Batya Ungar-Sargon

Batya Ungar-Sargon is an American journalist and author who served as the opinion editor of The Forward and later worked as deputy opinion editor of Newsweek. She is the author of two books which address class consciousness and working class-related issues and one that deals with American Jews and the left.

Early life Ungar-Sargon was born in 1981 in Philadelphia. She confirmed this in an interview on a podcast hosted by Robert Bryce. Although she has also been reported to have been born in the Gaza Strip, she has clarified that this was inaccurate. Ungar-Sargon is of Jewish descent. She is the daughter of Julian Ungar-Sargon, a neurologist. She attended high school in Israel. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Chicago in 2004 and completed a Ph.D. in English at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2013. Her dissertation, titled Coercive Pleasures: The Force and Form of the Novel 1719–1740, examined among other elements how rape and colonialism contributed to the development of modern English fiction.

Career Ungar-Sargon began her career as a journalist and news analyst, reporting on topics such as the rights of undocumented immigrants and liberal perspectives on Israel and American Jews. In 2019, she discussed the significance of developing an American Jewish identity that is distinct from Israeli politics and aligned with civil and minority rights. She also served as managing editor at the wine and spirits media outlet VinePair.

In 2017, Ungar-Sargon became the opinion editor at The Forward. During her tenure, she faced criticism from some commentators on the political left, who accused her of weaponizing claims of antisemitism in a politically charged manner and of displaying a right-wing and Zionist editorial stance. Ungar-Sargon later contributed to various publications, including among others the Daily Beast, The Free Press, Foreign Policy, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, the New York Review of Books, the New York Times, Tablet, and the Washington Post. She also appeared on various political shows including on the Brian Lehrer Show, MSNBC, NBC, and NPR, among other media outlets. She later became deputy opinion editor of Newsweek, and co-host of the podcast The Debate.

In 2019, Ungar-Sargon publicly criticized U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar on Twitter, alleging that Omar had employed antisemitic tropes by suggesting that financial motivations underlie U.S. support for Israel. In response, Omar pointed toAIPAC's influence on politicians. The exchange drew criticism of Omar's comments, leading to a public apology from the congresswoman. In 2020, Ungar-Sargon was selected for the 2021 Civil Society Fellowship, a program of the Anti-Defamation League and the Aspen Institute. In 2021, Ungar-Sargon published Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy. The book argues that contemporary media has shifted focus away from working class "values and concerns", and towards issues of identity politics and the "culture war", which she contends caters primarily to affluent, educated, and urban audiences, stating "the majority of our mainstream news is no longer just liberal; it’s woke." In 2024, she published Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America's Working Men and Women, in which she examines issues related to the working class in the United States and its relationship with the elite.

In the wake of the Elon Musk salute controversy in January 2025, Ungar-Sargon said it appeared to be "a man with Aspergers [sic] exuberantly throwing his heart to the crowd", accusing Musk's many critics who described it as a fascist salute (or Nazi salute) of "inventing outrage". On August 26, 2025, the NewsNation channel announced that Ungar-Sargon would host a weekend afternoon talk show titled Batya on Saturdays, starting on September 20, at 4 p.m. ET.

Political views Ungar-Sargon has described a shift in her political views over time. In the 2010s, she identified as an American liberal; by the 2020s, she reported distancing herself from that ideology. Ungar-Sargon later adopted this label herself in 2023, although several observers view her as echoing American conservative viewpoints.

Trumpism In November 2024, Ungar-Sargon publicly encouraged American Jews to vote for Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Diverging from the common classification of Trump as part of a right-wing populist and illiberal wave, Ungar-Sargon argued that Trump is not a radical or extremist but rather a centrist, In response, Cathy Young observed that the 1990s Democrats, even accounting for the shift to the centre as New Democrats under Bill Clinton, were still much more pro-abortion rights and pro-immigration than Trump. that there is no such thing as a "MAGA lefty" and that Trump is "much, much worse" than centrist Democrats, and that the second Trump administration's actions have been anti-worker. She has argued that American resources should prioritize domestic needs, questioned the strategic importance of Ukraine's territorial integrity, legitimized Russian land claims regarding Donetsk and Luhansk, and expressed skepticism toward U.S. foreign policy, which she views as exacerbating international conflicts. In response, journalist James Kirchick of The Atlantic criticized her stance, characterizing it as part of what he called the "Intellectually Bankrupt Anti-war camp" and accusing her of minimizing Russian imperialism.

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