[mc32]

It seems to me this "purity" test many progressives are using is getting too close to the kinds of tests a few bad movements which destroyed millions of lives and put civilization behind a few decades.

Basically any deviation is labeled as "not being Marxist enough". They are following this similar path. It's not good. Mao, Stalin and to a degree mr Xi is doing this. It's as if progressives who demand this purity are completely unawares of this.

[eesmith]

Really? Do you have any solid basis for this hypothesis? Are you really calling me a supporter of totalitarian absolutism because I'm sympathetic with the expressed outrage against Musk?

To start, what does Marxism have to do with any of this?

Aren't there any number of closer equivalences you could have used, without the specter of government-run mass murder? What about RINO - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_In_Name_Only , or the other way, an appeal to the 'big tent'? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_tent ?

(The latter links to 'Multi-tendency', described as 'Multi-tendency political organisations, especially left-wing groups, accommodate members who are affiliated or identify with different political ideologies, agendas, interests or perspectives.' Odd, isn't it, that it highlights how left-wing groups are more accomodationist?)

Isn't it a pretty normal behavior to expect a higher standard from those one thinks are friends or allies?

Might it be that Musk's claims of being a socialist actually are based in a poor understanding of socialism, and that he makes a show of being left-leaning while his actions stay firmly in the middle of the Overton window?

It seems that any of those are a more likely interpretation than what you propose.