Ana Kasparian: 'I’m done with the Democratic Party'



Ana Kasparian, co-host of “The Young Turks,” is one of the few voices in the political sphere who refuses to blindly follow the crowd based on claimed political ideology — and she’s not afraid to say it.

“I find myself in this weird politically homeless place right now, because you look at the Democratic Party, and both in pathology and in policy, I feel that they’ve taken on some of the characteristics that were indicative of the Bush-era Republicans,” Kasparian tells BlazeTV host James Poulos on “Zero Hour.”

And Kasparian believes this began to happen after President Trump’s emergence onto the political scene around the 2016 election.


“I really do think that Donald Trump specifically just kind of came in, stirred the pot, realigned things in some ways,” she explains. “So for instance, he was such a disruptive force that the left in general just really didn’t know how to react or respond to him, and I think that they, the mainstream Democratic Party, has kind of taken on ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend.’”

“So I think the biggest mistake the Democratic Party has made in recent years is this mistake in thinking that if someone, or a political ideology, is against Trump, that must mean they’re good for the Democrats,” she continues.

And one of the Democrats Kasparian believes Americans need to watch out for is California Governor Gavin Newsom.

“Gavin Newsom is a snake, and he is setting himself up for a presidential run. And as a result, he’s kind of presenting himself as some sort of reasonable, more moderate Democrat,” Kasparian tells Poulos.

“He is someone that you shouldn’t trust or believe,” she says. “He has overseen the absolute destruction of the state that I was born and raised in, the state that I absolutely love.”

“Gavin Newsom is the perfect example of a politician who wants to be a leader but doesn’t have the characteristics necessary to actually be a leader,” she continues, adding, “Gavin Newsom follows trends, and he goes along with what he thinks is politically popular at any given moment.”

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The war against child predators in Oklahoma classrooms



Oklahoma might be one of the deepest red states in the country, but that hasn’t stopped woke policies from infiltrating the school system.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is leading the fight against the takeover, and he tells James Poulos on “Zero Hour” just how he plans to win the war for America’s future.

“It’s unreal how bad the problem is,” Walters tells Poulos. “When I first got into office, we banned pornographic material from the classrooms, we banned transgender ideology from the classrooms. I was sued by our own administrators.”


Walters was sued by the administrators to keep the books “Gender Queer” and “Flamer” in grade school classrooms — both of which contain pornographic material depicting homosexual relationships.

“Inclusivity? You want ‘Gender Queer’ and ‘Flamer’ in the classroom? You guys are the same ones that then turned around and sued me to keep the Bible out of the classroom. So it was inclusivity except when it came to the most read book in American history,” Walters says.

But it’s not just the books that has Walters concerned.

“I had two school districts, one of them sent out a handout to a classroom of high school kids asking them about their favorite sexual preferences in graphic detail, about which of these sexual preferences do they have,” he tells Poulos.

“That is completely inappropriate in the classroom,” he continues. “We have pulled over 100 teacher certificates from sending sexually explicit text messages or committing sex acts with kids in the state of Oklahoma.”

“We’ve had to pass all these rules, all these requirements, because of again, people that have crossed the line, people that have indoctrinated kids, and then people who have taken even a step further to engage sexually with kids, and that’s where we have got to protect our young people,” he explains.

And again, this is all happening in Oklahoma, one of, if not, the reddest state in the country.

“If we’re dealing with it in Oklahoma,” Walters warns, “I’m telling you, it’s happening in every state.”

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Why AI will kill bad art — not real artists



As the threat of artificial intelligence looms, artists of every medium are beginning to worry that their craft may no longer be a craft — and that like many others, their professions may be in trouble.

However, Stephen Limbaugh, a composer and concert pianist whose work has been performed by the Russian Philharmonic, has been featured at the White House and the Golden Globes, and is releasing an upcoming symphony for America’s 250th birthday, doesn’t share that concern.

“Authenticity is what people still crave, whether it’s their pop stars, or their composers, or their movies, or ... any form of artist,” Limbaugh tells James Poulos on “Zero Hour.” “Somebody who it doesn’t feel like they’re just setting themselves up to sling a perfume on Instagram.”


