Welcome to Turtle Island: What the Socialism 2025 Conference Tells Us About the Left’s Endgame

There’s a political convention going on in Chicago right now. Not the Republican one, not the Democratic one—something far more revealing. It’s called Socialism 2025, and it offers a clear glimpse into the ideology that now holds sway in our bluest cities and among the farthest reaches of the Democratic base.

Stacey Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, was a featured speaker. Brandon Johnson—so-called mayor of Chicago and CTU alumnus was not on the list of speakers as far as I know, at least officially. But make no mistake: this is his crowd. While Johnson is not, to my knowledge, a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, 20% of his city council is. And he governs as if the DSA wrote his to-do list every morning.

So, it’s worth asking: What do these people believe? What do they want? If you haven’t read the DSA’s platform or listened to the kinds of rhetoric that emerge at events like Socialism 2025, you should. Because it’s not just the fringes anymore. This is the ideology shaping policy in Chicago, New York, Portland, and increasingly, the national conversation.

Let me offer a few direct quotes from a speaker at the conference. I couldn’t identify her name—the video wasn’t labeled—but the words speak volumes. Below each, I’ve included some observations and rebuttals pulled from an insightful thread in Bill Ackman’s replies on X. Yes, sometimes the comment section is more grounded than the keynote.

“Dismantling the United States is the starting point to achieve equality and peace.”

This is not hyperbole. This is an open call for civilizational suicide. If the U.S. is illegitimate, then anything that seeks to undermine it—no matter how violent or incoherent—is framed as righteous. This is how totalizing ideologies, including political Islamism, sneak in the back door: by posing as resistance movements rather than replacements for liberal democracy.

“Decolonization is the only thing that is going to save us as a species and as a planet.”

“Decolonization,” once a call for independence, now means everything from erasing borders and dismantling capitalism to destroying gender roles. It’s a word salad for revolution. And when Islamism is framed as the faith of the colonized, its own hierarchy and dogma are whitewashed—often quite literally—by the progressive left.

“Everyone should be on board with it.”

This is not a suggestion. It’s a command. Dissent is not allowed. You’re either with the decolonizers, or you’re morally suspect. This kind of absolutism is the hallmark of totalitarian thinking. And it’s spreading in academia, in the media, and now through municipal government.

“The United States is a settler regime.”

If the U.S. is just a settler state, then it has no moral legitimacy. Neither does Israel. That’s the rhetorical sleight of hand: erase the idea of national identity for Western democracies, and suddenly any force opposing them becomes noble. Islamic conquest, even terrorism, becomes “resistance.”

“Heteropatriarchy is tied so closely to the settler regime.”

Here’s where the ideology eats itself. Patriarchy is bad—unless it’s non-Western. Islamic societies, many of which enforce rigid patriarchal norms, get a pass because they’re not seen as part of the colonizing West. In this worldview, it’s not about justice—it’s about inversion. Whatever the West is, do the opposite.

“Palestine is the alternative path to the native nation.”

“Palestine is the tip of the spearhead.”

You’re starting to get the picture. The Palestinian cause is not about Palestine per se—it’s a symbolic weapon. A wedge issue. A marketing campaign for the revolution. “From the river to the sea” isn’t a geographic claim—it’s an ideological one: erase Israel, discredit the West, and destabilize liberal democracy.

We are witnessing a bizarre convergence of radical leftism and illiberal religious movements, all wrapped in the feel-good language of justice and liberation. It’s not clear where this ends, but it’s very clear where it begins: our educational system. The fact that only 36% of Democrats say they’re proud to be American is no accident. It’s the fruit of decades of anti-American curriculum, identity politics, and an intellectual elite that teaches shame instead of gratitude.

And it’s not even limited to those who see themselves as victims. The real tragedy is how many descendants of so-called “colonizers” have been brainwashed into buying this narrative—guilt-tripped into siding with their own defamers.

This isn’t some abstract, far-off danger. These people are already in power in Chicago, in Portland, in L.A., and now in New York. Their policies are not just academic theory—they’re real. They’re reflected in the boarded-up businesses, in the broken windows, in the culture of protest and nihilism.

And yet, many old-school liberals and Berniecrats refuse to see what’s happening. They tune it out. Just like I might tune out an MSNBC rant, they dismiss this new wave of activism as irrelevant noise. But it’s not noise. It’s the next wave.

The Founding Fathers were revolutionaries too—but theirs was a revolution to establish ordered liberty. This? This is a revolution of erasure. Tear down the statues. Rewrite the history. Deconstruct the nation.

If you’re one of the 92% of Republicans who still say they’re proud to be American, or one of the dwindling ranks of proud Democrats—this should alarm you. These aren’t fringe ideas anymore. They are working their way up from the streets and the campuses to the mayor’s office and the city council chamber.

And they want you to feel uncomfortable in your own country. They want to make you question everything you value. They want to scare you.

And you should be scared.

Not because you’re weak—but because they’re serious.

They’re serious about revolution. Are we serious about stopping it?