“Progressives” came into vogue around the time of Wilson, and they greatly admired the advances in society that the Nazis were making - big fans.
Well, we know how that turned out and to sever the association with the fascists of that time, they started calling themselves “liberals”.
Now, of course, the label comes to mean what people know is “in the can”, so now “liberal” means “totalitarian collectivist”,
and they want to be called “progressive” again.