Help me understand please

🍰 Liberals = Democrats

They tend to support government programs for healthcare, education, climate action, social equality, and more regulation on businesses.

Joe Biden is a Democrat (liberal-leaning).

🍳 Conservatives = Republicans

They generally support smaller government, lower taxes, less regulation, traditional values, and a stronger focus on personal responsibility and national security.

Donald Trump is a Republican (conservative-leaning).

Here's where it might be confusing:

Not all leftists are Democrats, and not all Democrats are very far to the left.

Here’s a breakdown:

🌹 Leftists vs. Democrats

Leftists can include:

Socialists, democratic socialists (like Bernie Sanders or members of the Democratic Socialists of America)

Anarchists, communists, anti-capitalists

People who want major structural change — not just tweaks to the system, but big shifts in economics, policing, healthcare, and more

Many leftists feel the Democratic Party is too moderate, corporate, or unwilling to push for real justice

Democrats can include:

A big mix: moderates, liberals, progressives, and a few leftists

Mainstream Democrats like Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton are generally more center-left.

They work within the current system and tend to support gradual reform, not revolution

🧠 Why it matters:

Someone can be very liberal (e.g., pro-abortion rights, pro-LGBTQ+, pro-universal healthcare) and still think the Democratic Party doesn’t go far enough.

Some leftists refuse to vote Democrat at all, especially in protest of things like foreign policy, policing, or corporate influence.

If you ever hear someone say, “I’m a leftist, not a liberal,” that’s usually what they mean — they see liberals (and Democrats) as too soft or too centrist.

Now here's the conservatives:

🍍 Mainstream Conservatives / Traditionalists

Usually associated with the Republican establishment (e.g., George W. Bush, Mitt Romney)

Prioritize:

Free-market capitalism

Strong national defense

"Family values" and religion

Gradual change, not revolution

May clash with Trump-style populists

🍊 Populist / Nationalist Conservatives

Associated with Donald Trump and the MAGA movement

Prioritize:

“America First” policies (anti-globalism, strong borders, tariffs)

Distrust of elites, media, and government institutions

Culturally conservative, but economically flexible (some support Social Security, trade protectionism)

🍩 Libertarian Conservatives

Want small government across the board — economically and socially

Prioritize:

Lower taxes

Minimal government regulation

Personal freedoms (e.g., pro-gun, but often also pro-drug legalization)

Example: Rand Paul (sometimes)

Religious / Christian Conservatives
Motivated by faith-based values

Prioritize:

Opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage

School prayer, religious freedom laws

Often overlap with Traditionalists and Trump votersFiscal Conservatives
Care most about economic issues:

Reducing government spending

Cutting taxes

Balanced budgets

May be less concerned about social issues

🍕 Far-Right / Extremist Groups

Includes white nationalists, neo-Nazis, militia groups

Not representative of most conservatives, but some align with the populist right

Often anti-democracy, conspiratorial, and authoritarian-leaning

Democrats mostly occupy the left side of our politics and Republicans mostly occupy the right side of our politics. BUT, be careful with words like liberal and conservative because they may mean different things here versus where you are.

Trump is a Republican, but he was not historically. And he is very much not a traditional conservative. He is most accurately described as a populist.

If you're European, it's very confusing because the Democrats - the more left-leaning US party - align with many policies supported by European conservatives. For example, most Democrats - like most European conservatives - support universal health care, strict gun control, access to abortion, and carbon reduction to reduce global warming.

The Republican party, who oppose those positions, is much farther to the right; they correspond to the BNP in the UK or the AfD in Germany.

Democrats are identified as "liberal," but for the most part they're centrists. Republicans have become extreme right wing conservatives.

Trump is a Republican. Biden was a Democrat.

In the past, things were different. In the mid-19th century, for example, the Democrats were the establishment part and very conservative. It was the Democrats of the time who supported slavery. The newly founded Republicans, in contrast, opposed slavery and supported maintaining the union; I don't know if you'd call them liberal or not.

This was the way of things through the Civil War and most of Reconstruction. Over time, though, the Republicans became the party of business interests and favored "rugged individualism" over communalism, while the Democrats became the part of labor and working people. By the time of the Great Depression, both parties had flipped, mostly.

After World War II, there was a lot of turmoil in the Democratic party. Part of the party supported ideas that might be called socialist — Social Security and such — as well as equal rights for women and minorities. Other parts of the Democratic party held on to its blatantly racist past. These were the Dixiecrats (I'm unsure if they ever actually split off into a third party).

After the recessions, social upheaval and other issues of the '60s and '70s, America turned to an aged former actor named Ronald Reagan to "make America great again." By this time, the Republicans and solidified as the pro-business, pro-conservative values party. As it was no longer socially acceptable to publicly campaign against things like equal rights, the Republicans allied themselves with the conservative evangelical movement and adopted an anti-abortion stance as its rallying cry. The Reagan years overturned a lot of what America had valued up to that point, laying the groundwork for the disastrous regimes of the Bushes and the current felon-in-chief.

So, there's a quick overview of American politics, and my pedantic lecture of the day.

Class dismissed.

Liberals tend to be Democrat and are represented by a blue color.
Conservatives tend to be Republican and are represented by a red color.

Trump is a Republican. Biden is a Democrat.

Both parties are rather subservient to wealthy interests while pretending to support the average person. I can see how economically they would appear to be the same to an outside observer. Social policy tends to have more contrast these days.

Democrats are usually more liberal
and Republicans are generally more conservative .. but there’s all types

I think Trump ran Republican and Biden was a Democrat?

To go with my last comment. I wanted to add that since the election of Trump, we are officially the conservative populist variety of conservativism in the US. That's what you're seeing now.

Although it overlaps with religious and small govt Libertarianism i.e. DOGE

Your questions have already been pretty much answered, but its worth noting that Trumpism doesn't really fit traditional political labels well.

D is for dementia

Today that’s how it is.

Democrats: liberal, left, Biden, Blue
Republicans: conservative, right, trump, red

Trunp is Republican.
Biden is Democrat.
You see the difference clearly right now.
There is nothing more to really say. 😉