So who is an authoritarian, someone who accedes to EPA regulations or one who does not? Who is authoritarian, one who accepts the claims of “climate consensus” or one who points to the limitations in the knowledge?
A subset of liberal social scientists can be counted on to define words the way they want, unthinkingly, and then to deduce a negative trait of some kind in their political opponents. This looks like an example, where “authoritarian” has been redefined to mean reluctance to obey self-appointed (or politically appointed) “authorities”.