Progressive 'Young Turks' co-host discusses why she left the Democratic Party

Co-host Ana Kasparian of the progressive daily talk show, “The Young Turks,” explained this week what led her to leave the Democratic Party. She said she has felt "politically homeless" over the past few years, while she was a guest on Jillian Michaels' "Keeping It Real" podcast on Monday. 

She condemned efforts to "demonize and even dehumanize the other side," but acknowledged that she used to believe that it was not possible to be friends with conservatives or Trump supporters, according to Fox News. 

Both Michaels and Kasparian said they “identified with disaffected Democrats who now feel unwelcome in their former party,” according to the outlet. 

One turning point for her was when she was scolded by liberals after relating her experience of being sexually assaulted by a homeless man while she was out walking her dog in Los Angeles in 2022. She said she became fearful about leaving her house, and was accused of being a racist, though she hadn’t said anything about the man’s race. 

She discussed that in this video clip from her appearance with Jillian Michaels that was posted on X on Saturday by Collin Rugg, who is described on Linked In as a “Top creator on X with over 1 Billion influences a month.” 

"Before I knew it, I started getting these messages, and it's really, really harsh stuff, about how, ‘You are painting a picture of the homeless community. How could you be like this? These are your unhoused neighbors and they need help,'" Kasparian said. 

"A few people accused me of being racist, even though I had never disclosed the race of the individuals who did this to me. And in fact, they were White," Kasparian continued. 

"That woke me up," she added. "Some of the people that I've associated myself with because I thought they were the good people….They definitely have stereotypes in their head and are totally blind to the fact that they have those stereotypes and go around accusing others of being bad actors when they themselves need to do the work."

This isn’t the first time she has talked about her disillusionment with the Democrats. Back in 2023, the issue was mandates the Democrats in California were imposing on its citizens in the name of climate change. Another time was over the Democrats’ stance on transgender issues. 

Michaels left California in 2021, in part over how the state's soft-on crime policies led her family to leave and move to Miami. "Nothing was crazy like this right?" Michaels told Kasparian. "Homelessness, crime, advocating for medicalization of children, advocating for late-term abortion?"