Tucker Carlson, the conservative media figure and former ally of President Donald Trump, has declared his intention to help establish a third political party in the United States, arguing that the Republican and Democratic parties are indistinguishable on matters of war and finance. In an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review published on Wednesday, Carlson described the American political system as “a one-party state posing as a democracy” and said he would work to “break” it, though he ruled out standing as a candidate himself. The announcement formalises a rupture that began earlier this year when Carlson withdrew his support for the Republican Party, primarily over Trump’s decision to launch military operations against Iran.

Carlson’s move is the most prominent in a series of defections from the Trump-aligned MAGA movement. Former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who resigned her Georgia seat in 2025, said this week that “serious conversations” were under way about a new “America-focused party,” while Tesla chief executive Elon Musk claimed earlier this year to have formed an “America Party.” All three figures have accused Trump of betraying his “America first” platform by prosecuting the Iran war. Israeli media reports have highlighted Carlson’s assertion that the conflict was “led by Israel” and that the Trump administration placed the interests of a foreign state above those of American citizens. Carlson also stated that he had personally warned Trump against the war, telling the president that regime change in Tehran would not produce a stable, pro-Western government.

Viewed from Beijing, the splintering is an “inevitable outcome” of mounting tensions within the conservative movement during Trump’s second term, according to an analysis published by the state-affiliated China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR). The think tank argues that the Republican Party now faces a reckoning over its core beliefs and direction. European analysts note that a credible third-party candidacy, even if it does not win the presidency, could siphon enough votes from the Republican nominee to alter the outcome of the 2028 election, much as Ross Perot’s 1992 run affected George H.W. Bush’s re-election bid. In Washington, Trump has dismissed Carlson as a “loser” and a “broken man,” and the Republican National Committee is proceeding with plans for a convention in Dallas this September to rally the party base ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

The third-party discussions unfold against a backdrop of broader anti-establishment sentiment on both the right and the left. Candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America have recently won primary races in New York and Colorado, signalling discontent with the Democratic Party’s leadership as well. No third party has broken the two-party duopoly in modern American history, and Greene herself acknowledged that building a viable alternative would take multiple campaign cycles. For now, the effort remains in its early stages, with no formal party registration or platform. The next concrete test of the Republican Party’s internal cohesion will be its September convention, while the midterm elections in November 2026 will offer the first measure of whether the splintering on the right translates into electoral consequences.