Tucker Carlson Breaks With Trump, Announces Plans to Launch New Third Party

A MAGA pillar walks out the door

Tucker Carlson, the conservative podcaster and former Fox News host who spent years amplifying Donald Trump's political rise, declared in a July 1 interview with the Columbia Journalism Review that he is done with the Republican Party and intends to help build a third political party.usatoday Carlson, 57, said he has not spoken to President Trump since the U.S. launched airstrikes on Iran earlier this year and showed no interest in reconciliation.forbes "I'm going to help build a third party," he told the magazine. "There should be a good-faith effort to figure out what benefits the country."usatoday

The Iran war as the breaking point

Carlson's rupture with Trump traces directly to the U.S. war against Iran, which he has vocally opposed from the start.washingtonexaminer He said he visited the White House three times in January to warn the president against the campaign, telling Trump, "The best you're gonna see there is just this suppurating wound" — to which Trump reportedly replied, "I know."usatoday Once hostilities began, Carlson publicly apologized to his audience for having endorsed Trump, saying he was "tormented" by his past support.forbes Trump responded in kind, labeling Carlson and other critics — including Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones — "losers," and wrote on Truth Social that "MAGA agrees with me ... not Hand Flailing Fools like Tucker Carlson."hollywoodreporter Of the president, Carlson told the CJR: "He's not a man in charge of his own life at this point. I feel sorry for anybody who's enslaved, including him."forbes

A "one-party state" argument for realignment

Carlson's pitch for a third party centers on a critique of bipartisan consensus rather than partisan grievance. He argued that on the questions that matter most — war, finance, and the distribution of national wealth — Democrats and Republicans are effectively indistinguishable.washingtonexaminer "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," he said.washingtonexaminer Despite being frequently floated as an outside-the-box presidential contender, Carlson was unequivocal about his personal role: "I don't want to be a candidate."usatoday

Greene adds momentum, but hurdles loom

Carlson is not alone. Former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who resigned from Congress earlier this year after a prolonged feud with Trump, said this week she is "in talks" about forming what she described as "a true America-focused party."masslive Greene acknowledged the practical difficulties while insisting the effort has substance: "There are serious conversations happening, looking at what are the mechanics of that and the reality of it," she told Piers Morgan.masslive The parallel push echoes Elon Musk's 2025 announcement of the "America Party," which never materialized after Musk repaired his relationship with Trump.usatoday Building a competitive third party would require FEC registration, state-by-state ballot access, a candidate slate, and significant fundraising — obstacles that have derailed nearly every such effort in modern U.S. political history.forbes +1