It is when they vote for people who outwardly say that shit. I don’t care what they claim to believe, I only care what their actions say they believe. I don’t know a single “conservative” who wouldn’t vote for a politician aiming to infringe upon minority rights, and if you’re voting for people who want me to be forced to bear a child I don’t want, or who want my trans sibling to be banned from receiving life-saving medical care, or who want to deregulate the medical industry so that insurance companies and profit-hospital CEOs can line their pockets at the expense of the working class, or who want to give more money to racist cops who harass my black friends? Then you can talk about how you don’t hate trans people all you want but the consequences of your actions say otherwise. You can say abortion doesn’t bother you but I don’t believe you. You can say “well, I have a black friend” but you’re still voting for racists. And I’m sorry, but that makes you a bad person and I won’t be friends with a bad person.

Maybe in other countries it’s different. But American conservatives only want to “conserve” the status quo of rich white people doing whatever they want and everyone else getting fucked. They can deny it, but until they stop voting for it there’s zero reason to believe them.

Have you been living under a rock the past ~8 years? Those bullet points are central to the current GOP’s platform. That’s what you’re voting for when you vote republican.

I think that’s what mainstream US conservatism and its adherents think that’s what “conservative” means. And honestly, that’s pretty much been the undercurrent of US conservatism for over 20 years, they’re just now saying the quiet parts out loud.

I think the term’s meaning shifts greatly depending on the country. In Finland, a whole lot of conservative politicians voted in favour of less restrictive abortion laws and their conservative party is in favour of same-sex marriage.