When Adam Smith and a group of fellow Scots first used the word in a political sense, it meant something very different than it does today.
www.theatlantic.com
Merriam-Webster:
Liberal can be traced back to the
Latin word liber (meaning “free”), which is also the
root of liberty ("the quality or state of being free") and libertine ("one leading a dissolute life").
The word, liberal, lost its original meaning in 1880, along with the words justice, freedom, liberty, and so forth.
Now, it's a politically charged term that the authoritarian right is completely confused over.
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What a bizzare contradiction in the title. Goldberg conflated a word rooted in the latin word for "free" with fascism, rooted with the Italian word for bundle, fasci, which was a term for political associations and "a group of men organized for political purposes". The two words could not be more different.
But facts are irrelevant to Trumpers, they make up words, make up what they want and gaslight people who know better.
So, liberal has nothing to do with freedom to Trumpers. To them, liberal and fascist means "People we don't like". (I guess, I don't think they can be consistent enough for them know what they mean by it)
Oh and if one uses the word Conservative to describe Trumpers or the Republican Part's base then that word has lost it's meaning too. Those people are better described as the authoritarian right. Much closer to fascist in its original meaning than how Goldberg used the word.
I think I'll stick with the original meaning for a liberal person -- one who is free and respects the freedom of others.