Tucker Carlson says he wants to help create a new political party in the United States, though the former Fox News host offered few concrete details about what that would look like or whether he was describing an actual plan or simply floating an idea.
In an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review published Wednesday, Carlson made clear he has no interest in being the face of such an effort. "I don't want to be a candidate," he said.
The podcaster and rightwing broadcaster has grown increasingly vocal about his disillusionment with Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Last week he declared there was "no chance" he would support either major party in November's midterm elections. His frustration centers on what he views as bipartisan consensus on issues he considers most consequential.
"I do know what really matters is war and finance," Carlson told CJR, suggesting pro-Israel donors have steered Trump toward military action against Iran. "On those questions, the parties are in lockstep solidarity with each other. That's not a democracy. That's a one-party state posing as a democracy, and it needs to be broken, and there's going to be a third party, and I'm going to do everything I can to bring that about."
He elaborated on his vision for such a party with a focus on domestic priorities. "I'm going to help build a third party," he said. "There should be a good-faith effort to figure out what benefits the country. If you make $60,000 a year, you're degraded. Your life expectancy has gone down, and the promise of your children's lives is likely gone."
Carlson's statement contradicts his own words from May, when he told the New York Times that while a party should exist to represent most people, "Am I going to build it? Absolutely not." Whether his latest comments reflect a change in position or merely him thinking aloud remains unclear.
His distance from Trump has hardened. Carlson said he tried to convince the then-president not to pursue military intervention in Iran and has since severed contact. "I haven't spoken to him since the regime-change war began. I'm not interested in talking to him," Carlson said.
Over recent years, Carlson has positioned himself as the leading voice of a nationalist-isolationist faction within the hard right that views Trump as having failed to deliver on his core promises. That camp has also criticized Trump for not breaking sharply enough with the Bush-era Republican establishment that pushed the Iraq invasion. Immigration policy represents another point of contention, with Carlson taking positions even more hardline than Trump's, and in the CJR interview he called for ending all immigration entirely.
On foreign policy, Carlson has been particularly critical of US support for Israel, criticism that some observers say ventures into conspiracy theory and antisemitic territory. The US relationship with Israel has become a flashpoint for the "America First" wing of conservatism, distinguishing it from Trump's "make America great again" brand.
Carlson has also increasingly woven Christian nationalist rhetoric into his worldview, citing Scripture and lamenting what he sees as politicians' departure from Christian ethics. He has spoken of a demonic attack on him years ago and recently replaced an American flag in his podcast studio with imagery associated with Christian nationalist movements on the far right.
When asked by his interviewer if he was strategically positioning himself as an alternative to the Trump-dominated Republican Party, Carlson rejected the notion that his moves were calculated. "I'm not strategic in any way," he said. "I make almost all decisions on the basis of smell and instinct."
Author James Rodriguez: "Carlson's third-party talk sounds like venting until he actually builds something, but his consistent anti-Trump messaging suggests real break, not theater."
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