“So, you’re not worried at all?” Poulos asks.

“No, because you can’t make art by calculation. You got a concert pianist in a concert, solo concert, he’s going to play a sequence of thirty-something-thousand notes, and he’s going to play it with like 99.5% accuracy, if he’s great, which is remarkable that he’s going to do that from memory,” Limbaugh explains.

“He’s not going to make a single calculation. AI cannot attempt that without making calculations. So, whenever the inspiration is striking, whenever you have the producer in the room,” he continues, “AI is never going to be able to make a suggestion like that. They might be able to take a bunch of information about how records were made and all this, and then they’ll calculate a suggestion for this and that.”

“Not worried about it, because it’s not going to be right,” he adds.

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'The Circus' creator: 'I got to pull back the curtain' on Charlie Kirk



Mark McKinnon, political strategist to George W. Bush and John McCain and creator of “The Circus” on Showtime, was caught off guard in the last election.

McKinnon, who admits he was a “radical lefty in college,” was shocked to see just how strong the conservative presence within Gen Z was — and how these conservatives used platforms like TikTok to spread their message.

“Suddenly on TikTok this guy named Charlie Kirk started popping up everywhere,” McKinnon tells James Poulos of “Zero Hour,” noting that he “had a very conventional notion and wisdom about Gen Z and how they were, how they acted, and how they’re likely to act in that election.”

And that conventional wisdom was wrong.


“And then I saw these TikToks of Charlie Kirk showing up on these college campuses with mostly young men — but not all young men — but lots of them in red hats, and it got my attention,” he continues.

That’s when McKinnon decided to go to a Charlie Kirk rally in Atlanta, Georgia.

“It was fascinating. It was really interesting, and it really opened my mind about what was happening with that cohort, for one thing. But also Kirk himself,” he says, “was very diplomatic and very cordial to me and invited me in.”

“I got to pull back the curtain and saw the whole operation and how it worked, and you know, his model is really interesting because he invited these crowds just all through social media,” he continues, noting that you couldn’t walk through the plaza the rally was held in because it “was so packed.”

Not only was it packed, but Kirk made sure to answer “every single question that was asked.”

Kirk even chose questions from clear leftists over those who were wearing red hats, despite being non-confrontational.

“Charlie’s a fascinating case,” Poulos comments. “Coming out of that kind of Ben Shapiro moment where it was like, ‘Click to watch the libtards get destroyed with facts and logic,’ you know, Charlie went in a slightly different direction.”

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Texas vs. the Cartel: The DEADLY border showdown



Many small towns in Texas have been overrun by illegal immigrants under the Biden administration — but under Trump that’s hopefully all about to change.

“There was a sigh of relief in Texas when it at least came to the border, because we knew we weren’t going to have to fight our own federal government when it came to actually enforcing the laws,” Greg Sindelar, CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, tells James Poulos of “Zero Hour.”

While it’s been “very overwhelming” for these small towns, Sindelar notes that it was the “system working as designed.”

“So Texas had to jump in. We spent billions and billions and billions of dollars trying to just stem the tide a little bit, but what we learned from that is Mexico is not a good faith actor in this, and I’m talking about the government of Mexico,” he explains.


“And I know they’re very upset by the president saying that they are tied to these cartels. Well, I’m here to tell you they are, at this point, mostly a failed narco state. They have seeded 30% to 40% of their land to these cartels,” he continues, adding, “they let them run anything that they want to do.”

“It’s absolutely horrific what is happening, and the Mexican people are suffering because of it, and Texans and Americans are also suffering because of it,” he adds.

This is why it’s not only important for America to crack down on cartel activity as Trump has promised but Mexico as well.

“Our futures are intertwined,” Sindelar tells Poulos. “If we can’t get Mexico back into being a functioning state again, then we will continue to have these problems, and we’ll continue to pour an immense amount of money and lose an immense amount of American lives until they get their act together.”

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‘They’re crooks’: 'The Young Turks' founder admits conservatives were right about the Deep State



Cenk Uygur, founder of “The Young Turks,” has long found himself at odds with those on the right. However, unlike most on the left, Uygur’s attention has shifted from the right to the establishment.

