Topline
Tucker Carlson wants to build his own political party, telling the Columbia Journalism Review in an interview he has stopped speaking to President Donald Trump since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran—a public break with the president he has long known and privately lobbied for.
Key Facts
Carlson said he is “going to do everything I can to bring about” a new political party, claiming the U.S. government is “a one-party state posing as a democracy, and it needs to be broken.”
Carlson, who has been highly critical of U.S. foreign intervention, told the Columbia Journalism Review he has not spoken to Trump “since the regime-change war began,” adding, “I’m not interested in talking to him.”
The conservative political podcaster said he visited and warned Trump three times at the White House before the U.S. and Israel struck Iran, noting Trump said, “I know,” when Carlson said, “The best you’re gonna see there is just this suppurating wound.”
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“He’s not a man in charge of his own life at this point,” Carlson said about the president, adding, “I feel sorry for anybody who’s enslaved, including him.”
Contra
Outside of posturing toward the U.S. political system at large, it is unclear who Carlson believes is specifically controlling Trump. “What is it really about, in Trump’s mind? Why did he destroy himself? His administration? His legacy? The Republican Party and America? I don’t know, but maybe someone at CJR should get on this and find out,” Carlson told the magazine.”
Tangent
Tesla chief Elon Musk informally launched his own political party last year amid a public and fiery feud with Trump. Similar to Carlson, Musk said U.S. residents live in a one-party system, “When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft.” The “America Party” was never officially established and Musk’s relationship with Trump has since smoothed over, with the president calling Musk “a friend of mine again” last month.
What To Watch For
If Carlson follows through on creating another party, he will need to register it with the Federal Election Commission.
Key Background
Carlson, during his time at Fox News, was highly supportive of Trump. His tenure at the outlet came to an end in 2023 after it fired him amid fallout from the $787.5 million Dominion Voting Systems defamation settlement. Carlson has since run his own news platform and podcast, the episodes of which regularly rack up over a million views on X. During the war with Iran, Carlson apologized for “misleading” his viewers with his support of Trump, saying he was “tormented” by it and that “we’re implicated in this for sure.”trump
Further Reading
Elon Musk Announces New ‘America Party’ In Split With Democrats And Republicans (Forbes)