
- 18:16about Peter Thiel, that's a whole different thing with
- 18:18Palantir and his, you know, his his plays with that.
- 18:24That's something else we'll get into in another episode.
- 18:26So if you're into those kind of things, please hit the subscribe
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