Former Fox News star Tucker Carlson has spent 35 years in the Republican Party.
This week, the increasingly-fringe conservative commentator said he has quit the GOP completely, and said he is never coming back.
“I would not support the Republican Party. There’s no chance I would support the Republican Party,” Carlson said in an interview. “I’m out.”
“And if I’m out, then I think a lot of other people are out,” Carlson claimed, but made it clear he’s not joining the Democrats.
“Not gonna support the Democratic Party,” Carlson added. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Carlson said it was a break over foreign policy. Specifically, the former Fox News star said that both major political parties support Israel over America’s interests, pointing to the the Iran war that began in February.
“How could I or any American voter support a political party that’s not loyal to the United States,” Carlson said. “That puts the interests of a foreign country above those of its own citizens. It’s not possible to vote for people like that, and I’m not going to.”
Carlson said he hasn’t spoken with President Donald Trump since February 27, the night before U.S. forces struck Iran.
“I’m positive he didn’t want to do it,” Carlson said of Trump. “He understood the risks. He did it anyway, and I want to know why.”
It is a remarkable flip-flip for a man who was among Trump’s most outspoken allies for years. Carlson was a major figure in Trump’s 2024 campaign. But after the Iran war began, Carlson publicly apologized for backing Trump and said he regretted “misleading people.”
Trump has repeatedly rejected the idea that his foreign policy is anything but “America First.”
“If anything, I might’ve forced Israel’s hand,” Trump said in March. “I call the shots. [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] doesn’t call the shots.”
Carlson was fired from Fox News in April 2023. He has since been reduced to posting podcast interviews on his X channel and the Tucker Carlson Network.