After Years of Criticizing "Why I Left the Left," Ana Kasparian Leaves the Left.

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a Republican.

Ana Kasparian, host of The Young Turks and proprietor of the Unaligned Substack.

Last week,

Ana Kasparian

, host for the progressive network The Young Turks, launched her new Substack,

Unaligned

. In her inaugural post, Kasparian indicated she was breaking from the political left, saying, “I’ve changed” and would start “questioning her side.” It’s a familiar and unsurprising development. Over the last decade of booming independent media, a cadre of once-left and progressive commentators have publicly declared they are “leaving the left.” Usually accompanied by the launch of a new YouTube channel or monetized Substack, these pundits proudly state they are breaking free from the chains of strict dogmatism and cancel culture that supposedly shackles those of us who still occupy progressive spaces.

The cast of the self-excommunicated includes (but is not limited) to Glenn Greenwald, Bill Maher, Jimmy Dore, and Dave Rubin. (Remember Rubin. He plays a unique role in this story.) Following the path laid before them, their announcements are comically titled “Why I Left the Left,” a line replayed more times than “Born in the USA” at a Trump rally.

Rinse and repeat.

In her article, Kasparian says her political beliefs began to change in 2022. Not because she critically examined her views on economics, foreign policy, or any other political issue and found a superior answer, but because leftists were crude to her online. She cites two examples of such mistreatment. The first was in response to her sharing an account of being sexually assaulted by a homeless person.

That horrible experience alone didn’t change me politically, but the treatment I received from the far left and some progressives after sharing the story did. I was told that by publicly sharing what had happened to me, I was stigmatizing my “unhoused neighbors.”

The second came after she posted this👇.

Referencing this, Kasparian writes:

All hell broke loose after I posted those words. Most “friends” in left-wing media didn’t bother reaching out privately to discuss their disagreement with my personal preference. Instead, many self-described socialists took it upon themselves to profit from conflict by publicly attacking me with monetized videos.

According to Kasparian’s own account, what motivated her exit from the left wasn’t politics but mean things said on www dot Twitter dot com. I don’t doubt some leftists told her not to recount the tale of sexual abuse. Those people were wrong, and Kasparian deserves the same support afforded to any survivor. However, someone making the mistake of telling Kasparian to stay quiet does not explain why she is altering her political worldview. In the second account, it’s bizarre that she expects people to respond privately to a public statement. That’s a bad-faith critique and indicative of the larger problem with the “I Left the Left” crowd.

Sums up Kasparian’s justification quite well.

Here’s the thing: people are mean and stupid online, regardless of their political beliefs. I’m sure some Twitter users did tell Kasparian she shouldn’t talk about being sexually assaulted. That’s a dumb claim that should be ignored, not the catalyst for political reorientation. As a professional political commentator, you shouldn’t be changing your views on immigration, affirmative action, or housing because StalinLover420 told you to fuck off. Your politics should be based on critical analysis of the material world around you, not the digital insults of an account that can be blocked with the click of a button. Anyone who shares their political opinions, whether on a radio show, podcast, YouTube channel, or Substack article, will get criticism and blowback. It will come from all sides of the political arena, even those they’re most closely aligned with. It’s happened to me many times. That’s part of the job. It always has been and always will be. Criticism, even when mean and overwhelming, is not a valid excuse to cast your political beliefs into the wind, just as a baseball player who strikes out and is booed by hometown fans isn’t justified in throwing the game to his opponents.

And Ana Kasparian knows this. She’s been with The Young Turks for seventeen years. With over a decade and a half of online punditry under her belt, this isn’t the first time she’s been targeted with mean-spirited comments. In the below Tweet from 2021, she acknowledged and thanked “critics,” “opponents,” and even “the trolls.”

But now, in 2024, she’s citing those trolls and critics as the reason she’s “left the left.” Given her total flip-flop in just three years, one can only conclude there’s another motivation for Kasparian to come out conservative.

