Tucker Carlson floats idea of new political party in the US in interview

Tucker Carlson at a meeting with oil executives in the White House on 9 January 2026. Photograph: Al Drago/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Tucker Carlson at a meeting with oil executives in the White House on 9 January 2026. Photograph: Al Drago/Getty Images Tucker Carlson floats idea of new political party in the US in interview Former Fox News host further said he doesn’t ‘want to be a candidate’ for president and aired frustration with Trump Tucker Carlson , the rightwing broadcaster, wants to help build a new political party in the United States, he said in an interview – though he gave scant detail about the party, and did not indicate whether he was referring to a concrete project or merely musing. In the same interview, Carlson dismissed the idea of running for office as part of that new party. “I don’t want to be a candidate,” he said. Carlson, the former Fox News broadcaster turned podcast host, has made no secret of his frustration with the Trump administration and especially its war with Iran. In recent months he has expressed regret for formerly supporting Donald Trump , and just last week said that there was “no chance” he would support Republicans – or Democrats – in the midterm elections this November. He escalated that line of thought in an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) published on Wednesday. Marjorie Taylor Greene joins Tucker Carlson in breaking with Republican party Read more “I do know what really matters is war and finance,” he said, suggesting that pro-Israel donors had pressured Trump into attacking Iran. 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.” He added: “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, who has a habit of thinking out loud, did not elaborate. It is difficult to say if he was describing an actual project under way or just mooting the possibility. His remarks to CJR contradict an interview with the New York Times, in May, in which he said :“[T]here should be a party that is speaking for most people. Am I going to build it? Absolutely not.” Despite frequent speculation that he might seek the Republican nomination for president, Carlson has consistently denied that he has any political aspirations. He has, however, exercised other forms of political influence, both through his broadcasting and through behind-the-scenes lobbying of a president, Trump, who was once the most important nightly viewer of Carlson