I had a very positive opinions on the liberals in the 00s when Bush did his crazy war in Iraq. Nowadays the Dems have become the warmongers and cult members they used to fight. They are the new Bush (lots of similarities - not to mention that Biden won a contested election, like Bush).
IMHO, the US Dems are the biggest threat to democracy in 2022 (but I know you disagree).
It seems to me that "ideas" work like fashion sometimes. You don't really know who started the trend, but some "influencer(s)" did and then everybody followed. It was the case with lots of political trends (like on Russia, but also the gender studies, CRT, BLM, etc.)