Tucker Carlson Unveils Bold Vision to Rescue America Amid Political Turmoil

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday laid out 10 qualities he feels America should always possess, as "Our political system has collapsed into paralysis and looting." His remarks on The Tucker Carlson Show seemingly escalate his break with President Donald Trump, exposing tensions within the coalition that helped return Trump to the White House.

"It's been obvious for a while now that our system is not working as intended, because the people in charge of it seem to be looking out mostly, not exclusively, but mostly for their own interests," Carlson said.

"So, it's one thing to have a system run by people who are looking out for their own best interest, and not yours, again, we've had that. It's another to have a system that's totally incapable of responding to reality. It is basically paralyzed," he later added, saying that the latter is the one plaguing America today.

Carlson touched on what he labeled the two biggest threats in all of history, nuclear war and artificial intelligence, saying they are looming right in front of us all, and that those with authority are "frozen."

He listed in extensive detail 10 traits America should have, while saying "change is coming." The virtues included a recommitment to fairness, sovereignty, being productive, having beauty, health, honesty, being optimistic, wise, showing decency and being united.

Carlson also touched on immigration and having Americans speak English. "Different languages divide," he said. "If you were serious about holding your country together ... you'd be serious above all about making certain that everyone in your country spoke the same language."

"Both parties have colluded against the population to make their lives better and our lives worse," he also said.

In concluding his nearly two-hour segment, Carlson said, "So if you're going to fix it and rebuild this country and turn it into a place that the grandchildren you hopefully will have can inherit and thrive, you're going to need to do something about the pressing question of American identity. 'What does it mean to be an American?' But it's fixable, you just have to try, and we will be trying. And we'll tell you, as we continue to do that."

The move comes 90 days before the November 3 midterm elections, with control of the House and Senate at stake.

Carlson first signaled his plans to help build a third party in a July 1 interview with the Columbia Journalism Review, saying the country was operating as a "one-party state disguised as a democracy" and arguing that the political system needed to be disrupted.

"I'm going to help build a third party," Carlson said in the interview, adding that he did not intend to run for office himself.

The split between Carlson and parts of the MAGA coalition reflects a broader tension within Trump's movement. Trump built much of his political identity around challenging Washington's foreign policy establishment and reducing U.S. involvement abroad, but decisions during his presidency, including the war with Iran, have frustrated supporters who favor a more strictly non-interventionist approach.

Carlson's influence within the Republican base remains difficult to measure. A 2025 Pew Research Center study found that 9 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they often got news from the Tucker Carlson Network.

Trump, meanwhile, has maintained strong approval ratings among self-identified Republicans despite the feud, though the Iran war has weakened his standing with the broader coalition.

Tucker Carlson Leads MAGA Break With Trump

The new video somewhat hardens a break that has been building inside the president's coalition since the United States entered the war with Iran.

Former U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican, posted a photograph on August 1 showing herself seated at a table at Carlson's studio in Maine. Also in the image were her husband, conservative journalist Brian Glenn; U.S. Representative Thomas Massie, also a Republican, and his wife, Carolyn Moffa; and Joe Kent, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and his wife, Heather Kent.

"We said no more foreign wars and we meant it," Greene, of Georgia, wrote alongside the photograph. She said Trump had betrayed his supporters and described the group's commitment as America First for Americans across the political spectrum. She closed the post by declaring that the movement had begun.

The group did not announce a party name, an organizational structure or any legal filings at the time. Greene's post used the word movement rather than party.

Each figure in the photograph has been sidelined by Trump in recent months. Greene left Congress this year after the president withdrew his endorsement. Massie lost his Republican primary in May to Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL whom Trump recruited and backed. Kent resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center in March in protest of the war with Iran.

In a June 22 post on X, Greene said she was done with the Republican Party and suggested many others felt the same way, while making clear that her break did not mean she was becoming a Democrat.

Carlson, who has long opposed American military involvement in the Middle East, struck a similar tone in a June 18 interview on the Can't Be Censored podcast, saying he had no plans to support either major party. At the time, he said he was unsure what he would do next.

The structural barriers to a third-party challenge remain significant. Winner-take-all elections, the Electoral College and state ballot access rules have historically made it difficult for outside movements to translate national dissatisfaction into electoral victories. Ross Perot won roughly 19 percent of the popular vote in 1992 but no electoral votes. The America Party floated by Elon Musk in 2025 was never formally established.

Public frustration with the two-party system is widespread but has yet to translate into a viable alternative. Gallup's annual governance survey, conducted September 2 to 16, found that 62 percent of American adults said a third party was needed because the two major parties were doing such a poor job. That was nearly identical to the record high of 63 percent recorded in 2023, while 30 percent said the two parties were doing an adequate job.

