Batya Ungar-Sargon

Author, editor, journalist.

Batya Ungar Sargon is the deputy opinion editor of Newsweek, and until recently worked in the same role at The Forward. Elsewhere, her work has appeared in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Daily Beast, The New York Review of Books, and The Free Press. She has authored two books – the latest of which, Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women, explored the diminishing quality of life endured by America’s working class and the factors worsening its decline.

Why did we invite her on?

Batya is one of the most outspoken American writers working today. In the 2010s, she identified as a liberal, describing herself as a “left-wing populist”. However, with the turn of the decade, she found herself drifting away from the label. This, she argues, came with the right’s gradual adoption of the working class, a typically left-wing concern. To Batya, this is the real reason Democrats hate Trump. We wanted to explore that.

So what did we talk about?

We’re constantly told that we live in a divided West, and nowhere is this more true than in America. A country split almost perfectly in half, where one half holds values that would sicken the other, and vice versa. It begs certain questions. Why is it happening? Who’s responsible? How do we fix it?

Batya has an alternative take: America isn’t divided. Or at least not to the extent we’re led to believe. Instead, we’re mistaking shallow disagreement for fundamental disputes. She uses the example of abortion. We’re told it’s an issue that splits the nation right down the middle – 50% rabid pro-choicers, 50% feverish pro-lifers. The gorge seems uncrossable, but there’s a great deal more agreement than we might expect. Most Americans are pro-life but do not want laws which reflect that. Moreover, most who describe themselves as pro-choice oppose it in the second term. This beautifully illustrates her thesis – there’s a “radically moderate” view that isn’t being heard, much less catered to.

So what do Americans really think? If there is a consensus, what is it?