“News has not been news for so long. People have forgotten. They’re, like, demanding propaganda, and they’re like, ‘Why won’t you say that Obama is a saint?’

"And I’m like, ‘But we’re on the left; we don’t want him drilling in the Gulf,’” Uygur tells James Poulos on “Zero Hour.”

“On what planet should I not criticize that?” he asks, adding, “Are we supposed to morph our policies around these politicians and their donors?”


While Uygur doesn’t believe that right-wing media is any better than the left-wing media, it’s the mainstream media he takes real issue with.

“Most of all, mainstream media is the ones that claim to be objective. And I think they’re the least objective, the least truthful. Not because their facts are wrong, but because their framing is so absurd — that politicians aren’t crooks. They’re crooks. That donor money doesn’t affect politicians? You’ve got to be mental to think it doesn’t affect politicians,” he explains.

“So the Democratic Party, unfortunately, has gone so pro-corporate,” he continues.

“They’re so blinded by their own bubble, James. That’s the most important thing. Everybody’s in their bubble, and in their bubble they’re 100% right.”

This is what Uygur believes led to the results of the 2024 election.

“2024 to me was the most watershed moment for so many reasons, because the establishment finally realized the country hates them,” he adds.

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‘Family, faith, and grit’: Did Stallone just give Hollywood a knockout punch in new film?



Many films coming out of Hollywood recently have faced heavy criticism, not only for often pushing “woke” values but for being unoriginal — and Dick Boyce aims to change that.

Boyce is an investor and entrepreneur who has co-produced a new film alongside Sylvester Stallone called “Lost on a Mountain in Maine.” The story spans multiple generations and returns cinema to a time before smartphones, helicopter parenting, and digital overload.

“I just found there was an opening to do a movie like Disney used to make. Timeless values of family, faith, and grit that people could relate to,” Boyce tells James Poulos on “Zero Hour,” explaining that the film is about a boy who spent nine days without food or shelter and survived.


The film appears to bridge the divide between the older, less tech-savvy generations and the newer, digital-native generations.

“To tell stories to remind people that there is this continuity, that despite the fact that we’re going through all these iterations of really head-snapping change in many cases, there’s still a thread that’s stronger than that, and it might not be super obvious, but family is part of that,” Poulos comments.

The film also calls into question the impact of technology on these younger generations.

“They aren’t growing up in a way that is the best way, I think, to have a fulfilled, open, engaged life,” Boyce says, adding, “That does concern me about the evolution of technology.”

“There’s always been a lot of focus on the potential harms of technology, and those can be real, as with anything, as with fire. You know, these tools, you can always use them in the wrong way, and it can harm you,” Poulos agrees.

“I think the real question is what are you missing out on if you disappear into the phones, what are you running away from, what are you afraid of, that kind of temptation to willfully step back from real life? I think that’s where the real hazards can be,” he adds.

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Poisoned for profit: The invisible hands controlling your children’s health



In the 1990s, the two largest food companies were R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris — both of which also still make highly addictive cigarettes to this day.

So it’s no wonder that our food, like cigarettes, is also incredibly addictive.

“I mean, they took scientists to make our food addictive and have thousands of chemicals that they’ve co-opted the scientific agencies like the FDA and the USDA to let them in,” White House adviser Calley Means tells James Poulos on “Zero Hour.”

“Our food is literally weaponized to be addictive,” he adds.


“The science has become absolutely just a PR mechanism for industries that want us sick,” he continues, noting that 77% of Americans of military age are not able to join the military because of poor metabolic health.

But it’s not just food that’s making Americans sick.

“I think one of the big issues with health and metabolic health is that a lot of the things that threaten us, I think threaten us to an existential degree, are part of modern innovation. Like you look at artificial light, it’s actually really disruptive,” Means explains.

“It’s really disruptive to our hormone system,” he continues. “If you have a light on in a chicken coop, they lay two times more eggs. That’s just one input. You look at all the technology, being on our phone all day, the food that we have, all this disruption to our circadian rhythm, our chronic stress.”

