Like they secretly hold mostly right wing views, but they want to hang out with the cool progressives. One of my ex friends blamed Corbyn for everything, even Brexit??? Another now posts anti Muslim stuff on FB regularly. A third is now a full on ecofascist who will just rant about black people like he's my demented grandma.
Yes, for a long time in America conservative views have been coded as low-status. Speak them and suddenly you're a redneck, and who wants to be on the same side as bucktoothed hillbillies? It's a pity that this shaming tactic is breaking down and people are coming out of the closet as chuds. Shaming is a really good tool to get people to behave when nobody's looking.