Back during the Bush era the left hadn't become a religion yet and a lot of its members still believed in traditional civic values: open debate, plurality, rule of law, etc. It was okay to make edgy jokes and a lot of them would mock "Mann Coulter." Imagine the shitstorm that would cause now! A common sentiment was that they were the "true patriots" resisting the US getting mired in pointless wars. Then Obama took over and suddenly the wars were justified as long as he was the one dropping the bombs.
When the woke took over a new normal came with them. They had an absolute dogmatic religion that took precedence over any law or custom that came before. They weren't loyal opposition fighting for what they thought was best for the US, they wanted to tear the country down because it was irredeemably tainted by original sin. And like any cult, they preach different doctrines depending on who's listening. The weird evasiveness and inconsistency in their public messaging is because they know they can't reveal their true beliefs to the public, but at the same time they can't contradict those beliefs for the people inside who are hearing the "pure" doctrine about how all of Western society needs to be torn down.