Tucker Carlson said he wants to start a third major political party "as a good-faith effort to figure out what benefits the country."

The conservative commentator and former Fox News host, who has said he's abandoning the Republican Party following President Donald Trump's handling of the Iran war, argued that neither major party adequately represents Americans on what he considers the nation's most important issues.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Columbia Journalism Review, Carlson said he plans to help build a new political movement focused on domestic priorities, particularly economic concerns facing working-class Americans.

"I'm going to help build a third party," Carlson said. "There should be a good-faith effort to figure out what benefits the country."

Carlson argued that Republicans and Democrats are effectively united on foreign policy and government spending.

"I do know what really matters is war and finance," he said. "On those questions, the parties are in lockstep solidarity with each other. That's not a democracy. That's a one-party state posing as a democracy, and it needs to be broken."

The New York Post reported Carlson's political break with the GOP accelerated after he condemned the Trump administration's military action against Iran, which he has repeatedly argued was contrary to Trump's "America First" campaign promises.

Last month, Carlson declared on the "Can't Be Censored" podcast that there was "no chance" he would support Republicans in future elections, saying the party had placed the interests of foreign countries ahead of American citizens.

"The U.S. government should have, as its first priority, the welfare of its own people," Carlson told CJR, pointing to declining living standards for many middle-class Americans.

While Carlson intends to help organize a third party, he ruled out seeking elected office himself.

"I don't want to be a candidate," he said, joking that he had considered announcing a mock presidential campaign "on the pro-patriarchy ticket" simply to discourage new supporters.

Trump has responded to Carlson's criticism in recent months, previously calling the former network star a "nut job" and a "hand flailing fool" on Truth Social.

Carlson recently said he could no longer support the Republican Party after decades of defending it, citing what he described as its embrace of policies driven by donors and foreign interests rather than American voters.

Despite his split with the GOP, Carlson insisted his goal is broader than opposing Republicans.

"We need options," he said. "Or else let’s just give up and be ruled by the most unscrupulous people. And I’m just too young to accept that. We need a third party."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.