Tucker Carlson has ratcheted up his public break with President Donald Trump, unveiling a 10-point manifesto Wednesday for rebuilding the country once he leaves office.
The former Fox News host invoked the late sex offender – and former Trump pal – Jeffrey Epstein as a symbol of the elite class to which the president belongs and has failed to hold accountable, and Carlson seemingly took a step toward a possible 2028 presidential bid by outlining his “America First” priorities, reported The Daily Beast.
The 57-year-old broadcaster has spent months building a dissident wing within MAGA, teaming with former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, 52, who resigned from Congress earlier this year after a bitter split with Trump over what she called broken campaign promises.
Both accuse Trump, 80, of abandoning “America First” principles by entangling the U.S. in the Iran war, deferring to Israel on foreign policy, and mishandling the release of the Epstein files.
Carlson had previously floated forming a third party, saying, “there’s going to be a third party, and I’m going to do everything I can to bring that about.”
His Wednesday livestream stopped short of that, announcing no party or candidacy, but framed his manifesto as groundwork for “whatever comes next,” which he said “could find all kinds of expressions.”
The manifesto’s opening point takes direct aim at Trump, saying the law should apply to presidents and federal agents the same way it applies to everyone else, pointing to the way the disgraced financier committed sex crimes with impunity was emblematic of an “Epstein class” that evades consequences through wealth and connections.
He also accused Israel of pulling the U.S. into war with Iran through “bribery or threat, or both,” and described high-interest debt, corporate influence over government, and foreign lobbying as forms of “slavery.”
His remaining points touched on a broad range of grievances – rebuilding an economy centered on farming, manufacturing and skilled trades rather than finance and surveillance; blaming urban planners for deliberately “uglifying” American cities; and backing RFK Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again agenda while criticizing widespread use of medications for depression, attention disorders and sleep.
He called for punishing officials who lie and for declassifying files related to 9/11 and the John F. Kennedy assassination.
Carlson also described having children as a biological duty and criticized childless elites for shaping short-term policy, and he called for schools to teach “fixed truths” about inherent differences between men and women.
He urged the U.S. to compensate civilians killed in foreign conflicts, scrap the Pentagon’s “Department of War” rebrand, and cut ties with allies — including Israel — he accused of committing genocide.
He also called for freezing immigration until AI’s impact on jobs becomes clearer.