Liberal as a contrast to leftist usually means types who are onboard with “business-friendly” policies but not outright conservatives. It’s common for liberal parties of that sort to think they can “ride out” waves of fascist populism by making token concessions and waiting for the ‘fad’ to fade.

The issue is that usually a surge in fascism is because of an underlying problem, whether economic, cultural, or political, so what they really are doing is giving fascism more power for their own eventual destruction.