A weekend socialist conference in Chicago has set off a fight inside the American left, with prominent left-wing voices saying the fringe talk on display is damaging their own cause.

• Speakers at the Chicago event called fitness fascist, argued weight-loss drugs are a tool of oppression, and defended abolishing the police even if crime rises.
• Left-wing commentators including Ryan Grim and Rana Khalek pushed back publicly, saying health and exercise should not be handed to the right as an issue.
• Clips from the conference were spread by right-leaning accounts, including one tied to the Manhattan Institute, and went viral as proof of what the left supposedly believes.
• The counterargument: these views represent a tiny slice of Democratic voters, and claiming to speak for the whole left hands Fox News free ammunition.
• Los Angeles is cited as the real-world cost — cutting officer numbers after 2020 left the city paying more in overtime with fewer police.

Outlook: Expect more open infighting as mainstream left figures try to refocus on popular demands like Medicare for All, money out of politics, and ending the wars.