Prominent right-wing broadcaster Tucker Carlson has declared his intent to help establish a new political party in the United States.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), the former Fox News host turned podcaster expressed deep disillusionment with the American political establishment, though he offered few concrete details on how this new political entity would operate and explicitly ruled himself out as a political candidate.
“I don’t want to be a candidate," Carlson stated.
The catalyst for Carlson's move is his intense opposition to the administration's military conflict with Iran. Once a highly influential ally of President Donald Trump who lobbied him privately against foreign interventions, Carlson revealed that their relationship has completely fractured.
“I haven’t spoken to him since the regime-change war began. I’m not interested in talking to him," he remarked.
Carlson has formally rescinded his support for both major parties ahead of the upcoming midterm elections this November, characterizing the current Washington power structure as a deceptive duopoly.
In the interview, Carlson heavily focused his criticism on the geopolitical forces he believes are dictating American foreign policy. He suggested that pro-Israel donors and interests successfully pressured Trump into targeting Iran, aligning both Democrats and Republicans against the interests of everyday Americans.
“I do know what really matters is war and finance," Carlson said, adding, “And 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."
The commentator, who has increasingly steered his platform toward an isolationist and nationalist "America First" stance, further downplayed international security threats in the Middle East while discussing domestic economic degradation.
“I’m going to help build a third party. There should be a good-faith effort to figure out what benefits the country. I mean, 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. […] I officially don’t care about Hamas. The US government should have, as its first priority, the welfare of its own people."
Carlson’s aggressive rhetoric toward Israel is in line with previous comments he has made. In May, Carlson claimed in an interview with Israel’s Channel 13 News that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dragged the US into a war with Iran.
He claimed that “because of this war…America's relationship with Israel, while it may be based on good intentions, is hurting the United States very badly" and called for an end to American aid: “I don't think the United States owes Israel anything. I don't think the United States should give Israel anything. I think we should stop all aid to Israel, all special deals for Israel."
On the war against Iran, Carlson criticized the very involvement of the US in the conflict, and claimed that Trump "turned out to be far weaker than I understood" and had been pushed by Netanyahu “into a war that hurts the United States."
In February, Carlson made headlines when he falsely claimed that he had been detained at Ben Gurion Airport upon his arrival in Israel.
Video footage posted to social media painted an entirely different picture of Carlson’s experience at Ben Gurion Airport. In the footage, Carlson is seen signing a document, smiling, embracing a security guard, taking a picture with him, and then leaving.
Carlson was later forced to retract false claims he made that President Isaac Herzog visited Jeffrey Epstein’s island.