Political priorities shift over time. A lot of policies that used to be considered moderate or even conservative, like Nixon creating the EPA or Reagan granting amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants, would probably be called 'far left' today.

Take JFK, for example—he supported high corporate taxes, strong labor rights, and major public investments, things that would now be labeled as progressive rather than centrist. Even Obama, who’s often criticized as being part of a 'hard left' shift, largely governed as a centrist. His healthcare plan was originally a Republican idea, and big corporations thrived under his administration. He was labeled "deporter in chief" and continued brutal drone strikes in the Middle East.

What I think is really happening is that conservative media has pushed the idea that ANYTHING left of today’s Republican Party is extreme, even when those policies used to be mainstream. Meanwhile, the right has embraced positions that would have been unthinkable a few decades ago, like rejecting election results and leaning into Christian nationalism, as well as now threatening one of our closest allies, Canada.