Do you know how hard it is to get a party established and on ballots in all of the states? I mean if you want to have a fringe minority party that is represented by a few states at most and limited in seat numbers then it is not that hard.
Yes but that's exactly the point: they want to start as a "fringe minority party", and that's the only path of action which has at least a minimal probability of success. I don't know the electoral landscape of the US so well to know where such a party could get traction. Silicon Valley, or more broadly, California perhaps, where people could be tired of Democrats (but also don't like current Trumpist Republicans)? I suppose it would make more sense to start in an urban environment than in the countryside, and typically there it's easier to make the first steps (in Argentina, for example, Javier Milei's libertarian party was first a local phenomenon in Buenos Aires).
I'm mostly wondering why he didn't try to join the Libertarian party and make some adjustments where appropriate instead. They are already established everywhere, but perhaps it also has to do with the name and marketing. A lot of Americans are gullible on names, so a party with a better name could do better than the Libertarians simply because of the name.
The problem is that with his changing stances and crazy behavior he has created enemies from both sides out of people who previously supported him for different reasons.
That's true. But that could mean also that Musk, if he wants to have success with that party, shouldn't put himself too much into the foreground and try to gather support from other well known people too.
In general I like the idea of a "third party" in the US (or any country with a "ossified" two party system). But of course there have been attempts before and they never really took off. On the other hand, the UK shows that third parties can thrive in a first-past-the-post voting system.
If he really wants to do this, he needs to get off of Twitter and shut up most of the time. I also am fond of the idea of a third party, and it is very badly needed in the US, but Musk as the leader will not work out that well I think.