The “liberal” insult coming from a right winger would be used in a similar way to what you describe there, but to a leftist “liberal” is also an insult in a very different sense. Leftists basically use liberal as a derogatory for people that aren’t far enough to the left. There’s a lot of nuance to it in the way that the term is used now, but that’s kind of the gist of it.
We call those not far enough to the left “social democrats”. And they’re proud of it generally, since the term implies they’re part of the polite/non radical democracy. So they argue those farther to the left are anti-democratic.
The “liberal” insult coming from a right winger would be used in a similar way to what you describe there, but to a leftist “liberal” is also an insult in a very different sense. Leftists basically use liberal as a derogatory for people that aren’t far enough to the left. There’s a lot of nuance to it in the way that the term is used now, but that’s kind of the gist of it.
We call those not far enough to the left “social democrats”. And they’re proud of it generally, since the term implies they’re part of the polite/non radical democracy. So they argue those farther to the left are anti-democratic.