Tucker Carlson floats idea of new political party in the US in interview | Tucker Carlson
Right-wing broadcaster Tucker Carlson said in an interview that he wanted to help start a new political party in the United States; But he gave few details about the party and did not indicate whether he was talking about a concrete project or just expressing an opinion.
In the same interview, Carlson rejected the idea of running for office as part of this new party. “I don’t want to be a candidate,” he said.
Carlson, a former Fox News broadcaster and podcast host, has made no secret of his frustration with the Trump administration and specifically its war with Iran. He has expressed regret for previously supporting Donald Trump in recent months, and just last week in question He said he had no chance of supporting Republicans or Democrats in the midterm elections this November.
He further elaborated on this line of thinking in an interview with Columbia Journalism Review (CJR). It was published on Wednesday.
Claiming that pro-Israel donors are pressuring Trump to attack Iran, he said, “I know what’s really important is war and finance.” And “the parties are in step-by-step solidarity with each other on these issues. This is not a democracy. This is a one-party state masquerading as democracy, and that needs to be overthrown, and there will be a third party, and I will do everything in my power to make that happen.”
He added: “I will help set up a third party. There has to be a good faith effort to figure out what will benefit the country. So if you’re making $60,000 a year, you’re degraded. Your life expectancy has diminished and the promises of your children’s lives have probably vanished.” […] Officially, I don’t care about Hamas. “The U.S. government’s first priority must be the well-being of its people.”
Carlson, who has a habit of thinking out loud, did not elaborate. It’s hard to tell whether he’s describing an actual project in progress or simply discussing the possibility. His promises to CJR contradict the interview he gave to the New York Times in May. in question:“[T]There must be a party here that speaks for the most people. Will I build it? Absolutely not.
Despite frequent speculation that he might seek the Republican presidential nomination, Carlson has consistently denied having any political aspirations. However, he has wielded other forms of political influence, both through his broadcasts and the behind-the-scenes lobbying of President Trump, who was once the top late-night audience for Carlson’s show on Fox.
In the CJR interview, Carlson acknowledged that he personally tried to persuade Trump to consider military intervention in Iran. Their relationship has since soured: “I haven’t talked to him since the regime change war started. I don’t want to talk to him.”
In recent years, Carlson has emerged as a key figure in the nationalist-isolationist wing of the far right, which criticizes Trump for failing to fulfill his campaign promises and for not breaking decisively enough with the Bush-era Republican party that advocated the US invasion of Iraq.
The U.S. relationship with Israel has been a particular target of ire, and Carlson has criticized Israel with a vehemence that some critics blame for bringing antisemitism and conspiracy theory into the mainstream. This group on the right (sometimes referred to as “America First” to distinguish it from Trump’s “Make America great again” slogan) has also expressed disappointment that Trump’s hard-line immigration policies are not radical enough.
“I am in favor of less immigration,” Carlson told CJR. “I’m actually in favor of ending all immigration today. I don’t know how you can justify immigration when half of white-collar jobs are disappearing because of AI. What will people do to live?”
A lifelong Episcopalian, though unorthodoxly conservative, Carlson increasingly turned to the rhetoric of Christian nationalism; he frequently cited passages from the Bible and suggested that political leaders were losing sight of Christian morality. He said that a few years ago he was attacked in his sleep by what he believed to be a demon, and that he had been attacked more recently. changed An American flag in the podcast studio and, on the far right, a flag associated with Christian nationalists.
When Carlson’s interviewer at CJR asked him if he was “positioning strategically” [himself] He dismissed the idea that his thinking was so calculated as “counter-programming” to a Republican party dominated by Trump and aging Fox News viewers.
“I’m not strategic in any way,” he said. “I make almost all decisions based on smell and instinct.”
