As Elon Musk studies up on how to start a third political party, among the people from whom he has sought advice is a somewhat surprising choice of consultant: the right-wing blogger Curtis Yarvin, who is perhaps best known for advocating monarchism.
Mr. Yarvin is one of the most influential thinkers on the so-called tech right, where he has attracted attention for his oft-expressed distaste for traditional American democracy.
He would not seem to be a source of the kind of expertise that Mr. Musk needs as he pursues his idea for the America Party — Mr. Yarvin is not an expert on the mechanics of creating third parties or on the strategies and intricacies of running third-party campaigns.
Still, Mr. Musk and Mr. Yarvin spoke late last week about the task ahead, according to two people briefed on the conversation who insisted on anonymity to describe it. A representative for Mr. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Yarvin declined to be interviewed.
Some of Mr. Yarvin’s friends over the years have included technology leaders like Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen, and Vice President JD Vance has cited his writing.
In talking with Mr. Musk, Mr. Yarvin shared some of his political theories, the people briefed on the conversation said.
At least some of the two men’s theories have been at odds. Mr. Yarvin has called for the expansion of the use of phone apps for automated voting to increase turnout in elections and decrease the importance of candidate quality. Mr. Musk has repeated false claims of widespread problems with electronic voting machines and said that America should “only do paper ballots, hand-counted.”
Mr. Yarvin is better known for arguing provocatively that American democracy has been exhausted and that the country would be better off being run by a “C.E.O.” — essentially, a dictator.
He has also criticized Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency on the grounds that it did not assume enough power over the federal bureaucracy.
Mr. Yarvin’s more controversial pronouncements extend to the subject of race. Critics contend that he has argued for “a hierarchy of races” with his defense of genetic differences between races. “In this house, we believe in science — race science,” he wrote on his blog in December.
Mr. Yarvin does not have an extensive prior relationship with Mr. Musk. He told The Times in an interview published in January that “I can’t really resist trolling Elon Musk, which might be part of the reason why I’ve never met Elon Musk.”
Mr. Musk’s decision to reach out to him shows how broadly the billionaire is casting about for advice on his effort to start the new political party before the 2028 midterm elections.
Mr. Musk, who recently followed Mr. Yarvin on X, has been using the platform to make connections. He briefly talked in recent days about the America Party undertaking with the former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who also founded a third party, Forward.
People who know Mr. Musk well say privately that he appears to be serious about the third-party idea, but that it is not clear to them that he has moved beyond pie-in-the-sky thinking to mapping out how to pull it off.
One immediate challenge for Mr. Musk would be identifying capable allies who are willing to risk retribution from Mr. Trump or from Democrats by engaging in a third-party effort. That could help explain why Mr. Musk may be drawn to heterodox figures like Mr. Yarvin.
Theodore Schleifer is a Times reporter covering billionaires and their impact on the world.
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