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As I’m incredibly hesitant to psycho-analyze the motivations of someone I don’t know personally, I won’t speculate as to why Kasparian (and others) have made a show of moving rightward. Instead, I’ll let Ana Kasparian tell you why she thinks commentators pivot right.

In the below 2018 clip from her show, Kasparian blasts her former colleague Dave Rubin, who also “left the left.” In Kasparian’s view, Rubin’s change was financially motivated. Her suspicions were correct, as Rubin was one of the rightist influencers recently discovered to be bankrolled by Russian intelligence.¹

In a segment on The Michael Brooks Show from the same year, Kasparian elaborated further on the financial benefits of a former leftist becoming a rightist.

Michael Brooks: “It’s the easiest hustle on the planet.”

Ana Kasparian: “Especially if you were part of a program that had some progressive influence, and you’re suddenly willing to shit on that program, then the offers would come in.”

(In the above clip, Michael Brooks pokes fun at Dave Rubin prioritizing a “wokeness scandal” at Oberlin College over more significant issues such as climate change. Kasparian agrees, with him. Remember this. The cosmic irony will be clear later on.)

2018-Kasparian hit the nail on the head. There’s nothing conservatives love more than to fund a former leftist commentator now preaching the gospel of social conservatism. (Or in Russell Brand’s case, the actual Gospel.) It validates them personally while “proving” to others that conservative politics were right all along. It’s social proof; the same reason conquering armies install a government with a puppet ruler plucked from the conquered population.

While there’s no indication Kasparian received a check from the Koch brothers or any other big-money group, shadowy big financiers aren’t the only way in which rightists fund this type of reactionary media. Kasparian already has the Substack verified badge, meaning she has hundreds of paying subscribers. Not bad for a publication with three articles.

While only Kasparian will know the true motivations for her public pivot, I’m confident in saying it’s likely due to a mix of finances and ego. Not only because 2018 Ana Kasparian told us that’s why commentators leave the left, but because the reasons she provides for her about-face fail to surpass even the lightest scrutiny. To conclude her inaugural Substack, Kasparian says:

The point of this new project is the pursuit of intellectual freedom and open mindedness. I want to nurture curiosity without fear of offending the sensibilities of loyal partisans… This is my effort in pursuing extreme honesty and humility in the quest for common ground and truth without the constraints of a tribal identity.

You heard it here folks! She’s “pursuing truth,” unburdened by any “constraints on tribal identity.” Let’s take a look at what this “extreme honesty” looks like.

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Following her public break up letter, Kasparian sat down for an interview with gameshow host/diet pill conwoman Jillian Michaels.² During the interview on Keeping it Real, Kasparian parroted the conservative talking point that “wokeism” is ruining education. She claimed Culver City High School, a seemingly benign California public school with just over two thousand students, decided to “scrap its Honors program” because there weren’t enough Latino students enrolled. This is a common complaint from rightists, espoused by everyone from Elon Musk to Sam Alito: DEI, wokeness, political correctness, or whatever other label they give progressive ideals is ruining institutions and the country.

Let’s hear Kasparian out.

Wow! That sounds like the woke left is out of control! I can’t believe a high school eliminated education opportunities just to “virtue signal” that they favor social justice. Maybe Ana Kasparian and the host of The Biggest Loser are right. Maybe the left is unreasonable… wait a second. I’m being handed a note.

Now, this might shock you, but Kasparian’s tale appears to be bullshit (shocking!) Culver High School didn’t scrap honors-level courses. Back in 2016, they noticed a discrepancy between the school’s economic and racial demographics and those of students enrolled in the Advanced Placement (“Honors” courses). After six years of failed experimentation to increase diverse enrollment, the district began interviewing high-performing students of color who weren’t in the Honors courses. They found that the two most significant barriers to entry were:

1. “Tracking,” the process of putting a student “on track” for Honors courses at an early age, and

2. The label of “Honors,” as some students and families didn’t think they could meet the financial requirements or pay for the necessary tutors.

