Conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson intends to start a new political party after disavowing President Trump and the Republican Party over the Iran war.
“I’m going to help build a third party,” Carlson said in an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review published Wednesday. “There should be a good-faith effort to figure out what benefits the country.”
The former Fox News host argued that when it comes to the two issues he views as most consequential for Americans – “war and finance” – Democrats and Republicans “are in lockstep solidarity with each other.”
“That’s not a democracy,” he said. “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.”
Last month, Carlson told the “Can’t Be Censored” podcast there is “no chance” he would support the GOP moving forward over the Iran war.
Carlson, who described himself as a lifelong Republican, argued the Trump administration “betrayed the US” by going to war with Iran in response to “pressure” from Israel.
“At this point … how could I or any American voter support a political party that’s not loyal to the United States, that puts the interests of a foreign country above those of its own citizens?” he said. “It’s not possible to vote for people like that.”
The longtime political pundit suggested that his new party would focus on “the welfare” of Americans above all else.
“I mean, if you make sixty thousand dollars a year, you’re degraded. Your life expectancy has gone down, and the promise of your children’s lives is likely gone. No one seems to care. It’s not even a factor,” he told CJR. “‘What about Hamas?’ I officially don’t care about Hamas.
“The US government should have, as its first priority, the welfare of its own people.”
Carlson, however, suggested his supporters shouldn’t expect to see him on the ballot any time soon.
“I don’t want to be a candidate,” he said, joking that in an earlier interview he was “very tempted to say ‘I am running — on the pro-patriarchy ticket’ … just to make sure I gain no new fans.”
Since his break with Trump, the president has referred to Carlson as a “nut job” and a “hand flailing fool.”
“He was a broken man when he got fired from Fox, and he’s never been the same,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in April. “Perhaps he should see a good psychiatrist!”