Timeline of the MAGA-Trump fallout

• June 2025. Ahead of United States participation in strikes on Iranian nuclear sites alongside Israel, Carlson urges Trump to stay out of the conflict and frames intervention as a betrayal of the America First platform. Trump responds by calling Carlson "kooky" on Truth Social. The two later reconcile, and Trump tells reporters that Carlson called him to apologize.
• January 2026. Carlson is photographed at the White House on January 9, attending a meeting with oil executives in the East Room. The relationship appears repaired.
• February 2026. Carlson visits the Oval Office for what he later describes as the last time. He tells The Wall Street Journal that he and Trump argued about the war in the Middle East and that Trump raised accusations that Carlson was antisemitic. Carlson says the president seemed sad and resigned.
• February 28, 2026. The United States joins Israel in launching major strikes on Iran. Trump announces the start of major combat operations. Carlson tells Jonathan Karl of ABC News that the attack is "absolutely disgusting and evil" and predicts it will reshape Trump's movement.
• March 2026. Carlson calls the campaign Israel's war and accuses Trump of being beholden to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He calls the president a slave to Israel, drawing accusations of antisemitism that he denies. Kent resigns from the National Counterterrorism Center over the war.
• March 5, 2026. Trump tells Karl that Carlson has lost his way and is not MAGA. Greene posts "I SUPPORT TUCKER" on X and says Carlson would defeat Trump in a hypothetical 2028 matchup.
• April 2026. Trump posts a vulgar Easter Sunday message on Truth Social threatening strikes on Iranian civilian infrastructure. Carlson calls the post "vile on every level" and objects in particular to its invocation of Allah on a Christian holy day. Trump responds by describing Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens and Alex Jones as having low IQs, linking to a CNN poll showing his own favorability exceeding Carlson's.
• April 18, 2026. Buckley Carlson, Tucker Carlson's son, departs his post as deputy press secretary in Vice President JD Vance's office. Vance's office says the decision was made in December.
• April 21, 2026. Carlson records an episode of his show with his brother and apologizes to his audience for supporting Trump in 2024. He says he and millions of others are implicated in what followed and that he is sorry for misleading people, adding that it was not intentional.
• May 2026. Massie loses his Republican primary to Gallrein.
• June 18, 2026. Carlson says on the Can't Be Censored podcast that he will not support the Republican Party.
• June 22, 2026. Greene announces on X that she is done with the Republican Party.
• July 1, 2026. Carlson tells the Columbia Journalism Review he will help build a third party. He rules out running as its candidate.
• July 17, 2026. In a Bloomberg interview, Carlson says loyalty runs two ways and that the loyalty that matters is a leader's loyalty to his own country. He says the United States would not be at war with Iran under a Vance presidency.
• August 1, 2026. Greene posts the Maine photograph and declares the movement has begun.
• August 5, 2026. Carlson lays out what he feels America should be, while saying "change is coming."

Donald Trump’s Approval Rating Among Republican Pollsters

The latest poll from McLaughlin & Associates, affiliated with Trump, showed that 36 percent of Americans approve of both Trump and his policies, while 13 percent said they approved of only his policies. In that poll, 47 percent of respondents said they did not approve of Trump.

That marks a slight shift from August 2025, when 38 percent of respondents said they approved of Trump and his policies and 14 percent approved of just his policies; 45 percent said they disapproved of Trump at the time.

McLaughlin & Associates' latest poll surveyed 1,000 general election voters from July 15-21.

Rasmussen Reports, another pollster viewed as being more Republican, showed Trump underwater. In its daily tracking poll for Monday, 44 percent of likely U.S. voters said they approved of Trump’s job performance, compared to 55 percent who disapproved.

Twenty-five percent said they strongly approved of his job performance, while 46 percent strongly disapproved, according to the poll. It was conducted among 1,500 likely voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

A recent Cygnal poll did not track Trump’s approval in terms of job performance but instead his personal favorability. It found that 56.1 percent of Americans viewed Trump favorably, compared to 41.9 percent who viewed him unfavorably. It surveyed 1,500 respondents on June 30 and July 1 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.53 percentage points.

A poll from J.L. Partners and The Daily Mail showed that 56 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump, compared to 44 percent who approved of him. It surveyed 1,000 registered voters from July 17-20.

How Does That Compare to Independent Polls?

Several major pollsters released surveys last month showing that Trump’s approval rating has fallen to a record low, raising red flags about his standing among independent voters and even parts of his base.

A Quinnipiac University poll showed Trump’s approval at 32 percent—its lowest point from either of his terms. It surveyed 963 registered voters from July 23-27.

A CNN poll also found a record low in Trump approval at 34 percent. It surveyed 1,225 respondents, also from July 23-27. An AP-NORC poll, which surveyed 1,165 adults on the same days, showed his approval at 33 percent, tied with April for the lowest ever.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Edward T. Cummins.