The third voice: the United States is once again talking about the need for a new political force

At the end of June, the well-known conservative TV presenter Tucker Carlson officially announced his withdrawal from the Republican Party. In the Can't Be Censored podcast, he stated: "How can I support a party that puts the interests of another country above the interests of its own citizens?" The reason was criticism of the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran and foreign wars involving the United States, in principle. Rejecting the Democrats' support, Carlson called for the creation of a new political force. The idea of a "third party" in the United States is old and not original, but over the past almost two centuries of American history, there has never been a more appropriate moment to create it. Izvestia explains why.

The Florida candidate

There is a growing split in the structure of the two main American parties on foreign policy issues. First of all, we are talking about the problem of unconditional support for Israel. Despite the fact that the leadership and main forces of both Democrats and Republicans remain faithful to the traditional course of the Washington establishment, populists on the right and progressives on the left seem to be finding common ground to jointly fight the bipartisan consensus.

Photo: TASS/ABIR SULTAN

Against this background, the most popular journalist in the United States, Tucker Carlson, announced a break with the Republicans, accusing the party leadership of years of collusion with opponents. According to him, both parties are "keeping pace" on issues of war and finance. He pointed to the Democratic leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, who fully supports Donald Trump's foreign policy, depriving voters of a real choice.

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Carlson has been talking a lot with journalists and bloggers lately. In an interview with The Columbia Journalism Review, he said he was "going to help" create a third party. "We will have to work hard and figure out what will benefit the country," he said. "If you vote for Trump and you still get another war for regime change... then we need options."

Photo: RIA Novosti

It is noteworthy that although Carlson spends a lot of time on the Israeli lobby (mainly the American-Israeli Public Relations Committee; AIPAC) and its role in the aggression against Iran, this is not the only complaint about the White House's foreign policy. Like the vast majority of speakers (for example, an interview with Roger Waters was recently released) of his podcasts, the journalist openly accuses the neoconservative wing of the American establishment of unleashing and prolonging the Ukrainian crisis and predicts the disappearance of Ukraine from the political map.

The right-left party

It is noteworthy that Carlson finds support not only among nominal isolationist Republican political associates (Thomas Massey) and Tea Party supporters (Rand Paul), but also among left-wing and center-left commentators and politicians. Of course, this kind of solidarity is situational, but at the same time it speaks volumes.

Photo: REUTERS

The idea of the need for a third force is one of the integral ideas in American political thought. Since the collapse of the Whig Party and the subsequent failure of the American Party (just before the outbreak of the Civil War), no nativist (i.e., isolationist-oriented right-wing conservative force) party has achieved significant success, at least not separately from the Republican Party.

Formally, there are many so—called "small parties" in the United States, and some of them sometimes achieve certain results at the local level - for example, representatives of the American Greens run several cities in California. In presidential elections, their leaders, if they are nominated as candidates, usually serve as "spoilers" (that is, distracting votes) for Democrats (like the "green" Ralph Nader against Albert Gore in 2000) or Republicans (like the "independent" Ross Perot against George H.W. Bush in 1992).

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The problem with "breaking through" into the American political space is that no one is interested in it except for a part of the electorate. A huge financial resource is needed to promote a political party across the States, and it has long been divided between Republicans and Democrats, who have been doing an excellent job lobbying the interests of various groups for almost two hundred years.

This is especially noticeable in attempts to get into power at the level of individual states, where, in addition to the political traditions of the population, it is necessary to overcome the consolidated resistance of the local political and financial elite.

Photo: Global Look Press/Ilya Moskovets

Nevertheless, the prevailing public sentiment in the United States has not been so favorable for the creation of a third party for a very long time. Recent Gallup polls show that trust in major government institutions continues to decline, and in some cases has reached its lowest levels. Congress is supported by 9% of Americans, and trust in the government (regardless of party preferences) has fallen by half over the past half century.

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Rising prices, the war in Iran and accusations of harassment have reduced the credibility rating of parliamentarians to a minimum.

At the same time, the political capitalization of Carlson's persona is growing, and "organically", based on protest and anti-elite sentiments and without visible financial injections. In the Polymarket forecast market, his chances of becoming the Republican presidential candidate in 2028 have increased to 7%. For a politician without a headquarters and an official nomination, this is a very large figure.

Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

So far, Carlson has distanced himself from the intention to lead a political movement, but the idea is up in the air. And although the creation of a full-fledged third party remains unlikely due to the peculiarities of the US electoral system, the very discussion of this project by leading right-wing populists signals a deep crisis in the legitimacy of the traditional two-party model. The ruling political elite is now very vulnerable to an attack from both flanks of the new forces, which, despite deep and insoluble contradictions, are united by their rejection of endless foreign wars. And this is important from the point of view of the balance of power in the world in the near future.