Liberal political commentator and host Ana Kasparian said policies from the Left that have not worked, especially policy related to homelessness and crime in Los Angeles, need to be discussed so an “actual solution” can be found.
Kasparian, an open and unapologetic member of the Left, caught flack from some extremists on the Left for engaging in debate and discussion with people on the Right, most notably Daily Wire emeritus Ben Shapiro back in 2021. Kasparian refused to back down, and returned to have a conversation with Shapiro for this week’s episode of “The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special.”
“The approach that we have implemented is clearly not working; more people are dying,” Kasparian said of the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles.
CLICK HERE FOR BEN SHAPIRO’S “SUNDAY SPECIAL”
“I get so much flack for saying this: I want an actual solution,” she said. “It is insanely cruel to watch people die on our streets and then give yourself a pat on the back because you think you did something compassionate. That is not compassionate.”
“We need to get that person help,” she said of people suffering from a severe mental health issue. “They need help, and I don’t care how vicious people think I am for saying that, it’s just common sense, it really is.”
Kasparian said the issues in California and Los Angeles stem from “a huge mental health” crisis, drug addiction, and a lack of “housing inventory.” The Left’s policy prescriptions have not been effective, the journalist said, arguing that ignoring and denying the problem is dangerous and particularly unhelpful for the communities the Left claims to care about.
“Denying that the problem exists is the other part of this,” Kasparian asserted. The journalist recalled being assaulted in Los Angeles while she was out walking her dog, and then having to deal with backlash from some on the Left for publicly speaking about her victimization.
“I was shocked by the kind of reaction I got from people I typically agree with politically,” Kasparian said.
The host told Shapiro she was assaulted while out walking her dog in her own neighborhood. As she walked by two men who were on drugs and appeared homeless, one of the men grabbed her while she bent over to clean up after her dog and repeatedly thrust his erect penis at her.
“I have to think about that at least twice a day when I take my dog out for a walk. Yes, it is traumatizing,” she said, adding, “What’s making it worse, though, is that I’m the bad guy for sharing this story and saying, hey, we can’t just let this kind of stuff happen. We need to find real solutions for it.”
During the same sit-down, Shapiro and Kasparian battled it out on healthcare reform. The two agreed that the healthcare system is currently broken, but Kasparian argued for government-funded “medical for all”-type healthcare, while Shapiro argued for more privatization and community programs with the ending of the healthcare-employer connection.
“Once you make systems national, you’re going to have to, in some way, ration the resources,” Shapiro explained, noting of 12-24 hour delayed ambulances with England’s National Health Service (NHS). “You’re going to have to either increase the resources you are utilizing, which means increasing taxes, or increasing regulations; or you’re going to have to ration care that people are going to receive on the other end.”
“My personal experience with a sort of ‘medical for all’ system is in Israel,” Shapiro explained. “Their emergency care is very good, and if you have cancer, you are — in serious trouble.”
“The United States has the highest five-year survival rate for things like breast cancer,” he added. “If you have a serious disease, people are coming to the United States for surgery, for treatment. If you have a broken arm, you’re probably better off in a nationalized healthcare system, because it’s a fairly simple thing to solve and it’s not going to ‘cost you,’ indirectly.”
The pair early on in their discussion emphasized the importance of people from differing viewpoints talking to one another, noting that it can allow for people to really challenge and hash out their own views.
Related: ‘I Was Wrong’: Young Turks’ Kasparian Admits She Bought Into False Rittenhouse Narrative