Sep 25, 2026
Aidan Grogan is a researcher at the Manhattan Institute. He went undercover at Socialism 2026 — the annual conference sponsored by Haymarket Books, held in Chicago over Labor Day weekend — and sat in on panels that weren't being livestreamed to see what they were saying behind closed doors. In some cases, they were saying considerably more radical things than what made it onto the stream.
We talked about: how he got in (registered as Aidan G. with a burner email, wore Marxist pins, didn't iron his shirt, gave up on the disguise by day four); masks required at all times, COVID still surging, it felt like 2020 all over again; the family abolition session — two Yale-affiliated researchers sitting in a circle with Crayola markers on the table, advocating to dismantle the family as an oppressive capitalist institution; Sophie Lewis, Oxford graduate, family abolitionist, currently married; the audience describing the "most culturally celebrated family" as white people, private property, and heteronormativity; the fat genocide panel and the presenter who was herself relatively fit; Sophie Lewis denying any biological basis to sex; the mismatch between revolutionary rhetoric and people with too much anxiety to fire a gun; the old macho Marxists vs. today's conference-goers; Bill Ayers and the career path of a left-wing terrorist (hint: it ends in a tenured professorship); Robert Nisbet's The Quest for Community and why radical politics is a substitute religion for the socially alienated; and the DSA platform calling for abolishing the Senate, the Electoral College, and the checks and balances of the American constitutional order.
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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 — Intro — Aidan Grogan, Manhattan Institute and City
Journal
0:43 — What is Socialism 2026? Haymarket Books, Labor Day,
Chicago
1:27 — Going undercover — livestreams vs. behind closed doors
3:51 — The viral clip: pronouns, jazz hands, anxiety about
clapping
4:11 — Armed revolution calls — "I have too much anxiety to use a
gun"
5:35 — How he got in: Aidan G, burner email, Marxist pins, bad
clothes
7:20 — Day one vs. day four — what happens when you dress
normally
8:20 — Masks required the entire time — felt like 2020 all over
again
10:00 — His cover story: "I'm new to socialist ideas and just
exploring"
10:54 — The family abolition session — Crayola markers, Yale
researchers
12:29 — What does abolishing the family actually mean?
14:17 — The audience answers: white people, private property,
heteronormative
16:41 — Sophie Lewis: family abolitionist, Oxford graduate,
currently married
17:49 — Do they ever actually live by the ideas they preach?
18:49 — "It takes a village" — and why they mean the government
21:09 — The data: two married biological parents produce the best
outcomes for children
23:45 — Low birth rates — opportunity cost, not money cost
26:06 — At war with biology — the left's rejection of reality
27:24 — Queer theory, family abolition, and the roots of the
movement
28:27 — Sophie Lewis denies any biological or natural basis to
sex
31:38 — The fat genocide panel — presenter was relatively fit
33:29 — The old macho Marxists vs. today's conference-goers
34:15 — Luigi the musical, political violence, and LARPing
revolutionaries
36:48 — Champagne socialism — why these people won't actually risk
anything
38:48 — Robert Nisbet and radical politics as substitute
religion
39:01 — People who want communes nobody would want to be on
43:05 — Bill Ayers, the Weather Underground, and the career path of
a left-wing terrorist
45:18 — Should we be worried? Lone wolves vs. organized
violence
46:52 — DSA platform: abolish the Senate, Electoral College, and
checks and balances
47:50 — Mayor Mamdani and the low bar for praising elected
officials
49:59 — American institutions are more robust than the radicals
think