Conservative critics of the left-leaning media are increasingly turning their fire on their own, accusing center-right outlets of playing along with Democrats and their campaign to portray hardened liberals as open-minded “progressives.”

Rumblings among conservatives, which started in the 2016 presidential campaign when socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders was dubbed a “progressive,” spilled out this month when Texas Rep. Lamar Smith slammed right-leaning media for using the term.