It might be helpful to understand the history of the Progressive movement. The book Illiberal Reformers: Race, Eugenics, and American Economics in the Progressive Era by Thomas C. Leonard takes you down an eye-opening path through U.S. history near the turn of the 20th century.

Far from being champions of the cause of equal treatment and equal opportunity for people regardless of their race, Progressives were driven by the idea that only Anglo-Saxon men were genetically fit to rule society and that it was thus incumbent upon them to bear that burden for the benefit of the “lesser” races (which also included, at that time, Irish, Italians and eastern Europeans).

A case can be made that if you judge it today by its actions rather than its words, progressivism remains true to its roots.