So, after years of research and dedicated pursuit of a fix (which Kasparian derides as them “not wanting to do the work”) Culver High School found a solution. Culver High School expanded their Honors program so it was available to all students. The exact opposite of Kasparian’s claim they “scrapped it.”

From the school district’s press release:

Based on copious amounts of research, analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data, as well as student, parent, and teacher input, and consultation with college admissions experts, CCUSD leadership, CCHS leadership, and the faculty of the CCHS English department concluded that CCHS’s current English course structure was unable to meet the needs of all students. The district began preparing for the transition to a new model for English courses: College Prep for All. In College Prep for All, the honors-level curriculum would be taught to all students using engaging, high-level instructional strategies with extra support for students who might not be accustomed to this level of rigor. — History of English Language Arts Curriculum Change, Culver City High School³

I found this press release from the Culver High School at the top of a Google search. It wasn’t hidden, inaccessible, or confusing. Kasparian is an intelligent person with access to the internet. If she were actually seeking the “extreme honesty” she claims she is, then she would have come across this information in the first five minutes of researching this supposed scandal. My hunch is that Kasparian isn’t interested in “pursuing extreme truth,” but was echoing conservative media, which has been parroting the lie about Culver High School for over a year.

"Extreme Honesty," courtesy of The New York Post!

Remember the above clip from 2018 when Michael Brooks and Ana Kasparian laughed about Dave Rubin focusing on an alleged wokeness scandal at Oberlin College instead of major issues? Well, now Kasparian is the one spreading rightist lies about a school instead of using her platform to discuss actually important issues, such as the ongoing Middle Eastern War or the dual hurricanes flooding the southeast.

What frustrates me most about the likes of Rubin, Kasparian, Greenwald, and the many other formerly-left commentators who pivot right for one reason or another is that, unwillingly or willingly, they reinforce the worst depictions of the political left for personal clout, clicks, and cash. In a brief back-and-forth with me on Substack Notes, Kasparian claimed she was “pushed out” of the left, as if the loose collection of Twitter users, DSA members, and progressives voters who comprise the American left are some form of strict Stalinist party that sent her to the Gulag for thought crimes.

Source

If you listen to conservative media, they earnestly believe the left is this group of rabid social justice warriors who will beat you to death for misgendering someone. Whether she intends to or not, Kasparian is fanning this flame simply because people were mean on social media. And, if we believe her previous criticism of those who she now emulates, because there’s a lot of money to be made by doing so.

As someone who spends way too much time online and the majority of my offline time in socialist spaces, I’m here to tell you this imaginary “left” only exists in the minds of reactionaries. When I misgender people at a DSA meeting, I’m politely corrected. One time, every leftist online got mad at me because I said Larry David was racist. I stayed off Twitter for a day, and the world went on. There’s no need to decry the entire progressive political project, change my views on immigration policy, or give credence to the reactionary right over such petty personal disagreements. Especially at a time when the political left is attempting to rebuild the labor movement, end the genocide of Gaza, and curb the global wave of surging fascism, throwing a bone to the reactionaries who oppose these just narratives is an unspeakably selfish choice.

And that’s what Ana Kasparian has done. She has made a selfish choice. If she did change her mind on political issues, great. There are plenty of progressive commentators who hold differing opinions than I on all sorts of topics. We all acknowledge our differences, debate and discuss them, and move forward. But what most don’t do, is make the choice Kasparian did of helping the arsonists burn down the progressive house because someone disliked the plate she brought to the potluck.

That purposeful choice to uplift the slanders of our adversaries is where I lose respect for people like Ana Kasparian. I welcome dissent. (The comments on this article are open to all.) But lies I cannot abide.

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1. https://apnews.com/article/russian-interference-presidential-election-influencers-trump-999435273dd39edf7468c6aa34fad5dd

2. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/jillian-michaels-lawsuit-biggest-loser-star-sued-allegedly/story?id=11332300

3. https://cchs.ccusd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=3670301&type=d&pREC_ID=2418496