The former Fox News host was once a champion of conservative values and one of Donald Trump's most influential defenders. Carlson has remained staunchly conservative, but his relationship with the president has deteriorated in recent years as Carlson increasingly emphasized a more isolationist foreign policy, particularly when it comes to Israel.
Carlson remains popular among some isolationist conservatives and critics of interventionist foreign policy, but he has drawn sharp criticism from many pro-Israel conservatives and Jewish organizations.
He recently told the Columbia Journalism Review that he plans to start a third political party that will focus on domestic spending, staying out of foreign wars, and breaking ties with Israel.
He says he has the support of a few individuals from the disaffect Left and others on the fringe right, like Marjorie Taylor Greene.
"If we decide to align, we could launch a true America-focused party that could align some serious players from the Right and the Left," Greene has said.
But Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire thinks Carlson is bluffing.
"That is not his actual game; he's not going to do that," Shapiro responded. "He's too lazy. To build a national infrastructure is extremely costly. It is very difficult."
Instead, Shapiro thinks Carlson is banking on a disastrous midterm for the MAGA wing of the GOP.
"Here's the game: Tucker sees that Republicans are probably going to have a bad '26. What he wants is to say that the reason that Republicans had a bad '26 is because they alienated key people like him," Shapiro posed.
He went on to point out the reality is if Republicans lose in the midterms, it would be because of factors like this is an off-year election and the party that controls the White House almost always loses seats in the midterm elections.
But Carlson thinks that will give him the leverage and clout to lead a remade MAGA party.
Shapiro added that he hopes Carlson does launch a third party because third parties "get crushed," and he "would love to see a clean referendum on Tucker's views."
