Ana Kasparian

About Ana Kasparian

Anahit Misak Kasparian (Armenian: Անահիտ Միսակ Գասպարյան) is an American Independent political commentator, media host, and journalist. She is the main host and a producer of the online progressive/populist-left news commentary show The Young Turks, where she began as a fill-in producer in 2007, and she appeared on the show's television version on Current TV. She formerly hosted The Point on the TYT Network, co-hosted Weekends on far-left Jacobin's YouTube channel, worked as a contributor for MSNBC, and has written for publications including The New York Times, Time.com, and Raw Story.

Kasparian said that seeing journalist Barbara Walters on 20/20 inspired her to get into journalism. After graduating from CSUN, she interned and later worked at CBS Radio news stations in Los Angeles, first KFWB and then KNX. She said she was lucky to be hired immediately but disliked the work because mainstream media is "not fun" due to the "robotic work environment" where she could not say what she wanted on air or do stories important to her. She enrolled in a master's degree program as a "way out" of media. She has also worked with AOL News, YouTube, TidalTv and On Point.

Kasparian said she wrote in Bernie Sanders in the 2020 presidential election, reasoning that it would not matter because she lives in predominantly Democratic-voting California. Since 2023, she has distanced herself from progressive politics, describing herself in 2024 as “unaligned” and “politically homeless” after changing her views on mainstream liberal approaches to public safety and homelessness policy. She continues to advocate economic equality, workers’ rights, stronger labor unions, higher wages, and curbs on corporate power. She criticizes both major parties for their perceived failure to serve working-class people, particularly the Democrats’ corporate ties and reliance on neoliberal centrism. She has also criticized gender-affirming care for minors, identity politics, cancel culture and moralizing forms of political discourse, which she considers to undermine authentic left-wing politics and alienate working-class people. She has opposed California Democrats and Gov. Newsom on crime policy and supported deporting undocumented immigrants convicted of violent crimes, while criticizing the Trump administration's broad immigration crackdowns, particularly indiscriminate raids, enforcement against people without criminal records, and the profiling or detention of U.S. citizens.

Kasparian has also been a vocal critic of Israel and U.S. military interventionism, challenging the bipartisan consensus behind foreign wars. On Real Talk with Mohamed Hashem, Kasparian has openly praised right-wing politicians like Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene for actively working to halt military aid to Israel. She contrasted this with left-wing establishment figures like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whom she criticized for failing to push back forcefully enough.

In May 2026, Kasparian stated that she is prepared to collaborate across the political spectrum, including with figures on the right, to halt military aid to Israel and oppose what she describes as war crimes. She criticized progressive figures like Ocasio-Cortez for refusing to work with certain right-wing figures on the issue of Israel while being willing to collaborate on other matters like congressional stock trading bans. In September 2026, Kasparian stated on InfoWars alumni Owen Shroyer's "The Owen Shroyer Show" that she has increasingly engaged in cross-spectrum media appearances and discussions with conservative and independent commentators (such as prior conversations with Candace Owens) as she has publicly re-evaluated traditional progressive viewpoints.

Kasparian is of Armenian descent. She is the daughter of Armenian immigrant parents. Her paternal great-grandparents experienced the Armenian genocide first-hand in 1915. She was raised in the Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles. She grew up speaking Armenian as her first language and started kindergarten without being able to speak a word of English. She has said watching Sesame Street as a child is what helped her to learn English quickly. In November 2015, Kasparian married Minor League Baseball player, model, and actor Christian Lopez.