These advancements in technology, Means says, have “led us to get detached from nature” and “detached from the awe and curiosity of our bodies.”

And these industries making us sick have zeroed in on children.

“The invisible hand of the incentives of these industries,” Means explains, “from tech that wants our kids addicted to their phones all day, to food which wants kids addicted, to the pharmaceutical industry that wants kids on drugs, there’s really, I think, an invisible hand that’s been against kids.”

“There’s millions and billions and hundreds of billions and trillions of dollars to be made from getting a kid sick, from getting them addicted, from keeping them in fear,” he continues. “This is something that the Trump administration, just in modern society today, we have to balance, because we do want to unleash responsible innovation, but we have lost touch of common sense.”

“And I think that’s kind of the message that Bobby Kennedy and Trump have really resonated on. It’s really a getting back to basics message,” he adds.

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Wikipedia scandal exposed: Big Tech manipulates what you see



Wikipedia is no longer what it used to be, and co-founder Larry Sanger knows exactly why.

“Wikipedia can be used to advance a particular social and political agenda,” Sanger tells James Poulos on “Zero Hour.” “This becomes evident only if you know a lot about the topic. So sometimes the only people who are really qualified to tell whether a treatment of a topic is neutral are the people who know a lot about the topic.”

“It’s gotten really, really bad, though, in the Trump years, I mean really noticeably,” he continues, “and I think that is what sort of enlightened people about the problem. So while conservatives and Libertarian and anti-establishment types, they generally continue to despise Wikipedia, this seems to have had little impact on Wikipedia itself.”


“Why would it?” he adds. “This is a feature of the mainstream media. They’re not going to change, and Wikipedia now is essentially a summary of what the mainstream media thinks, at least when it comes to current events, politics, social issues, and so forth.”

However, it’s not just the twisting of the truth to fit a political agenda that’s bothered the co-founder, but the lack of care taken to stop others from spreading horrifying imagery on the website.

This became an issue to Sanger when he was enlightened to the existence of pedophile rings and “graphic representations of child rape on Wikipedia.” He reported it to the FBI in 2010.

“It didn’t do any good. They didn’t follow up. It’s still there. That did change my views insofar as I felt now it’s important to speak out about this, especially in this context,” he explains. “They’re not trying to hide their disdain at all any more, and from my point of view, it felt like simply speaking about such things as a moral imperative has emboldened me to say things that I have believed for many years.”

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Trump’s great awakening: Why Americans rejected wokeness



There will always be a small group of far-left, radical woke preachers fighting the Trump administration and the will of the American people — but that group is getting smaller — and no one is more surprised than the creator of “Dilbert,” Scott Adams.

“It’s like common sense broke out, and I think that’s the thing that’s uniting people. It’s like, well there are just some things that just make sense, like, we can’t have a $35 trillion debt,” Adams tells James Poulos on “Zero Hour.”

“I think people just woke up and said, ‘Wait a minute, this isn’t even political. We all want less crime, it kind of doesn’t make sense to have an open border, even if you’re a Democrat.’ So I think maybe the wokeness just got pushed to the point where it just broke,” he continues.


What helped push Americans to this point, Adams explains, is that “the smartest and bravest” openly decided to support Trump.

“I think we may have passed into this at least temporary, nonpolitical point where you can have John Fetterman say good things about the DOGE effort,” he continues. “The amount of common sense, smart, brave, firepower that all got concentrated in one place, honestly, it feels like 1776 just resurrected.”

While Adams didn’t see this coming, he did believe that after January 6, more Americans would gravitate toward Trump.

“I predicted that he would be more popular everyday that he was out of office, and I don’t think that was a common prediction, but sure enough, I also predicted that Biden would go down in history as the worst president. And there was a survey today that says he’s ranked the lowest, at least in that survey,” Adams says.

“So those two things, I did see coming. Trump rising, Biden falling. But wow, I didn’t see the common sense breaking out,” he adds.

“I think a lot of people are hungry for a new kind of purple America, one where the political divisions aren’t as sharp,” Poulos chimes in.

“Most people think that the only way to get to purple America is through blue America, and what we found is that actually the road maybe runs through a much redder America,” he adds.

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