A new political analysis suggests that former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is systematically positioning himself as the leader of an organized opposition movement against President Donald Trump, with signs pointing to a possible third-party effort.

Writing for MSNOW on Saturday, analyst Zeeshan Aleem argued that Carlson's recent actions go beyond mere posturing. "It's one thing to float the possibility of creating a third party," Aleem wrote. "But there are signs Carlson may be trying to make it happen."

Carlson, who was Fox News's highest-rated primetime host before his abrupt 2023 departure from the network and has since built a large independent media following through his streaming show, has increasingly leveraged that audience to shape conservative discourse outside traditional party channels.

Carlson's moves began with a dramatic departure from the Republican Party over Trump's military action against Iran. He then hosted a meeting at his compound in Maine with several high-profile political figures, followed by the release of a 10-point manifesto.

Aleem characterized Carlson's actions as both "theatrical" and, "surprisingly," as "a more adversarial and organized opposition."

The Maine gathering included former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), a longtime libertarian-leaning Republican known for breaking with his party on foreign policy and surveillance issues. Greene posted a photo of the meeting on X, issuing a direct warning to Trump.

"We said no more foreign wars and we meant it and supported Donald Trump because he made that promise," Greene wrote. "But he's betrayed us all … The movement has begun."

Kent, in an interview with "The Young Turks," said the Maine meeting was convened to strategize an antiwar movement. "Running as a third-party candidate is challenging," he said. "Not impossible."

Any third-party effort would face steep structural barriers, including complex ballot-access laws that vary by state and require significant organizing and resources — a hurdle that has historically limited the viability of insurgent national campaigns.

Carlson subsequently released a livestream titled "It's Time to Save America," in which he took direct aim at Trump and his association with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

"Carlson called for a 'recommitment to fairness' and argued that 'what rankles people so much' about 'the Epstein story is not that he was bad; it's that he got a pass because of who he was,'" Aleem wrote. He added: "Carlson didn't explicitly say Trump botched the release of the Epstein files, but he didn't have to."

Carlson also emphasized the importance of a movement rooted in being "honest" and "decent" — which Aleem described as "an implicit broadside against a Republican Party that has descended into cartoonish corruption and cruelty under Trump."

"The pitch that's forming is: 'Pure MAGA: untainted by Trump's narcissism, warmaking and corruption,'" Aleem wrote.

Aleem concluded that the current state of conservative politics could enable Carlson's message to resonate. "Trump's grip on his party is so strong that he has all but eliminated any dissent within it — and on the rare occasions dissent does arise, he quashes it by backing primaries against his critics," Aleem wrote. "As far as conservative feedback goes, Trump faces no accountability within his party — so now it's coming in the form of a threat of a new one."