It was a "perfect" storm.
Bravo! Bravissimo!! The best summary of Liberalism and its toxic outcomes I've ever read. You have distilled its deadly essence, sir. May we hope for more?
The leftist party that achieved some success in the USA in the 1920's was called the Progressive party. It was based in the upper midwest and its claim to fame was Socialism. When some of its ideas were adopted by the Democratic party the Progressive party disbanded. But by that time most Americans had rejected the beliefs of Progressives, so Democrats chose to call their newly adopted leftist philosoply Liberalism.
They had to do so, since the word Progressive had acquired a bad connotation with most Americans. The Progressives in hopes of masking their true beliefs and thereby gaining acceptance started to refer to themselves as Liberals.
Now that Liberalism has garnered such a bad reputation they are starting to refer to themselves once again as Progressives.
The left never understands, socialism will always be rejected in the United States. They can call it Socialism, Liberalism or Progressivism... it does not matter. It is the philosophy that is rejected.. not the name they choose to use to refer to it at any given moment in time.